Third Thursdays – Pizza, Postcards and Social Justice! Come Join Us!

UPDATE: We’re having to cancel our regular parties – but don’t despair, we will mail the materials to you!

First and foremost, we hope you are taking care of yourself and that you and yours are doing well during our world health emergency. We are all working together to achieve the most positive outcome we can.

We think we have this figured out now, but isn’t as easy and nowhere near as fun as just handing somebody another stack of cards and talking together over a clutter of pens and a pizza slice.

Mar 19 – CANCELED, but we sent out 500 postcards anyway!
April 16– CANCELED, but we sent out 500 postcards anyway!
May 21– CANCELED, but we sent out 2000 postcards anyway!
June 18– CANCELED, but we sent out 3000 postcards anyway!
July 16– CANCELED, but we sent out 6000 postcards anyway!
Aug 20– CANCELED, but we sent out 4500 postcards anyway!
Sept. 17– CANCELED, but we are sending out 5000 postcards anyway!
Oct. 15

For those who have already attended our postcard parties, here’s what we need from you to get your kit:

Email us at indivisibleventura@gmail.com
Subject line: Mail me some postcards! (This is important – so we can quickly see your email)
Give us the following information: Your name, address and how many postcards, in batches of ( 10) ten, you want. If you also need stamps, let us know – if you want to kick in for stamps, donate here..

We miss you.

If you haven’t been to a postcard party, here are some other postcard activities you can sign up for.

What? I just show up? There’s no such thing as free pizza.

Right! We make you write postcards, chat and enjoy yourself too!
What: We’re working with a coalition including NAACP, Black Votes Matter, Mi Familia Vota and more to stop the disenfranchisement of voters.
Where: Santino’s Pizza. (Map at bottom of post)
RSVP: None. Just come – we provide the pizza and postcards and stamps! (We reserve the right to refuse any volunteer or offer of services.)
Questions? Email indivisibleventura@gmail.org. (Donations to fund this activity and postcard stamps are much appreciated.)
When: Every Third Thursday, 11:30am – 1:30pm. (For Thursday “UU the Vote” writing activities, go here.)

What state are we writing to this month?

Michigan– We’ll be sending 3000 postcards to voters along with a short script from Center For Common Ground’s Reclaim our Vote Campaign, who is working with the NAACP, Black Voters Matter, Mi Familia Vota, VoteRiders and DemLabs. These voters may have been dropped from voting rolls. This reminder postcard could save voters being turned away, a horrible experience, after waiting hours in line. Every single vote matters.

Why do we need a RECLAIM OUR VOTE campaign?

Community of color voters are being placed on “Inactive” or “Unregistered” lists at a 16% higher rate than whites. Learn more about this campaign here. The ability to vote of people in minority communities was already being systematically undermined over the last decade, by the imposition of strict new voter ID laws, by the reduction in polling places and early voting, and through many other tactics.

What is RECLAIM OUR VOTE?
The Reclaim Our Vote Campaign was officially launched in 2018 by the Center for Common Ground of Virginia, a 501(c)3 organization whose national partners include the NAACP, Black Voters Matter, Mi Familia Vota, VoteRiders and DemLabs.

History of the RECLAIM OUR VOTE campaign: Since late 2017, the nonpartisan Reclaim Our Vote campaign has reached out to nearly a million voters of color in states like Georgia, Alabama, Virginia, Texas and Mississippi—states with a long history of voter suppression. In December 2017, our phone bank calls helped increase turnout among rural voters of color by 35% in the Alabama special Senate election. In 2018, teaming up with Black Voters Matter, we made 185,000 calls to Georgia voters for the midterms; about 65% of those calls resulted in votes. In 2019, 20-25% of our postcards into nine counties in North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District resulted in a voter registration.

How can we RECLAIM OUR VOTE in 2020? This year, Reclaim Our Vote plans to expand its volunteer base and work towards a 20 percent increase in turnout among voters of color in at least four states, and a significant percentage increase in others. We started working towards this goal in 2019, in North Carolina and Virginia; in 2020 our target states are North Carolina, Texas, Arizona, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia; our tools include postcards, phone banks, textbanks, geofencing, GOTV billboards in key areas, canvassing, rides to the polls and election monitoring.

What would happen if more people voted? (NYTimes) “Many political scientists say that policies that make voting easier would also make American democracy more representative and less likely to favor the interests of wealthier, older and white voters who typically turn out at higher rates. Broader participation, proponents say, could ease polarization, lift faith in government and dampen criticism that politicians representing the views of a minority of Americans wield the majority of power in Washington.”