Getting Out the Vote--Just 12 Days Left!

“They tell me to go back to my country. I’ve heard it so much that now I just chuckle”.  This was part of my phone conversation with Yolanda, a 65 year-old Michigan resident whose parents immigrated from Mexico when she was a child.  Despite hearing about the discrimination that she’s endured in our state, I truly enjoyed speaking with her while phone-banking with Working Michigan out of the AAEA offices at 4141 Jackson road.

Calling strangers to see if they’ve received their absentee ballot and to advocate for certain candidates is, in fact, incredibly gratifying. I helped an elderly woman in Detroit make sense of Proposals 2 and 3; she was leaving all non-partisan parts of the ballot blank and appreciated having someone take the time to explain these proposals to her.  

If you can spare a couple of hours, please consider phone-banking or canvassing in the next few weeks.  Like me, you might be touched by the stories of some of the people on the other end of the line.

—Kathy Meyer, LEO Member, Romance Languages & Literatures

Kathy Meyer, LEO Member, Residential College, Ann Arbor

A number of LEO members, including RLL Lec Kathy Meyer (whose personal narrative you just read), Ian Robinson, Elizabeth Axelson, Bob King, Moe Fitzsimons, Kate Mendeloff, Dolly Tittle, Susan Walton, and Nina O'Connor have been volunteering with Working Michigan through AFT-MI, on phone banking and door knocking to GOTV.

They’ve spent time phone banking for Working Michigan out of the Ann Arbor Teachers' union (AAEA) office.  Working Michigan is the Michigan AFL-CIO's SuperPAC in this election cycle coordinating what is called the "Independent Expenditure Campaign" that reaches both union and non-union members.   

Would you like to pitch in and get folks to the polls for one of the most important elections of our time? Here are a few ways:

1. There is a combined AFT-MEA RedforEd Walk on Saturday (Oct 27) starting at 9am, and all are welcome!

2. If you can't be there by 9am for the start of the RedforEd walk, you can still go to the Ann Arbor Education Association offices (4141 Jackson Road) to volunteer for Working Michigan, either by phone banking or canvassing. Here are the hours:
   THURSDAY and FRIDAY from 1pm to 8pm
   SATURDAY from 10am to 8pm

3. LEO is also setting up phone banks out of the LEO office:
   MONDAY October 29 from 4-8pm
   TUESDAY October 30 from 4-8pm

4. Once we get to November, there will be volunteering opportunities every day up to and including election day on Nov 6th. Stay tuned!