Friday, October 02, 2020
Voter Registration, Vote by Mail, & 2020 Political Advocacy Resources
IATSE Cares: With just a handful of weeks until Election Day, implementation of the IATSE 2020 political program is in full swing. One of our primary focuses, over the summer and into the fall, is making sure our U.S. locals have the tools they need to ensure their members are registered to vote and furthermore that they are educated on the various ways to vote safely and engage politically in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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6 comments:
We love to see an organization that wants to defend the rights of its members! I am unfamiliar with the practice of unions endorsing candidates, but I assume it happens often, and I am glad it does. It is so important to publicly inform your audience of these kinds of things to explain why casting a vote for a specific person is better for related interests on a more macro scale. I’m also glad to see IATSE spreading information regarding voter registration, mail in voting, and political advocacy. Using your position as a large organization with influence to establish importance in activities like these is so productive, and will certainly reach some people who it would not otherwise. It is easy for me to have access to information like this, particularly about voting, because I am very involved in discussions regarding it on social media. For people who are less digitally inclined, this could be a very helpful release of info.
Voting is an essential way to participate in one's democracy. It is the way that people have a voice in creating their government to reflect their views and needs. Unions can be a powerful tool in organizing people to vote and then vote for a single candidate. I don't know if IATSE usually endorses candidates but I believe that it makes a lot of sense that they choose to endorse Joe Biden this year (although I could also just be biased). It is shocking how many people do not vote. We are incredibly lucky to be able to exercise our democracy and so voting is of the utmost importance regardless of political platform. I think that it is very good that IATSE is providing resources to get people registered to vote and to vote because as a whole unions benefit a lot if someone who supports them is in office.
Throughout the course of the year, voting has seen the limelight many times in many, mostly political, discussions, whether that be its general efficacy, its ability to be counted by mail, and even down to just what one single person's vote could mean. I was pleasantly surprised to see this article not being a simple candidate endorsement, but a wealth of information about the circumstances of voting this year as well. Of course it was not especially surprising to see IATSE's endorsement of the candidate who champions himself for the working man, but an endorsement can only go so far if the people you are endorsing to do not know how to carry it out. Given the wide range of membership in IATSE, this information very helpful in general, as many members that could see this may not have already have the information through ease-of-access on the internet. Overall, while it may not be pertinent to me, this is a very important article.
I am thankful I turned 18 during an extremely important election year. As a first time voter, I am eager to vote Trump out of office. Personally, I am going to actually go to the polls even though that means I will probably have to wait in a long line and be more at risk to COVID. I just don’t want to risk that my vote won’t count, especially since I will now be voting in a swing state rather than California. Mail-in voting could be an excellent option, although I have serious concerns that it could get lost in the mail, won’t arrive in time, or they might throw it out because you sent it in wrong. There are too many variables, especially because of the pandemic. It’s terrible that we are witnessing so much blatant voter suppression in this country. All eligible voters need to have access to vote in a democracy they also have to use that vote.
Dear lord I could not be happier to see every outlet encouraging young voters to get out to the polls. This is such a pivotal election with such incredibly high stakes, that there is no excuse not to be registered to vote. I have decided to vote in-person because I am healthy enough to take that risk, but knowing that there are many people who cannot afford that luxury, it is absolutely vital that we provide the proper resources for people to be able to register online, and vote by mail. Please, for the love of god, vote.
I just want to echo basically everything that the previous comments have said. It made me smile to see this union endorse Biden. I’m sure normally they would not be as involved, but given the special circumstances this year it makes sense to see them making their voices heard. It’s actually super inspiring to see people and organizations who would usually never speak out come out in support of Biden. Scientific American, for one, was particularly exciting. My family, who never used to be “pushy” about politics are now confronting Trump supporters on the street (which is probably not productive, but that is neither here nor there). People are more outspoken and passionate than ever and that is a beautiful thing.
And I am hoping that my generation is listening. Now that 4 years worth of my generation are eligible to vote that we could actually make a difference. It’s either that or the world essentially comes to an end, so we don’t really have a choice.
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