A NYer's guide to election volunteering this fall
How to take a bus to a swing state or just text from the comfort of your couch
With Labor Day squarely behind us and election day now less than two months away, the virus that entered the collective consciousness sometime in July is growing more powerful by the day: election fever, baby.
Due to various developments you already know about, a lot of people are suddenly a lot more invested in the November election than they were just a few months ago, and asking the obvious follow-up question, “How do I turn all this nervous energy into something potentially productive?”
Which is why we’ve taken it upon ourselves to compile a guide for New Yorkers on how to get involved between now and November, whether you’re more interested in the presidential race, or all the crucial local stuff that’ll also be on the ballot — New York’s Equal Rights amendment, Eric Adams’ city charter power grab, make-or-break house races and more. And we’ve also got options whether your thing is taking a bus to knock on doors in swing states or texting people from the comfort of your couch.
The presidential race
While the direction of New York’s electoral votes is more or less a foregone conclusion — even with Kathy Hochul in charge — Democrats are hoping that strong turnout numbers will be a bulwark against false claims of election fraud. So there’s still a robust amount of on-the-ground organizing around the upcoming presidential race.
Much of this is organized through New York for Harris, a “volunteer-led, grassroots, civic engagement group” that formed in 2019 in support of the Biden campaign and has since organized around battleground races both in and out of state, as well as for the Harris-Walz campaign.
The group holds weekly events along the lines of the remote happy hour “Cocktails and Calls for Swing States” and weekly buses into nearby swing districts and states (think Pennsylvania), as well as training for options like text banking and voter registration tailored to individual schedules and abilities. Events and sign-up options can be found here, and prospective volunteers can also reach out to newyorkforharris@gmail.com.
Every Friday at 4pm, the group also hosts a Zoom to answer questions and let the volunteer-curious know how they can get involved.
"We show you tools on how you can phone bank, text bank, send postcards, and we walk you through what the key races are,” Ny Whitaker, one of the group's founders, told The Groove. “And there’s a training at the beginning of every [phone bank] call.”
Whitaker added, “We want people to feel empowered that you don’t necessarily need to go to a campaign office or join a group. You can be most effective anywhere at any time of day in any way, and it’s just a matter of us connecting you.”
The Working Families Party also has a host of phone banking and working group opportunities — available here — aimed at both getting out the vote and encouraging voters to vote for the same candidates (i.e. the Harris-Walz ticket) on the Working Families Party line of the ballot, thereby throwing additional support to the WFP’s generally more-progressive-than-the-democrats agenda without running the risk of splitting the vote on a third-party candidate.
Prop. 1, the New York Equal Rights Amendment
We’re still waiting for a national Equal Rights Amendment nearly a century after the concept was first introduced, but in New York, a state-level version is one of the hottest issues on the ballot in November. Even in a self-declared safe haven for this kind of thing, the measure’s success is hardly guaranteed.
New York For Harris is organizing heavily around the ERA (volunteer options again can be found here). Prop. 1 is designed to enshrine freedom from discrimination based on reproductive decisions, as well as factors like age, disability and migrant status into the state constitution.
“And a lot of people are not aware of it,” Whitaker said.
The ERA is considered a top priority for organizers at the Democratic Socialists of America, as well.
Virginia K. Smith
“Just because New York is a ‘blue state’ doesn’t mean that we’re safe from right-wing threats to our rights,” James Irizarry, co-chair of the DSA’s Bronx/Upper Manhattan electoral working group, told The Groove via email. The group is planning a number of activations before election day, including tabling, voter education and voter registration.
Volunteers don’t need to be DSA members in order to pitch in with the organization’s efforts. Prospective volunteers can sign up here for email updates on DSA events,
City Charter revision ballot questions
You may recall Mayor Adams’ proposed charter revisions we talked about back in June, and come November, some of those will be on the ballot. In addition to the ERA, the DSA is making charter revisions one of their primary issues this fall.
As Dave wrote for us back in June, Adams’ proposed changes are designed to give the mayor handy ways of overriding the City Council’s ability to govern, particularly when it comes to issues around policing and spending.
Dave Colon
“Separation of powers is a vital component to our system of government, and it’s clear this revision is a power grab by Mayor Adams to give himself more say in decisions vital to working-class New Yorkers, which is why we’re organizing to stop the charter revisions,” Irizarry said.
If this particular issue especially gets your goat, once again, you can sign up for DSA organizing updates here.
Tight local House races
New York State humiliatingly delivered the house to Republicans back in 2022; this time around, tight house races are a primary focus of left-leaning organizations across the city and state. (In case you’ve blocked it out: New York democrats unexpectedly lost four house seats in the last round of midterms, tipping the balance of power in Congress back to Republicans by a razor-thin margin. Seven seats across the state are considered in play this election, and democrats are looking to flip at least four of them.)
Volunteer efforts for the New York State Democrats are primarily focused around close house races in areas like Long Island and upstate New York, with phone banking and canvassing opportunities available whether you live in or out of a given swing district — all those options can be found here.
New York for Harris also has its sights trained on these state-level local contests, notably with “New York State of Mind Monday” phone banks focusing on races in Westchester, the Hudson Valley and upstate, and “Long Island Strong” phone banks on Tuesdays.
“We’re very focused on making sure people know New York is a battleground,” Whitaker said. “There are six races that we’re working on, but if we can get a minimum of four, it’s a game changer.”
Work those polls
Closer to the finish line, local election boards also need all hands on deck for all days of early voting as well as election day itself. If you’re shy about campaigning for a specific candidate or cause, but still want to do something to ensure a smooth and fair election process, poll worker and voter protection jobs are perennially important and available options.
“In general, it can be difficult to recruit poll workers,” New York State Board of Elections director of public information Kathleen R. McGrath told The Groove. This is especially true in a year where we’ve already had primaries in both April and June, and it’s especially important; all that get-out-the-vote effort can easily be diminished if the actual voting process is a mess.
The state Board of Elections has a full guide on becoming a poll worker here (NB: poll workers do in fact get paid), and the Board of Elections in the City of New York also has a site for poll worker applications here.
Since we live in a world (and specifically, in a disorganized state) where even registered voters encounter all kinds of hassles and obstacles when they go to the polls, the New York State Democrats are also seeking out voter protection volunteers like poll observers and voter assistance hotline operators; find more info here.
If the idea of all of this sounds great in theory but intimidating or socially fraught in practice, this is as good a time as any to put your generalized New York social skills to work.
“Don’t overthink it,” said Whitaker. “We have conversations with strangers every day. You might ask someone where something is, or hold the door for a stranger. People underestimate themselves and their skills and abilities.”
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