UC Santa Cruz Women Get Out the Vote

In California we are thrilled with the results of our tremendous Get Out the Vote effort for progressive candidates. We worked through the mainstream Democratic party for regional precinct walking and calling, MoveOn.org for targeted national donations and Democrats for America for targeted national calling. With dozens of UC Santa Cruz students,  field tested United Farm Worker organizers and other experienced union leaders, we older white activists have moved into appropriate supporting roles. Now we walk alongside or behind, instead of out front. Our strategy worked as we now have the most diverse legislature in the nation, more accurately reflecting the face of our people.

When I was a teenage civil rights worker in rural Alabama in 1965, we believed that if every African American citizen was guaranteed their vote, that would end discrimination and change the course of history. The arc of that change has been longer than we could have imagined, but that change is still in motion. You can slow it down or join with others to speed it up, but as the old Sam Cooke song goes, change is gonna’ come!

Democratic Men at Work November 2nd Watsonville, CA

Maria Gitin & Rosana del Rio precinct workers in the rain