We registered a voter this weekend. That’s right, one voter.
+1 McLennan County.
I know what you’re thinking:
Who the hell cares? What a waste of time.
But was it?
Think about it for a second.
Yes, we have no idea how she will vote or even if she will.
This isn’t convincing me at all, you’re thinking.
Well, anonymous naysayer I’m writing to for the purpose of this mock argument, you’re correct in that registering voters doesn’t automatically mean that they will vote.
But what we did was create a potentially new direction for our area.
We gave her access to influence.
See, she was an eligible but unregistered voter. Now she is an eligible and registered voter.
Now she can vote in any direction. Or she could do nothing with it. That’s her right. Whatever she does with her vote (or lack) she will influence her area and the county to some extent.
While seemingly small, these little movements over time move things.
She said she’s an independent and wasn’t sure what party she belonged to after she signed up.
Given that she’s potentially a swing voter, we gave her flyers showing why she should vote Republican and some literature about local Republican clubs and collected her form.
We cannot make her vote, but she’s a step closer to voting – for Republicans, hopefully.
(And to my cynical and critical inner voices, yes, we also got 6 signups for Trump and Cruz signs. Aside from $3.29 on a 24-pack of water, we spent nothing and saw some sweet cars at the show, which made it worthwhile.)
If you were a politician trying to win an election, would you say that having access to a swing voter was a time waste?
Consider all the things that candidates spend money on as they try to influence voters to vote for them at the ballot box. I’m not sure they’d agree:
Mailers, flyers, postcards, texts, phone calls, door knockers, door hangers, bumper stickers, pins, T-shirts, yard signs, radio ads, TV ads, billboards, appearances, interviews, web ads, social media ads, fundraisers, parades. Then there’s hiring staff, consultants, offices, supplies, etc.
Why is that?
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They’re trying to influence voters (i.e. you) to consider voting them into power.
If they can influence you to empower them, they can influence a piece of the world, whether locally, state, or nationally (which has international ramifications).
That’s why, in addition to adding voters, cleaning ineligible voters from the voter rolls matters. They shouldn’t be voting where they are not eligible because those who shouldn’t cancel out legal voters.
Think about it. If you’re a campaign and don’t have as much money as your rivals, then every dollar counts, and so does every minute of campaign season to sway undecided voters.
Wouldn’t it be great to know which voters won’t vote because they are ineligible? You know, because they died, aren’t citizens, registered at an ineligible address, are in prison, or moved?
Election integrity issues aside that would save your campaign a ton of time and money as each voter costs quite a lot to try and market to.
It also prevents winners of razor-thin margins from going to court over challenged voters. (Although if you lose, these are great things to have in your back pocket.)
So far, I’ve manually confirmed two of the fourteen voters I challenged in my precinct have been completely removed. One was the woman who died (a hard Republican), and the other was a guy (a hard Democrat) who moved to North Carolina I requested his county clerk send McLennan records to cancel him. Net zero change to the party ratio of Precinct 30 of McLennan County until further notice.
I’m still waiting on the other twelve submissions, since the deadline to challenge and remove is August 7. I’ll post updates as more cleanups occur, as canvassing would be easier for me and the candidates to know who’s gone.
It took a while for us to get to this point. Where we are in life, society, a state, and as a country, are the results of trillions of decisions people make every day on the personal, business, and governmental levels. It’s not going to be overnight to get to the ideal situation. But it can be a better situation than the previous day.
That’s why I am not ashamed of getting one new registered voter. That is one more than the previous day.
Just like I’m not ashamed of cleaning two voters from the rolls who are ineligible, that’s two fewer people who shouldn’t be eligible to vote in my precinct.
There’s lots more work to be done of course. The small wins and improvements shouldn’t get overlooked either. That’s where the real work is done.
Speaking of small changes, if you are like me and are into reading books about self-development and development on a larger level, I recommend you buy a copy of Atomic Habits by James Clear and read it. It is not about taking on radical changes, but rather making small changes such as a 1% shift that results in exponential growth over time. It’s why most diets and New Year’s resolutions fail. I highly recommend that you check it out.
If you’ve had any successes in your life, your business, or your community this week, no matter how seemingly small, please feel free to share them in the comments. It encourages me to write and encourages other readers to incorporate success. Also, if you have any ideas or information that you wish to share with me please leave a comment below.
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