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moveOn_Phone_dad.jpgPolitical action group MoveOn.Org demonstrated its remarkable ability to get people together to take action when 15,000 volunteers who attended 3,000 house parties registered an estimated 10,000 new voters by telephone in three hours.
Given that the last election was decided by just a few hundred voters, this was a remarkable accomplishment. Add to that the fact that MoveOn, which now has a membership base of 2.2 million, organized the whole event in just two weeks and you can see what a powerful grassroots organization they have become.
I attended a party on the Upper West Side in an incredibly hot apartment crammed full of more than 30 people. Undaunted, we each made our way through our list of 30 women in Florida who did not vote in the last election.
Every time someone got a “yes” we cheered. I hit pay dirt in one house where a mother and daughter who have never voted decided it was time for change. The president of a major firm registered an 82 year-old woman who has never voted. It was a truly inspiring demonstration of democracy in action.
To help them register we filled out the voter registration form (except for Social Security number which we told them to fill in themselves when they got the form.) We sent them the forms with a stamped envelope addressed to their state’s voter registration authority.