AAUW Petaluma promotes equity for women and girls, lifelong learning, and positive societal change
In principle and practice, AAUW values and seeks diverse membership. There shall be no barriers to full participation in this organization on the basis of gender, race, creed, age, sexual orientation, national origin or disability.

AAUW’s Woman-to-Woman Voter Turnout Drive

Report on the workshop held by the national Public Policy team the day before AAUW California’s 2012 Convention

 

On a national level, AAUW is strongly encouraging voter registration drives this year, aimed particularly at millennial generation women (ages 18-30). Women’s issues are “hot” again today. National’s message: it’s extremely important to elect people with a strong commitment to women’s rights, rather than just a passive reaction to attacks.

 

AAUW's goals:

  • Make the election about our issues.
  • Help women understand what’s at stake from them at the ballot box.
  • Increase women’s influence in Congress
  • Increase our organization’s influence in Congress.

AAUW’s priorities:

  • Highest priority: increase turnout of key voters
  • Next important: increase election engagement (by holding forums on candidates, issues and ballot measures)
  • After that: build networks between our groups & millennials through social media & public relations, so they see us as trusted sources of information.

Why the emphasis on millennials?

The millennial generation is as large as the baby boom generation and has the potential to have just as great an impact on our society. As a group, millennial women are “confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change.” Many of their priorities align with AAUW’s: They care about access to birth control, fair pay, college affordability and unemployment. If they can be mobilized, National AAUW feels they will be a powerful force in guiding the country in a good direction.

Techniques for reaching this important group of women:

  • Face-to-face voter registration drives/canvassing on campus, at fairs, markets and other community events, outside stores like Trader Joe’s & Whole Foods; registration drives are most effective if students are involved in registering other students)
  • Cocktails and convos” (informal gathering of young persons at a bar, where someone speaks for 5-10 minutes, and then everyone socializes afterwards)
  • Through social media (while millennials all have email accounts, their main interaction with each other is through social media like Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
  • Phone banking to get out the vote (typical results: 1 voter for every 30 contacts)
    National AAUW can provide a database for calling, a sample script, and volunteer training tips.
  • Leafleting and direct mail not as effective (1 voter for every 189/200 contacts respectively), but helpful if combined with other techniques (face-to-face, etc.)
  • Partnerships with like-minded groups for the above activities (e.g., with League of Women Voters, NOW, Soroptimists, etc.)

National AAUW policy regarding forums on candidates, issues and/or ballot measures 

  • The National AAUW Public Policy Team strongly encourages these “voter engagement” activities, but considers them less important this year than voter turnout efforts.
  • National policy does allow candidate forums in elections where candidates are identified with specific political parties (e.g., congressional & state legislative races), provided that (1) the forum has been publicized and (2) all candidates have been invited.
  • Candidate forums are especially encouraged in districts where boundaries have changed (such as our own congressional district)
  • New policy: Two-candidate forums (e.g., Republican vs. Democrat) do not have to be cancelled if one candidate fails to show. The event can continue as a town hall-type meeting.

“Bird-dogging”

Candidates often try to avoid stating their positions on controversial topics. It’s important to get their position on the record. AAUW recommends that members ask direct questions in a polite and neutral manner wherever there is a question-and-and session. If the candidate sidesteps the question, say: “I don’t think you understood my question. Let me rephrase it.” If the candidate still doesn’t answer the question, then tell the media, “I’m disappointed that XXX didn’t address this issue.”

 

Voter Guides

Voter guides are a very effective tool with younger voters. AAUW will prepare a national voter guide template, where stated positions of candidates can be filled in and shown in comparison to one another. Wording of issues needs to be very neutral, so that it is not 100% clear which position AAUW supports (this is important, to preserve AAUW Action Fund’s 501(c)(4) tax status). Wording of issues not covered in the national template should be submitted to AAUW-CA for feedback, before inclusion in a published voter guide.

Important issues: privacy of reproductive health, paycheck fairness (many young women think the gap is past), social security (it is not well understood that this is absolutely essential for many older women), tax dollars for public, not private or religious schools, federal judge candidates’ positions on civil rights laws.

 

Candidates' positions can be researched on their own websites (= best source), through the Congressional voting records (AAUW keeps track, scores), and internet searches. It is very important to document the sources used in determining the positions reported for each candidate. 

 

AAUW is a 501(c)(3) organization which can register voters, hold forums on ballot measures and impartial candidate forums. "AAUW Action Fund" is a 501(c)(4) organization which can create voter guides and hold forums where only one candidate is present, in cooperation with any 501(c)(3) organization.

 

 
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