Persimmon Electoral Math

If the 56 YWCAs in the Great Lakes Region register and mobilize every staff member, board member, and program participant or client whose life we touch, we will see over half a million voters go to the polls in November.

Many YWCAs have carried out great voter engagement initiatives without dedicated staff or financial resources. To summarize what one local staff person said about her YWCA's voter engagement initiatives recently, "We had a cake to celebrate election day and let our residents know that we would help them get to the polls. It's not rocket science."

For advocates who want to know everything there is to know about voter engagement, GLA is hosting "Voter Engagement Academy" at it's June Staff Leadership Institute in Madison. Visit the Staff Leadership Institute page to learn more.

For those who are looking for a few basic ideas to get you started, the Western States Center has compiled an outstanding guide that is broken down into easy activities that can work with a range of audiences from organizing a "Meet the Candidates" event to holding a "Mock Election" to highlight how the process works and how easily disenfranchised groups can be shut out of the political process.

Building Grassroots Power - Western States Center's 195-page curriculum, Building Grassroots Power: An Introduction to Electoral Politics, is designed to support the eletoral organizing efforts of groups with 501(C)(3) or 501(C)(4) tax-exempt status.