Help scare up some votes this Friday
(threats with a bloody chainsaw not advised).
(Photo © J. Maus)
(threats with a bloody chainsaw not advised).
(Photo © J. Maus)
Looking for another excuse to pedal around the city wearing your Halloween costume?
Want to help remind folks to vote and help distribute (non-partisan) voter guides?
Why not Trick or Vote by bike!?
Trick or Vote is a massive, non-partisan, nationwide get-out-the-vote effort happening in cities all over the country on Halloween night (10/31). The Portland edition has two canvasses, both starting at Audio Cinema (226 SE Madison). After the canvasses, the party starts back at Audio Cinema at 8:00 pm.
More info at TrickorVote.org.
And remember, the only really scary thing about an election is not voting!
Why be nonpartisan when you can VOTE FOR OBAMA?
Seems to me the really scary thing about this election is the thought of the zombie chipmunk and Fascist Barbie running the country.
I think President Fascist Barbie would be more interesting. First, Zombie Chipmunk would have to croke. Then F-Barbie would bomb bomb bomb Iran! Aaaaah, crap. Whatever.
I’m voting for da brothaaaa, with my fingers crossed for the next four years. At least no one can say, “Let’s stick it to da man.”
I’ll be going! Trick or Vote is an amazing event, the Bus Project does a great job with it every time. Voter turn out and particularly youth voter turn out is critical in this election! It really is a numbers game and we should all be involved in making sure our fellow Portlanders vote.
It is great to knock on people’s doors when they are actually expecting people to be randomly coming by. It really is the best way to mobilize people on the best day to do so. And it’s a great time to boot!
To Velo Vanguard: As a person who has done a lot of youth vote work I can attest that nonpartisan messaging can be a really good way to get people involved in electoral politics who are otherwise disengaged. Voting for Obama is great and I hope that you are out talking to people about him. That doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t come out for a night of Trick or Voting!
I participated in Trick or Vote during the last presidential election and, to be frank, it was awful. We were assigned in the downtown area where all of the apartment and condo buildings required us to be buzzed in. I wasn’t able to talk to anyone and gave up after not gaining access to any of the buildings. I would have had a much better time going to the neighborhoods in the rest of the city.
To Jauna-
Just so you know the Trick or Vote people aren’t going to be hitting any apartment/condo buildings this year. So it should be smooth sailing! Or rather spooky sailing.
Thanks so much for your feedback above, Jauna. I’m one of the organizers for Trick or Vote, and luckily, the technology we use to find voters who haven’t yet turned in their ballots has advanced such that we now can avoid locked apartment and condo complexes. We’ll only be canvassing neighborhoods this year and won’t be sending folks to any apartment buildings.
I’m really really sorry you had an bad experience last time. We’ve worked hard to learn from past events, and we have a super sweet Trick or Vote 2008 planned for you guys. Hope to see you there!
Costumes and politics? Freakin’ rad.
Shop smart, shop S Mart! Thats a great Ash costume on the bike! My favortie movie/character of all time.
Glad to hear that things have improved!
Darn, primative got to it first. Ash on a bike, awesomeness.
I wanted to offer another general plug for the event — I’ve been volunteering with the Bus Project for a couple of years, and with Trick or Vote going national this year, I’m especially excited about seeing Portland show all the other cities hosting one just how it’s done.
That being said, I wanted to offer one brief piece of advice: if you really, really want to go out to canvass via bike (not just get to and from Audio Cinema), you should let the folks know when you sign in. Most folks will get assigned a seat in another volunteer’s car, so if you let ’em know you don’t need more wheels than the two that got you there, it’ll free up seats for someone less transportationally-enlightened.