The Challenge:
Election Day is Nov. 3 – it’s time to put in the work.
We believe people are powerful when we work together, and the small actions we take can mean the difference between a vote being counted or not. For every day til Election Day, this plan will challenge you to devote a little time every day to things that are important to our democracy: civic engagement, racial justice, and community organizing.
Are you ready to take the challenge?
Week 1
Day-by-day breakdown is below the calendar – keep scrollin’!
Starting late? No worries! Complete the days that are circled in the calendar (asterisked in the day-by-day breakdown) to catch up, then jump right to today’s date.
Week 1 Breakdown
Waking up the civic engagement muscles!
Oct. 5
Relational organizing is easy! Send yesterday’s links to your most used group text, Facebook group, or in the chat of your next Zoom call. Ask everyone in your group if they have registered and filled out the census.
Oct. 6
Pull out your receipts or online shopping history. What were the last 10 businesses you purchased a product or service from and how many of those 10 were owned by white men? Write down your score, then look up POC and women-owned businesses that provide those same products or services.
Oct. 7
Take stock of your news consumption – where do you get most of your news and whose voices are you listening to? If your news is primarily from social media, follow 3 new local journalists/news sources that are women or POC. If your news is primarily from subscriptions, add a new credible, local source into your rotation.
Oct. 8
Look up the representatives for your district – who represents you and who is up for election in November?
Oct. 9
What types of media do you enjoy most? Write down the categories (e.g. fantasy novels, true crime podcasts, news broadcasts, rock music, makeup TikToks, etc). For your top 3 categories, evaluate what percentage of your consumed content is created by POC, women, and LGBT folks.
Oct. 10
Research voter suppression in your state. Do one of the following: contact a representative to give your opinion on these policies, contact friends you know who are affected by these policies to offer assistance, or put an open offer on social media to offer assistance to anyone who needs help voting.
Week 2
Week 2
Getting stronger together
Oct. 11
Ballots go out next week. Put the important dates on your calendar or set alarms – whatever you usually do to remember important things.
Oct. 12
Contact the last 5 people you’ve texted, DM’d, called, or talked to and ask them to check their registration at VoteWA.gov.
Oct. 13
Spend money in a local minority-owned small business on something you buy regularly from a white-owned business or large corporation
Oct. 14
Read one news article or watch one broadcast all the way through about an issue that you are passionate about. Share what you learned with someone you know.
Oct. 15
Look up the initiatives and referendums that will be on your ballot. Find one that you care about passing or not passing. Google your district and research the most important race or referendum on your ballot.
Oct. 16
Ballots are mailed today! Look up an upcoming voting-related event or volunteer opportunity and sign up to attend.
Oct. 17
Find a new creator in each of your top 3 media categories who is underrepresented in that category, and add them to your usual subscriptions/playlists. (Joined late? Reference the Oct. 9 task to find your media categories).
Week 3
Week 3 Breakdown
No such thing as fashionably late when it comes to your vote – get that ballot turned in!
Oct. 18
This week, double your tips for gig workers and service workers. If you don’t have money to spare, write a thank you note to an essential worker you know.
Oct. 19
One week to registration deadline! Post on social media and put links in your bio/change your profile picture to include a call to vote.
Oct. 20
You should receive your ballot this week if you have not already. Look through your local voter guides and identify one candidate or referendum as your “champion”. On the flipside, identify one candidate who has not represented your interests as well. Try to talk about one of these candidates in a conversation or on social media this week.
Oct. 21
Practice 5 minutes of meditation or quiet rest. Put your mental health as a priority today. Get lots of sleep, and reward yourself for your awesome work so far!
Oct. 22
For the representatives that are up for election in your district – look up [representative name] + [issue that you care about] to see their track records with an issue that you care about.
Oct. 23
Follow 5 new orgs/sources/people who are sharing accurate information about civic engagement and politics in subjects that are interesting to you. Focus on local sources, and be mindful of the diversity of voices you are following.
*Oct. 24*
VOTE, VOTE, VOTE. Today is Vote Early Day, and it’s very important this year to get your ballot in as early as possible. Mail it in, drop it in your nearest dropbox, or make a plan to vote in person if you absolutely cannot vote by mail. Once you drop your ballot, start tracking it every day at VoteWA.gov to make sure your vote was counted.
Week 4
Week 4 Breakdown
Start tracking your ballot every day at VoteWA.gov until your vote is counted! 2020 is not the year for voting mishaps.
Oct. 25
Contact 10 friends or family members to ask if they have voted. If not, make sure they are registered with a plan. Try to focus your outreach to people you know under the age of 30.
Extra credit: Contact one person whose name starts with each letter of the alphabet. Try to pick the youngest person for each letter in your contact list.
*Oct. 26*
Online and mail-in voter registrations must be received today! Post on social media using these graphics to get the word out. Remind anybody you interact with today that today is the last day to register. Follow up with any unregistered friends you had previously contacted.
Remember: mail-in registrations must be received by today (not postmarked today). If people miss the deadline, they can still register in-person on Election Day.
Oct. 27
Pick an issue that you are passionate about. Sign or create a petition and contact a representative about it.
Oct. 28
If you have the funds, pay rent to the indigenous tribe whose land you occupy. Research their history and find other ways to support indigenous peoples in your area.
Oct. 29
Look up and appreciate BIPOC women voting rights advocates. Research one who you have never heard of, and either share about her on social media or have a conversation about her with someone you know.
Just a few suggestions: Fanny Lou Hamer, Diane Nash, Ida B. Wells, Zitkála-Šá, Mabel Lee, Adelina Otero-Warren
Oct. 30
This weekend, challenge yourself to only consume media content from black creators. Watch TV shows and movies featuring black voices, listen to music and podcasts by black creators, and read books by black authors.
For social media, try to interact with and share content from black influencers. Try to get your news from black journalists and black newspapers like the Medium.
Oct. 31
Happy Halloween! Do one random act of kindness for someone else, and do one thing to be kind to yourself.
Week 5
Week 5 Breakdown
Election Day is finally here! *breathes into paper bag*
Remember: track your ballot on VoteWA.org every day to make sure your vote is counted.
Nov. 1
Set aside one hour today to devote to getting out the vote. Spend that hour texting, calling, emailing, and DM’ing as many of your friends and family as possible to make sure they have voted or have a plan to vote by 8pm on Nov. 3.
Nov. 2
Sometimes life happens and people have to register or vote in-person on November 3rd. Know your rights as a voter, and share this information so that anyone voting tomorrow is ready.
If you’ve cast your ballot, continue to track it using VoteWA.gov. If you are voting tomorrow, make sure you have a solid voting plan.
**Nov. 3**
IT’S ELECTION DAY!
Drop your ballot in a ballot drop box or vote in-person (with a mask) at a vote center before 8pm.
Post on social media, bug everyone you know, do whatever you can to make sure everyone gets their ballot turned in.
Nov. 4
Take a deep breath and feel proud of yourself for all the work you’ve done. Take care of yourself today, and focus on rest and gratitude.
Nov. 5
Time to peek at the results. Look up any new representatives you now have (keep in mind that the results of the election will take a while to be finalized as votes are counted). Take a deeper look at at least one new representative and form an informed opinion about them.
Nov. 6
Set up a monthly donation, or sign up for updates on volunteer shifts at a local civic engagement organization. The election is done, but the work continues.
Nov. 7
This is it, the final day!
Today, and every day until you get confirmation, check VoteWA.org to see if your vote was counted.
We will be updating this challenge so that it can be done at any time by anyone interested in kickstarting their civic engagement. Thank you for joining us on this journey and being a voter!