50+ Ways to UU the Vote

As progressive people of faith we can seize the opportunity the current electoral cycle offers us to meet and talk with our neighbors, fight for our values, expand democracy and be part of organizing on the many issues we care about for justice. 

1. Form an electoral justice committee at your church
2. Contact justice organizations in your community and volunteer for their voter outreach efforts
3. Donate to partners and front-line community organizations
4. Help collect signatures on justice-oriented ballot initiatives for raising wages, criminal justice reform, climate justice and more
5. Pass the plate for local groups doing voter outreach
6. Invite speakers from different issue-based campaigns to speak at your worship service
7. Hold a fundraiser event for local groups doing voter outreach
8. Send invitations to local groups letting them know meeting space is available at your church 
9. Hold a non-partisan forum in your church
10. Have a special skill like legal, marketing, or accounting? Volunteer pro-bono time to a local group
11. Phone bank or text bank with a justice partner organization
12. Connect with your UU State Action Network (22 states have one)
13. Research voter registration and voter turnout rates in your community and make an outreach plan—in consultation with partner groups is best. (check voter registration deadlines)
14. Register high school students who will be 18 by Nov. 2020—contact local high schools and student groups and work with your congregation’s youth group (use UUtheVote.org/register)
15. Work with campus groups to setup voter registration tables at area colleges and canvass the dorms
16. Create a playlist of songs that give you the will to persevere and be brave
17. Organize a text banking party to send text messages to selected groups of voters
18. Go door-to-door in your own neighborhood talking to neighbors about what issues matter in the next election
19. Sign up to be an elections monitor in districts with known voter suppression issues
20. Connect with other denominations to participate in a “souls to the polls” mobilization day
21. Offer to drive people to the polls or be a driver for get-out-the-vote volunteers
22. Attend a training on get-out-the-vote
23. Create a spiritual support circle to share, discuss, and be nourished by theological grounding to support your social justice work
24. Sign the pledge to #VoteLove and #DefeatHate in 2020 and recruit friends to sign the #VoteLove pledge
25. Fund your congregation’s electoral work or justice project using the UUA’s crowdfunding platform, Faithify.org. 
26. Make and share a video about why it’s important to you to vote this year
27. Send a letter to the editor of your local paper
28. Share or make a guide to local ballot initiatives in your area (look up 2020 initiatives by state)
29. Volunteer with groups opposing unjust ballot initiatives such an anti-immigrant and anti-reproductive justice measures
30. Set up a weekly dinner to support community members deeply involved in justice work
31. Organize movie nights at your church or community center to show films about the fight for the right to vote like Suppressed: The Fight to Vote by Brave New Films
32. Host a book club on books about electoral justice (consider Beacon Press’ Daring Democracy)
33. Interview members of your church who were involved in the past movements like civil rights, anti-apartheid, sanctuary, LGBTQ, women’s rights, and environmental to capture that history and learn its lessons
34. Interview young members of your church who are involved in current movements to capture that history and learn its lessons
35. Hold a sign-making party the night before big events like climate strikes or women’s marches
36. Create memes about justice news of the day and use the #UUtheVote hashtag
37. Include #UUtheVote regularly in worship services and give updates and keep up momentum
38. Hold a #UUtheVote kickoff event in your congregation
39. Provide at least four opportunities for congregational members to #UUtheVote together
40. Send out notices to your congregational lists and groups from partner organizations who need volunteers
41. Join the UUtheVote Facebook Group
42. Sign up on the UUtheVote Slack Channel
43. Subscribe to UUtheVote email list
44. Help meet the 2020 challenge and contribute to or raise funds for #UUtheVote
45. Apply for a UU Funding Program Voter Project Grant 
46. Hire a part-time coordinator for your #UUtheVote efforts 
47. Pay a stipend to someone already doing voter engagement work to help coordinate your volunteers
48. Compensate a partner group to provide voter registration and GOTV training and maps and lists of where to go
49. Learn how to use new voter apps, practice with friends, and train others
50. Connect with other UU congregations in your area to join forces and expand your volunteer pool
51. Work on local ordinances that impact your community and will motivate people to vote (get creative: one congregation facing proposed bus line shutdowns sent teams to bus stops and also rode the buses to talk with people and gather signatures)
52. Be part of Early Voting Drives (check early voting requirements)
53. Talk with and register voters at your food pantry and/or meals programs
54. Use your second language skills and help register new citizens
55. Join efforts to reach out to voters who have been purged to get them re-registered
56. Register voters using online tools such as UUtheVote.org/register 
57. Post a Facebook message to your friends asking them to check to see if they are registered and tell them how to register at UUtheVote.org/register
58. Use Vote Forward to send letters to voters in other states
59. Send teams to other states when asked for help
60. Share YOUR suggestions with our UU community on our #UUtheVote Facebook and Slack channel.