Balloon Juice - What We Can Do / Playing to Win Archives

We are in the political fight of our lives.

Let’s get to work.

In the meantime, Abbie Hoffman, Howard Dean, Albert Camus, and Christopher Reeve have a few words for us.

“… democracy is not something you believe in, or a place you hang your hat, but it’s something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles and falls apart.”

“It’s not enough to beat the margin of error, we have to beat the margin of cheating.”

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”

“Once you choose hope, anything is possible.”

If that’s not enough to inspire you, this will light a fire.

“I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this — who will count the votes, and how.” ~Stalin, 1923

Resources & Suggestions from Playing to Win Threads

Click here.

Let’s Get to Work: Georgia!

by WaterGirl| November 7, 20201:30 pm| 198 Comments

This post is in: Election 2020, Open Threads, Political Action, What We Can Do / Playing to Win, This Fight Is For Everything

Let’s get started on Georgia for the January runoffs!

But first, a tweet from Stacey Abrams, where she shares the credit for Georgia’s flip!

So many deserve credit for 10yrs to new Georgia: @gwlauren @fairfightaction @nseufot @NewGAProject @AAAJ_Atlanta @GALEOorg @BlackVotersMtr Helen Butler @GeorgiaDemocrat @RebeccaDeHart DuBose Porter @DPGChair. Always John Lewis. Charge any omissions to my head. My heart is full.?

— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) November 6, 2020

In a separate post, I’ll be highlighting some of the people and organizations that Stacey Abrams credited above.

In the meantime, here are some great links if you want to donate or get involved.

Take Action – Get Involved

Fair Fight Georgia Volunteer request form

Warnock Volunteer request form.

GA Runoff Interest Form – fill this out if you want to help with the runoff

Jon Ossoff Campaign – get started here

Ossoff Upcoming Virtual Field Training

Donations

Donate to Fair Fight (hoping DougJ can make us a BJ thermometer, but in the meantime…)

Balloon Juice for Fair Fight

Donate to GASenate.com (donations split evenly between Ossoff, Warnock, and Fair Fight)

Jon Ossoff, Georgia Senate Runoff! (starting at 311,771, hoping DougJ can do a new BJ thermometer for the recount)

Raphael Warnock, Georgia Senate Runoff! (starting at 27,997, hoping DougJ can do a new BJ thermometer for the recount)

General Resources

How to help in Georgia (from Sam Wang)

Georgia Democrats

Georgia Secretary of State

Register Young People who will be 18 by Jan 5

I’m not sure what’s happening here at the moment, so this one is more of a placeholder.

Young people who will be 18 by Jan. 5 when the Senate run-off election happen can vote in the runoff. The voter registration deadline for the January runoff, is Dec. 7, 2020. And GA residents can register online.

GA residents can register to vote online.

Postcards!

MazeDancer’s PostCard Patriots will be doing postcards for the runoff.

#PostcardsToVoters hasn’t officially announced that they’re doing Georgia campaigns for the runoffs, but it seems highly likely as they are based in Georgia.

Letter Campaign!

VoteForward will have a letter campaign for the runoffs opening shortly as well.

Is anyone planning to get involved with the Georgia runoffs?

If you have any information to add, please add it in the comments.

Let’s Get to Work: Georgia!Post + Comments (198)

Outraged by Attempts at Voter Suppression in Georgia? You Can Help People Vote.

by WaterGirl| October 13, 20202:04 pm| 58 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Political Action, Vote Like Your Country Depends On It, What We Can Do / Playing to Win, This Fight Is For Everything

Feeling Angry, frustrated and outraged that Georgia once again doesn’t have enough voting machines to handle the turnout in Georgia, and people have to wait in line for hours?

We can’t add polling stations, but you can help turnout in Georgia!

Sign up to call newly registered voters and other voters of color in Georgia on Thursday from 3-8 Eastern Time to help make sure these voters know about early in-person voting.

Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC):

Early, in person voting began yesterday in Georgia. Sometimes called advanced voting, early voting can help voters avoid crowds or cast their ballot when it’s more convenient for them in the weeks prior to Election Day. Unlike Election Day, Georgia voters do not have to vote at an assigned polling location during early voting.

For this week’s SPLC Virtual Phone Bank, we will be calling newly registered and other voters of color in Georgia to help them find an early voting location nearest them along with the information they need to cast their vote early.

Using your own phone in your own home, you can help make sure Georgia voters know about early in-person voting. Our Virtual Phone Bank will provide you with a complete script, the names and phone numbers of voters, and easy-to-follow instructions to record the results of your conversation.

Register below to join SPLC supporters from across the country to help Georgia voters cast their ballots early in person!

Georgia Early In-Person Voting Power Hour
Virtual Phone Bank
Thursday, Oct. 15
3-8 p.m. Eastern Time

SIGN UP NOW

If you’re not doing this, please tell us what you are doing. We can do this.

Update: Promoted from below, a suggestion from Mousebumples for people who cannot contribute to political campaigns, for one reason or another. Food and water for folks who are standing in line to vote! Chefs for the Polls

Outraged by Attempts at Voter Suppression in Georgia? You Can Help People Vote.Post + Comments (58)

Brian Schatz: Roe v. Wade, Mike Espy, MJ Heger, Barbara Bollier, Election Protection

by WaterGirl| October 11, 20201:07 pm| 73 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Political Action, Politics, Vote Like Your Country Depends On It, What We Can Do / Playing to Win, This Fight Is For Everything

I listened to an interview with Brian Schatz on the Lovett or Leave IT podcast last night, and so much of what he had to say is important enough that I took the time transcribe the quotes below.

Q: You brought up the Supreme Court battle…

People don’t think choice is really gonna be taken away, and yet that’s exactly what’s gonna happen.

These people are absolutely committed to taking away women’s reproductive choice. they are going to do it as a matter of constitutional law. Now, we have recourse at the state level and maybe even in the federal government at the statutory level. But that’s actually what’s going to happen.

show full post on front page

Q: What are the tools that are at our disposal in terms of pushing the nomination until after the election?

We’re gonna do everything we can to actually delay this process… We will leave no stone unturned in terms of delaying the process. Whether or not we will be successful in delaying it beyond the election, I don’t know. That remains to be seen in the sort of scuffle of those moments.

I will add, though, that one of the most likely scenarios in terms of it being delayed is simply that Republicans can’t muster a quorum because of their exposure to coronavirus. So one of the most important things that 47 Democrats plus Democratic-leaning Independents can do in the Unite States Senate is to not get coronavirus.

I know that sounds kind of like a silly thing, but we have to be 47 strong so that we can either withhold a quorum or beat them on the floor vote.

Q: People are listening, they’ve donated… what is the most helpful thing you think people should be directing their energy to right now in the home stretch? We’ve got 24 days left. What Senate races do you want them focused on that they may not be focused on? What do you want them spending their time?

Mike Espy in Mississippi. This thing is close. [The appointed incumbent] is not a very strong or energetic campaigner, I think raised 200,000 last quarter. Mike Espy is surging. That’s a race that is still under-funded on our side.

MJ Hegar in Texas. For the same reason. She is surging. Biden just dropped 7 million dollars into TX and I think it’s a serious play for TX. And Beto and the Castro brothers and sort of Texas Democrats are really taking this quite seriously. And the thing about TX is there’s no point at which we have enough money for Texas, right?

There are other races where they do have enough money. [Mentions Amy McGrath and Mark Kelly.] MJ Hegar really doesn’t have enough money. Those are the two races that I find most intriguing.

I would add Barbara Bollier is very important.

And I’m forgetting the website, but the DSCC has a place to sign up to do Voter Protection…. There is a bottomless need for volunteers who can work the phone and just read from a script and walk people through their voter protection rights.

It might be as simple as [say 3,000 ballots with technical problems with a ballot, and they only have 24 hours to go into the precinct to fix it. So we need an army of volunteers to call those people and to walk them through the process to “cure” their ballot so their vote is counted and valid.

It’s really worth a listen, but I highly recommend starting at the 30-minute mark and listening to the interview.

Mike Espy, Mississippi Senate

MJ Hegar, Texas Senate

Barbara Bollier, Kansas Senate

Brian Schatz: Roe v. Wade, Mike Espy, MJ Heger, Barbara Bollier, Election ProtectionPost + Comments (73)

Take Action: Help Protect The Swing States

by WaterGirl| September 25, 20201:15 pm| 131 Comments

This post is in: Political Action, What We Can Do / Playing to Win, This Fight Is For Everything

The Pod Save America guys talked last night about how much impact our framing can have, and does have, on this election.

They say that if we speak and act as though Trump can and will steal the election, that actually helps make it easier for him to do exactly that.

They say that all the talk about what we fear helps normalize the very things that we fear, and that enables the Trump and the other Republicans in their efforts. Are they right? I don’t know. But that makes sense to me, and I have decided that I am going to try to follow their advice.

Recent events makes it more important than ever for us to do everything we can to stop them. We have John Lewis, and now Ruth Bader Ginsburg, counting on us to pick up their fight.

They also said that 50% of people under 30 are not planning to vote. I can’t think of even one Republican in office or in this administration that is not despicable. They have to go. So if you’re not already helping, or if you are but think you can do more, let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work.

…..

This came in from Avalie, via TaMara. I’ll add other vote protection options if you add them in the comments. Plus we have a ton of voter protection options on the What We Can Do list.

Volunteer to protect the vote in key swing states.

Protect Our Vote, a project of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is recruiting individuals to staff voter protection hotlines, volunteer as poll observers, and sign up to be election workers during Early Vote and on Election Day. All training is provided, and no law degree or other experience is required. You can sign up here.
Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight 2020 is building voter protection teams with Democratic state parties and local allies across the country to protect the right to vote. You can sign up to volunteer here.
You can also sign up to help the Biden campaign with voter protection efforts as a poll observer here.

Help inspire others – please tell us in the comments what you are doing to help with this effort.

Take Action: Help Protect The Swing StatesPost + Comments (131)

Winning is Everything: Consider Texas!

by WaterGirl| September 8, 202012:00 pm| 177 Comments

This post is in: Political Action, Politics, What We Can Do / Playing to Win

No rest for the weary. Or is it wicked? Either way, it’s go time. We have just 57 days left.

Check out Election Action in the sidebar –>

How to do the most political damage to the GOP for the least amount of money? Do Texas.

(Information supplied by Joel Hanes.)

A Few Dollars Can Make a Big Difference

A few dollars can make a big difference in a state legislative campaign, in a way that’s just not possible in national contests.

The heavily-gerrymandered Texas House is the point of greatest potential leverage, the big enchilada.

show full post on front page

Texas has 38 electoral votes; its current delegation in the US House comprises (R) 23, (D) 13. Texas voters have slowly been trending purple for several cycles: if we can flip the Texas statehouse before it redistricts, we can break the Republican grip on the US government.

Contribute to the Texas Democratic Party

For a dead-simple way to help that happen, contribute here to the Texas Democratic Party, which is vigorously pursuing a Red to Blue statehouse strategy: Texas Democrats Announce 22 Targeted State House Districts Ahead of 2020

Get Personally Involved in a Grassroots Effort in Texas

But if you want to feel some personal involvement with the grassroots, read on.

Independent grassroots organizer Susan Bankston Duquesne* is the proprietor of Juanita Jean’s, where she suggests direct contributions to the individual campaigns of 17 Texas Democrats who lost by less than 10% in their 2018 bid to flip an R district.

Maps

Here are maps of the districts and the candidates

The upper maps show the Democratic challengers; the lower maps show the Republicans who won in those same districts. (Note that 14 of the 17 Democrats are women and 6 are persons of color, while 15 of the Republicans are white men.)

Get Invested in a Candidate

So I hope you will choose one of the candidates listed below, and donate directly to their campaign. Look at their campaign site, get to know them. Think of them as your candidate, in whose success you have invested.

There are two links for each candidate – their campaign site and the Act Blue donation site.

Akilah Bacy HD 138
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Ann Johnson HD 134
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Natalie Hurtado HD 126
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Celina Montoya HD 121
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Brandy Chambers HD 112
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Joanna Cattanach HD 108
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Elizabeth Beck HD 97
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Joe Drago HD 96
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Alisa Simmons HD 94
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Lydia Bean HD 93
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Jeff Whitfield HD 92
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Lorenzo Sanchez HD 67
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Sharon Hirsch HD 66
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Angela Brewer HD 65
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Keke Williams HD 54
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Eliz Markowitz HD 28
Campaign Site
ActBlue

Sara DeMerchant, HD 26
Campaign Site
ActBlue

—
* Juanita says:

For three election cycles, I have begged for your money to help flip Fort Bend County, the largest suburban county in Texas. Once we flip Fort Bend, we can flip Texas, I argued.

And once we flip Texas, there will never be another Republican in the White House. Hillary carried Fort Bend in 2016 and in 2018, every Democrat on the ballot won. With your help, we did it.

Winning is Everything: Consider Texas!Post + Comments (177)

Election Nerds: Share Your Maps

by WaterGirl| September 7, 202011:52 am| 145 Comments

This post is in: Political Action, Politics, What We Can Do / Playing to Win

One of our jackals sent me the map he created at 270towin. This looks a bit grim to me, but I am including it as a starting point.

If any of you want to share a map you have made, send me a picture or a link, or include your link in the comments, and I’ll add your actual map in the comments. Same goes for anyone who hasn’t made a map yet, but is inclined to make one now.

Click here to create your own map.

Don’t forget to hit the button on the page that says “reset map” and then start making your changes. Then it sticks.

Oh, and unless your map is at 405 for the Dems, and even if it is, tell us what you are doing to give us a decisive win in November. Map or no map, tell us what you’re up to.

Election Nerds: Share Your MapsPost + Comments (145)

What We Can Do: Election Protection

by WaterGirl| August 24, 202011:00 am| 43 Comments

This post is in: Political Action, Politics, What We Can Do / Playing to Win

Not quite two weeks ago, I put up a post called What We Can Do: 85 Days, 85 Things and asked you to help come up with a list of 85 things we can do for the 85 days that were left.

Thanks to all of you, we now have a list of 81 things on that list, and 72 days left to do everything we can to save our democracy.

You can find the full list under Featuring in the sidebar.

By the way, is anyone even looking at that list for ideas? There’s no point in my adding to the list if no one is looking at it. :-)

Today we are featuring the action group Election Protection.

Election Protection (information supplied by Winston)

Watergirl asked me to write up a blurb about this information, so without further ado:

I was reading the comments in this WAPO article:

Trump’s suggestion of deploying law enforcement officials to monitor polls raises specter of voting intimidation

and felt compelled to post my own comment to the effect that democrats ought to raise their own army to monitor Trump’s army. I immediately was replied to that we already had such an organization and it was called ELECTION PROTECTION. Tens of thousands of volunteers. So I checked it out and signed up.

Per their web page:

The national, nonpartisan Election Protection coalition was formed to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process. Made up of more than 100 local, state and national partners, Election Protection works year-round to advance and defend the right to vote.

Election Protection provides Americans from coast to coast with comprehensive voting information on how they can make sure their vote is counted through a number of resources including:

1) a suite of voter helplines: 866-OUR-VOTE (administered by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law), 888-VE-Y-VOTA (administered by the NALEO Educational Fund), 888-API-VOTE (administered by APIAVote & Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC), and 844-YALLA-US (844-925-52872) Arabic language hotline (administered by Arab American Institute);

2) voter protection field programs across the country; and 3) digital tools including 866ourvote.org, @866ourVote, and facebook.com/866OurVote

ELECTION PROTECTION VOLUNTEERS

Volunteer Opportunities with Election Protection – Educate. Empower. Protect.

Election Protection – led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law – is the nation’s largest non-partisan voter protection coalition. Through the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline and our voter assistance field program, Election Protection helps ensure eligible voters are able to participate in our democracy while collecting data for meaningful reform so that our elections are free, fair, and accessible.

We are currently recruiting volunteers in a number of states across the country to help voters in 2020. Please note that we recruit volunteers in the states where they live and cannot support deployment to other states.

Are you a lawyer, paralegal, law student or other legal professional? Sign up to volunteer with Election Protection at https://electionprotection.wetheaction.org/
If you aren’t a legal professional, sign up with Election Protection with our nonpartisan poll monitoring program at https://protectthevote.net/

Please email [email protected] if you have any questions.

What We Can Do: Election ProtectionPost + Comments (43)

mrmoshpotato on Saturday Night Open Thread (Jul 12, 2025 @ 9:37pm)

mrmoshpotato on Saturday Night Open Thread (Jul 12, 2025 @ 9:29pm)

Elizabelle on Saturday Night Open Thread (Jul 12, 2025 @ 9:27pm)

Jackie on Saturday Night Open Thread (Jul 12, 2025 @ 9:25pm)

Liminal Owl on Fox News Friday Open Thread (Jul 12, 2025 @ 9:23pm)