537 Votes Needed In Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, And Surrounding Areas
November 3rd, 2008 by EthanOkay, yes, I am election obsessed.
And yes, Barack is looking pretty electable right now.
But let me paint a picture for you.
There are a handful of counties around Philadelphia: Berks County, Bucks County, Chester County, Delaware County, Lehigh County, and Northampton County. They are a mixture of suburban and rural… If Barack Obama does well in those counties, plus Philadelphia-proper and Pittsburgh, he wins Pennsylvania and makes it virtually impossible for McCain to pull off a dramatic last-minute upset.
Also, Pennsylvania does not have early voting. So for PA voters, it all comes down to one tiny slice of time out of one day of the year — from 7 am - 8 pm, tomorrow, Tuesday, November 4th — and that slice of time could very well determine the course of history.
Does every single vote matter? Yikes! Of course! Especially places like Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio.
Remember this: 537 people, out of millions, saying things like: “Nah, I just don’t have the time,” or, “I just don’t feel like it,” effectively gave George W. Bush the Presidency in 2000. Yes, George W. Bush beat Al Gore by 537 votes in the state of Florida in 2000, and thus took the Oval Office. And we’ve seen the results…
I’m just saying…. that if we don’t want a President who will deregulate the power industry to benefit the worst polluters…. if we don’t want a President who would rather cater to the NRA, logging, and drilling than protect endangered species…. if we don’t want a President who gives billions upon billions of dollars to massive corporations that produce unsafe food from factory farms…. if we don’t want a President who will refuse to stand up to Detroit and their 20 mpg cars…. if we don’t want a President who will promote “Drill, baby, drill” over 5 million green jobs…. if we don’t want a President who will stay in Iraq for 100 years or 1,000 years or will joke about bombing Iran….
THEN WE HAVE TO WIN THIS ELECTION.
We have to. And that means making sure PA stays blue.
They will slime, they will suppress, they will subvert…. but regardless of those underhanded tactics not trying hard enough to get Barack elected is simply not an option.
Okay, so what to do?
First, if you know anyone in PA, here are some important links for them:
- www.votespa.com — The Pennsylvania Department of State’s online voting information and resource center
- Find your polling place in Pennsylvania.
- VotesPA.com’s Voting Reminder Sign-up — receive alerts delivered right to your phone or computer
- Any questions? Contact your county elections representative.
- Any problems? Were you not allowed to vote for some reason? Was your voting machine switching your vote from Barack Obama to John McCain? Never walk away from the polls if you are having problems. Simply report the problem immediately to poll watchers on-site. If you are turned away, you should be able to vote by provisional ballot. You can vote by provisional ballot right then, and they will be counted separately but added to the total within 7 days of Election Day.
- If you have any problems or see anything fishy, don’t hesitate to contact the media. CNN has a Voter Hotline: 877-GOCNN-08. Send photos and videos to iReport.com. Another number to call is 866-OUR-VOTE (or 888-VE-Y-VOTA for Spanish-language help). Put that number into your cell phone before you go to the polls! Do you Twitter? Report problems, lines, delays, and any other such update to TwitterVoteReport.com.
And lastly, below is an email I sent to my whole address book yesterday. Feel free to copy and paste it into an email of your own:
———————————————————————————-
Hi,
So we have this big election on Tuesday. I have decided to do everything I can to help my candidate, Barack Obama.
My message is two-fold:
First: Please vote. Please make voting on Tues Nov 4th your #1 priority. Please be determined to cast your ballot come hell or high water. Vote as if your life depended on it. B/c the direction this country takes will drastically effect your life, as we have seen.
Second: Take 5. Please take 5 minutes and send an email to your whole address book. Call 5 people - or all people - in your cell phone. Take 5 people to the polls with you on Tuesday. Call 5 swing state voters. Meet up with 5 friends at a phone bank and make some calls (there are dozens of phone banks set up in cafes and clubs all over the place)… Please remind people to vote and ask them to remind 5 of their friends.
Here are some links/resources where you can help out… pass ‘em on!
- Find your Polling Location (and what you need to bring in order to vote, if anything):
http://www.govote.org - Call Swing States from Your Home:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/phonebankmap - Call Obama Voters in Swing States from Phone Banks in NYC-area (these are committed Obama voters, you’re just reminding them to get out and vote):
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/nylastcall/ - Obama Events, Gatherings, Parties, Phone Banks, etc (search by zip code and radius):
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/search_simple - Call MoveOn.org Members in Battleground States:
http://pol.moveon.org/obama/teams/index.html?id=14931-3543074-GKMyW2x&t=2 - Are you a lawyer? Volunteer to help the Obama Voter Protection Program make sure the election is fair and legal:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/vpcvol2 - Got Friends + Fam in Florida? Schlep out the Vote!
http://www.thegreatschlep.com/schlep/election_day_reminder
http://www.thegreatschlep.com/schlep/phone_call - NYC to Philly GOTV Trips:
http://www.brooklynforbarack.org/2008/09/26/gotv-weekend-help-bring-pa-home-for-barack/
http://www.brooklynforbarack.org/2008/09/25/oct-26-fired-up-for-philly-lets-bring-pa-home-for-barack/
Let’s get out the vote, and, as Barack says: “let’s change this country and change the world!”
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