How the hard work of wooing 'unengaged' voters could make history

A small group of activists were ready when leaders of the “uncommitted movement” in Wisconsin and Michigan released a statement last week calling on their supporters to vote against Donald Trump. It was a step in the right direction, even if it didn’t result in outright support for Vice President Kamala Harris. On Monday, the activist group released a video ad aimed at these same “unengaged” voters. The ad was designed to complement the logic of their leaders’ announcement, making it clear to these voters how important it is to vote for Harris.

The story of the video is simple. A diverse group of adults, young and old, went out for a pizza dinner on election night. The festive mood is interrupted by a news alert on the television: “It now appears likely that Trump has beaten Harris for the White House.” »

The host then recounts some likely Inauguration Day scenarios: Trump saying he will be a dictator from day one, ending the Constitution, using the Justice Department to go after his enemies, or the Navy Seal team Six to murder them. Sad, a young woman at the table reacts: “I should have voted. »

Could a few activists producing a video influence an entire election by making the so-called uncommitted rethink their hesitation to vote at the top of the ticket? Yes, Virginia, politically engaged individuals working together to get others to vote might just change history.

Here is the context. The “uncommitted movement” organized this spring in Michigan and Wisconsin to persuade students, progressives and Arab Americans to vote “uncommitted” in those states’ Democratic primaries, rather than for Joe Biden. They did so to protest Netanyahu’s bombing of schools, hospitals and homes in Gaza, and the Biden administration’s supply of the bombs.

As the Washington Post reported last month:

In Michigan, home to the nation’s largest Arab-American communities, 13.3 percent of Democratic primary voters chose “uncommitted.” In Wisconsin, where Biden won in 2020 by about 20,000 votes, more than double that number indicated the same status. And in Pennsylvania, where the margin is expected to be just as slim, about 60,000 people wrote in a non-Biden version. All three states play an extremely important role in determining the winner in November.

Earlier this year, Eva Paterson, a longtime civil rights activist, watched the “Uncommit” movement form and grow. With unerring foresight, she set out to produce a general election video aimed at those voters in key battleground states. Paterson built his “little capable engine,” a team of fellow activists who formed a small PAC they named Bardo — the Buddhist term for the transitional space between death and rebirth. With a shoestring budget of $150,000, Bardo conducted a poll to test which issues most affected undecided voters, hired a screenwriter, a production company and an animator, who collaborated with a playwright, rights lawyers civic leaders, law professors and a young voter of color from a country. swing state to create the ad they called “Election Night.” They were excited to see last week’s big announcement in which @uncommittemvmt did three things:

They demanded a vote against Trump, which they said would “accelerate the massacres in Gaza.”
It is not recommended to vote for third-party candidates like Jill Stein, a Republican hobby horse.
And I avoided recommending against vote for Harris, even though they refused to support her.

They wanted the vice president to distance herself from Biden’s policies, but at the same time recognized that urging people not to vote for Harris could very well elect Trump. They recognize that as president he will only create more chaos, death and destruction.

Enter Bardo’s video with its message that squares the circle: those who want a ceasefire and a peace that preserves Gaza have only one practical choice: vote for Harris. Not voting will not be enough. Trump, on the other hand, told Netanyahu to “finish the job.”

The digital campaign is timed to reach these “uncommitted” and other “undecided” young voters as early voting begins in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. The same audience will receive the video in Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia. According to its developers, within three days of its release, the video reached 750,000 users on their mobile devices, tablets and connected TVs across thousands of websites, apps and streaming services, where young people inform.

The cumulative result of all these efforts may be far greater than the sum of its parts: a Kamala Harris presidency offers the only hope for lasting peace, a two-state solution and the preservation of our own rights, including the right to vote, to speak freely, and to make private family decisions without government intrusion. Like the Bardo activists, may we all do something, big or small, to advance the rebirth of American freedom.