By Jaylynn Choi, Civic Engagement Organizer
Y’all the last few weeks have been WILD! Alliance San Diego has officially launched its voter outreach campaign to reach out to communities about the election, and the landscape is shifting in real time. Like really shifting. But through it all, our goal remains the same — elevate the voices of a rising majority of voters, especially young voters like me.
This will be the second presidential election I get to vote in, and here in California, it’s also a chance to vote on ballot measures that will shape our future and uplift dignity and human rights.
I am a part of Gen Z, the generation that had to socially distance in our teens during the pandemic, took classes on Zoom, and watched as the world seemed to fall apart. From my fingertips, I witnessed communities of color under siege, with the murder of George Floyd and the rise of hate and violence against people like me, an Asian-American woman. I also saw what collective multiracial power looks and feels like. In face of uncertainty and anxiety in the run up to the 2020 election, my generation knew our lives and the lives of others were at stake. We could not afford to stand by and do nothing. So, Gen Z came together to fight for things that matter to us. Now, we have another opportunity, and our votes can make the difference.
The stakes are high, and my generation is choosing to fight for the future we need. A future where we can afford housing, we can love who we want, we can get to where we need to go on public transportation, we can count on clean water, we are prepared for climate changes, we are paid fair wages, and we humanize not criminalize immigrant communities and communities of color. All that is on the ballot, and it’s our job at Alliance San Diego to educate voters, especially new and young voters like me on how to participate in this election.
The civic engagement team at Alliance San Diego has prepared a dynamic voter outreach program to turn out voters. We know that one-on-one and in-language conversations coupled with emails, texts, and digital messages give people the tools and confidence to vote. We have a strong track record of boosting turnout and are turning to you to help us amplify our reach.
We invite you to make a donation today of $25, which will cover preparation, training materials, and dispatch for each leader we bring on. A gift of $150 will pay for that leader to canvass a neighborhood, provide election education materials, and motivate our community to get out and vote. Together, we can move a wave of energized voters like me to vote in November.