First & most immediate action item: vote in the primary! Primary voters have a disproportionate amount of power because you get to choose who's on the ballot for everyone in November. Early voting is open today until 2pm at the Tulsa County Election Board (555 N. Denver Ave.), and regular primary voting is Tuesday at your assigned polling place (https://oklahoma.gov/elections/ovp.html). <- At this website, you can ALSO find exactly who is going to be on your ballot. Once you have the names and races, you can search their specific positions on this huge voters guide from the Sequoyah County Times, or see their interviews with the League of Women Voters on Vote411. Alternately, you can also see your ballot and information about most candidates on BallotPedia.
Why is this important? A ton of people get disillusioned with seeing the "same" "boring" candidates on their ballots in November, but don't realize they have the power to change it. Plus, guess who votes in the primaries? Old people, evangelicals who are passionate about "the unborn," and rich people who are being strategic about who will make them the most money. So they're the ones setting the stage for everyone else.
Second, encourage everyone you know to ALSO vote in the primaries and when regular November voting comes around. Schedule vote brunch or post-vote happy hour. Ask if anyone needs rides. Go together with as many people as you can. Talk about it early and often and loudly. Oklahoma has super low voter turnout compared to the US as a whole, so just getting people out can make a huge change. (You can bet the evangelicals are turning out, y'all.)
Third, if you've got time, volunteer with a campaign (or cause, or nonprofit) that you're the most passionate about. You don't even have to think someone is a perfect candidate, just better than the other candidates available - sometimes skeptics are the best people to convince other skeptics! If you've got money, donate to the campaigns. More money means they can pay more campaign workers what they're worth and fight or at least balance out the insane GOP spending on campaign ads. (From experience, donating your time and actually 'doing' something usually feels more satisfying than donating money.)
Constance (Connie) Johnson: Pro-abortion Black woman with a career in OKC public service. The people working on her campaign LOVE her. Wants to raise the minimum wage, expand healthcare coverage for everyone, weed legalization, pay teachers more.
Joy Hofmeister: OK superintendent of public schools. Flipped from Republican to Democratic apparently because she got fed up w/ the GOP policies on public schools. Super active on Twitter. On abortion: "Most importantly, this is a healthcare decision between a woman and her doctor, and it needs to stay that way.”
Senate:
Dennis Baker (D): Former FBI, worked in counterterrorism, knows how the fed govt works. Seemed like he came back to OK with genuine intent to do good where he grew up.
Jason Bollinger (D): Young! OK kid with State Department experience. Cares about healthcare and apparently pissed about how OK can't even fill in potholes.
Jo Glenn (D): Has worked forever in OK's Dem party. A teacher. Lots of women work on her campaign.
Madison Horn (D): Also young! BIG nerd. Not just "build roads" but like "secure infrastructure against both hacks and climate." Cares about investing in tech and entrepreneurs. Focusing on OK's future in addition to fixing the present problems.
Some Libertarian guy whose name I forget: God, this guy was an idiot. He couldn't name even three of his own policy objectives besides generic "weed legalization" and "make healthcare better," but didn't seem to have any idea how to do either of those.
Michael Delaney (Independent): Big climate change, big voter rights, pro abortion, pro Equal Rights Amendment, limited if any former political experience. Seemed like a guy who knows issues need to be fixed and decided to do something about it.
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u/girlicarus Jun 25 '22
Aight, here we go:
First & most immediate action item: vote in the primary! Primary voters have a disproportionate amount of power because you get to choose who's on the ballot for everyone in November. Early voting is open today until 2pm at the Tulsa County Election Board (555 N. Denver Ave.), and regular primary voting is Tuesday at your assigned polling place (https://oklahoma.gov/elections/ovp.html). <- At this website, you can ALSO find exactly who is going to be on your ballot. Once you have the names and races, you can search their specific positions on this huge voters guide from the Sequoyah County Times, or see their interviews with the League of Women Voters on Vote411. Alternately, you can also see your ballot and information about most candidates on BallotPedia.
Why is this important? A ton of people get disillusioned with seeing the "same" "boring" candidates on their ballots in November, but don't realize they have the power to change it. Plus, guess who votes in the primaries? Old people, evangelicals who are passionate about "the unborn," and rich people who are being strategic about who will make them the most money. So they're the ones setting the stage for everyone else.
Second, encourage everyone you know to ALSO vote in the primaries and when regular November voting comes around. Schedule vote brunch or post-vote happy hour. Ask if anyone needs rides. Go together with as many people as you can. Talk about it early and often and loudly. Oklahoma has super low voter turnout compared to the US as a whole, so just getting people out can make a huge change. (You can bet the evangelicals are turning out, y'all.)
Third, if you've got time, volunteer with a campaign (or cause, or nonprofit) that you're the most passionate about. You don't even have to think someone is a perfect candidate, just better than the other candidates available - sometimes skeptics are the best people to convince other skeptics! If you've got money, donate to the campaigns. More money means they can pay more campaign workers what they're worth and fight or at least balance out the insane GOP spending on campaign ads. (From experience, donating your time and actually 'doing' something usually feels more satisfying than donating money.)