Election Day is November 3, 2020. The right of every US citizen to vote for their representatives is crucial and fundamental in our democracy. Many high school students are not yet of majority age and cannot cast a ballot, but there are other ways to participate in our government.
Volunteering for campaigns is a great way to support representatives that best supports your community. I had a productive summer volunteer for Michelle Steel.
Michelle Steel is a running candidate for U.S. Congress representing Orange County. When she successfully ran for the California State Board of Equalization, she pledged to oppose all new taxes, prevent any tax increases, and presume all taxpayers are innocent until proven guilty when adjudicating tax appeals. She also became the country’s highest-ranking Korean American officeholder and California’s highest ranking Republican woman. Currently, she serves as the Chairwoman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors where she works to fight higher taxes, reduce traffic congestion in the communities, and ensure the bays and coastlines are clean.
I spent many hours working at the phonebank to reach out to members of the community to introduce a candidate that is working tirelessly for the district, and to remind them to vote. The phone banking experience was not always positive, as many found the phone calls annoying or even intrusive. In an effort to contact people in a less intrusive, but effective method, the campaign team came up with the idea to handwrite letters and envelopes. Printed material tends to look generic and impersonal, but handwritten are not only rare in our day and age, it is very personal. My mother and I sat at the kitchen table to handwrite countless envelopes and stick a postage stamp to the top right corner. Fortunately, the efforts of the volunteers paid off as there is a more positive response from these handwritten letters compared to the printed letters.
The right to vote was bought with a great price and I would like to once again remind everyone to vote this Election Day to make sure the government continues working for you.