 October 18, 2008
Giving a Shift in Los Angeles
by Sheri Leigh Myers
I was stopped at a light mid-town. The heater was on, the windows were up, the Los Angeles weather had suddenly turned autumn, and chilly. Ahead of me, up in the hills, the brisk morning breeze had swept the smog away from the Hollywood sign. The city breathed, fast and deep, clearing her lungs, and felt fresh for the first time in months.
The back of my car was loaded with boxes of supplies for the first poll monitor training we – Work the Vote L.A. – would present in a few hours. Anxious details of the workshop consumed me. The most important election in history. The largest county in the country, four thousand precincts (more than 41 states), a massive number of problems during the last primary: dropped registrations, changed polling places, double-bubble ballots. Not enough time. Not enough help. Not enough money.
At that point, Work the Vote LA was just four people, sweating over incident forms and a website and making badges and printing up handouts and reaching into our pockets to pay for all that, plus this mornings’ water and granola bars. And dammit. It just wasn’t fair to feel drained and exhausted when here we were, just getting started. If we could, that is. That is, if people could manage to get their asses out of bed and show up for the training.
These were my wild, bitter, and ungracious thoughts I felt as I sat at the light.
Then I glanced out the window to my left and saw on the green divide next to the road an array of child-like crayon portraits on sheets of cardboard, with celebrities’ names. “Paul and JoAnne.” “Tom” “Audrey” “Art for Sale – I need to Eat.” A woman about my age, with a weathered face and a page boy, a brown tweedy jacket over her thin blue dress walked up as I rolled down the window.
I said, “For breakfast,” and handed her a couple of bucks that we keep in the car door pocket for just this purpose. She said, “Oh, thanks,” and peered back at me. Her eyes were bright blue and direct. “Do you have somewhere to sleep at night? It’s getting so cold,” I asked her.
She pointed to the cheap sleeping bag draped over the crate where she’d been sitting. “Oh, I’ve got that. I’ll be okay for a couple more nights. I’m saving up for a motel room. Wednesday night, I want to watch the debate.”
Ah. The light turned green. I drove on. We had a fine poll monitor training. Twenty people showed up to cover sixty precincts. It’s a start.
The next time I think I can’t go on and give more, I’m going to call to mind that homeless artist, braving the cold and intense discomfort so she could have a ringside seat to history.
We who can must do more, much more than vote and go home and watch for the returns to come in. If we dearly want change then we must change our relationship to our elections. Own them. Protect them. Take the day off, if it is humanly possible. If you can’t, then arrange to watch the polls after work. Do everything you can do. Give everything you can give. All eyes, hearts and cameras must be focused on the polls this election day.
As you can see on Turdblossom Two, the threat to our democracy is real.
In the EVIDENCE folder we created an interactive scrapbook of supporting material, in case anyone thinks we are being over-dramatic. But do not fear, there are activists who have spent the last four years thinking about this and they are ready to lead the ACTIONS that we offer in our VOTERS’ GUIDE. Join them. Defend Democracy. Give a Shift!
And yes, we need poll monitors in Los Angeles! For more info about Work the Vote LA, please visit www.workthevotela.org.
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