Voting Booths Half Empty: Call to Action for Women Voting 2020
Women need to vote in the 2020 presidential election, so many movements are urging that call to action.
Half of the women just didn’t show up.
Forty-nine million of the 118 million women eligible to vote in 2018 opted out. That can’t happen again in 2020.
“Forty-nine million of the 118 million women eligible to vote in 2018 opted out. That can’t happen again in 2020. #womenvoters #VoteReady”
Along with many other voting initiatives, TAG10 Women Vote is doing everything they can as a non-profit organization to make sure history does not repeat itself.
“Along with many other #voting initiatives, @Tag10Women Vote is doing everything they can as a non-profit organization to make sure history does not repeat itself. #2020 #Election”
According to TAG10 Women, “Women make up 60% of students enrolled at higher education institutions including community colleges, graduate, medical and law schools. Over 52% of all households are headed by women. Women continue to make advances, albeit slowly, to positions of leadership from corporate Board rooms, to college Presidents, to heading arts, educational, and non-profit organizations, to the slow, but steady increase in percentage of women in all elected offices. Women are serving in record numbers in the military and finally in combat, rising to leadership positions. Today there are 2 million women veterans.”
“Arguably the most important election of our generation so far is upon us. As we continue to grapple with the global coronavirus pandemic and systemic racial injustice, among many other issues, Nov. 3 is a crucial date for us to fulfill our civic duty of voting,” reports ET Online.
Read more from Gloria Feldt on voting and citizenship
Yet fair and equitable representation of women in policymaking, business, leadership and every field without exception is not a reality.
Mashable reports, “Time is running out to make sure everyone is registered to vote in the United States presidential election on Nov. 3. The stakes have heightened even further given the recent death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which leaves five conservative-leaning judges and three liberal ones. Her passing has inspired a surge in voter registration across the country.”
Mashable recommends six non-profits working to increase voting access. “These efforts are nonpartisan, meaning groups don't tell people who to vote for, but rather, remind them that they should vote and how they can go about it.”
“Fair and equitable #representation of #women in policymaking, business, leadership and every field without exception is not a reality. #genderequality”
Launched earlier this year, the nonprofit TAG10 Women defines itself as, “We are nonpartisan, with Democratic, Republican, Independent and non-affiliated party supporters. Our diverse and inclusive mission is reflected in our Board of Directors, National Advisory Council, staff, and in our developing special programing to engage Millennial and Gen-Z women.”
“Launched earlier this year, the nonprofit @TAG10Women says their “diverse and #inclusive mission is reflected in our Board of Directors, National Advisory Council, staff, and in our developing special programing.” #womenvoters”
Read more in Take The Lead on recent national conventions
Seven women comprise the board of directors, including Leonore Blitz as President. Blitz, founder of Leonore Blitz Consultants, served in the Obama Administration by appointment from the White House, on the Department of Interior, National Park System Advisory Board.
The premise is based on a simple call to action. Every woman can “tag” 10 women on social media platforms and urge them to vote. And so on and so on and so on.
“The premise of @Tag10Women is based on a simple call to action. Every woman can “tag” 10 women on social media platforms and urge them to #vote. #womenvoters #tag10”
Read more in Take The Lead on voting for women candidates
A National Advisory Council of 300 members (that is growing and not yet at that number) “are an exceptional, inspiring, diverse group of women from American iconic women over 90 years young to Millennial and GENz leaders, from every socio, economic, educational, ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds, representing all communities including African American, Latinx, Asian American Pacific Islander, Native American and leaders in the LGBTQ+ communities and of course Democrats, Republicans, Independents and non-affiliated women voters,” according to the site.
Efforts across the country to register women voters and encourage voting abound.
“Efforts across the country to register #womenvoters and encourage voting abound. #VoteReady #MakeYourPlan #RockTheVote”
Axios reports, recently “the goal of Rock the Vote was to register more than 400,000 new young voters through a summer-long campaign. Organizers aim to ‘channel the energy among young people around racial, economic, and health justice into one of the most powerful actions they can take: voting,’ according to a Rock the Vote statement.”
Read more in Take The Lead on women running for office
Why is getting women to vote important, 100 years after women were granted the right to vote?
Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Laura Leader, co-founder and CEO of All In Together, that conducted a recent poll of nationwide voters, writes, “The 2020 election may very well hinge on whether the suburban women, women of color and women under 30 in key states such as Wisconsin and Michigan turn out in large enough numbers to outweigh the voting by Trump’s female base in those critical electoral states.”
Leader adds, “This could be significant in key battleground states where these women make up a larger share of the electorate and Republicans have concentrated recent voter registration efforts.”
Yet women voters face barriers.
“Women need to vote in the #2020 #presidentialelection, so many movements are urging that call to action. #PlanYourVote #VoteReady #CheckYourReg ”
“There is a need more than ever for mail-in-voting, but consider this: 550,000 absentee ballots were rejected in the presidential primaries, according to an NPR analysis,” writes Karen Rubin in This Land Now. “That’s far more than the 318,728 ballots rejected in the 2016 general election and has raised alarms about what might happen in November when tens of millions of more voters are expected to cast their ballots by mail, many for the first time,” NPR reports.
Read more in Take The Lead on voting and more actions to take
In a special report on women voters, “What’s At Stake,” Zora reports, “Data shows that in 2018, turnout among women of color increased 37% from the 2014 midterms. That ushered in such diverse lawmakers as Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the first woman of Palestinian descent in Congress, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who is Muslim, and Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland, the first Native American women in Congress. The numbers of African American, Latino, and Asian American women have also increased on Capitol Hill. In the upcoming election cycle, besides the commander in chief, women of color votes could flip the Senate, yield another sweep of House Congressional races, as well as state, local, and down-ballot matches.”
The Kaiser Family Foundation recently reported results of a national poll revealing the shifting of key issues for voters in the 2020 presidential election. The study did not separate results by gender, but by party.
“The @KFF recently reported results of a national poll revealing the shifting of key issues for voters in the 2020 #presidentialelection. #vote2020”
“With less than two months before the 2020 November election, one-third of registered voters (32%) say the economy is going to be the most important issue in deciding their vote for president. About one-fifth of voters say the coronavirus outbreak (20%) is the top issue, while about one in seven say criminal justice and policing (16%) or race relations (14%) are the top issues. Fewer voters choose health care (10%) or immigration (4%) as the most important issue in deciding their vote for president,” KFF reports.
The Brookings Institute offers insights on women voters in 2020, “As we documented in February of this year, the gender realignment of American politics is the biggest change in party affiliation since the movement by loyal Democratic voters to the GOP in the ‘solid South,’ in the final decades of the twentieth century.”
Read more in Take The Lead on women voting
The report continues, “This gender realignment continues to gain momentum, fueled by the misogynistic behavior of Donald Trump and other leaders of his party who can’t seem to resist attacking powerful, successful Democratic women and, more generally, hindering the full equality of women. It is spreading in almost every state and locality in America as women voters take charge of the country’s future. This year, the realignment’s most significant impact may well be not only electing Joe Biden president, but creating a Democratic majority when the Senate convenes in January of 2021.”
Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, has completed an initial analysis of women nominees for congressional and statewide elected executive offices. Here's what you need to know about the record numbers of women nominees.
In the U.S. House of Representatives, 298 women are nominees for the U.S. House, beating the record of 234 set in the historic 2018 midterms. In the Senate, 20 women are nominees falling short of the record of 23 set in 2018.
With only weeks left until the November 3 election, half of eligible women voters turning out to vote is not anywhere near good enough.
“With only weeks left until the #November3 election, half of eligible #womenvoters turning out to vote is not anywhere near good enough. #GetOutTheVote”
