Why I do what I do…

Another Voter Engagement Story

NOTE: this post was written prior to President Biden dropping out of the race.

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Last Friday morning, I went for my annual physical. When you are a cancer patient, you end up with a lot of doctors. Even in remission, they all want to see you to make sure you’re okay. I am exceedingly lucky that I have a terrific primary care physician. Throughout my illness, she helped make sense of the information from the various specialists, and treated me like an actual human, as opposed to “the tumor”, “the biopsy”, “the stomach”. And I need to say that she is brilliant, dedicated, and a spectacular doctor. Because of her, you are reading this today. As I was recovering, I couldn’t really walk. I got around my house using walls and furniture, crutches outside of the house. I went up and down the stairs either on my butt, or clinging to the handrail and the wall. But she knew about “oncological physical therapy” and now I can walk, and do stairs, and it gave me more energy.

Anyway.

The nurse came in for my vitals, and as she was leaving, I asked if she’d be voting in November. She rolled her eyes and looked sad. I said that understood that prices were high, she lacked enthusiasm, and it didn’t seem worth it, but I mentioned Project 2025. Gave her some points. She said she would write it down and look into it.

When my visit was concluding, my doc walked me out to the scheduler (I hope you never need to see as many doctors as I do on a regular basis). I mentioned the election, and she said that her nurse had written down Project 2025 and they were going to look into it. The scheduler started ticking off all the problems for doctors and other medical professionals from Project 2025. She was all in for making sure everyone knew about it. Not only will she be voting, but she is OUT THERE getting other people to understand the stakes.

Potential voters, and people who will enervate others are EVERYWHERE.

NEVER MISS AN OPPORTUNITY.

There is a story that, if you know me personally, you’ve likely heard. But I’m going to tell it again for those who might not know. It encapsulates how dedicated I am to voting, and of course, voters.

I got sick on Monday, 3 weeks before the 2020 election. I was fine at noon, fine at 3, a little under the weather at 6, and on the phone with the ER at midnight asking about their Covid protocols, since this was 2020 pre-vaccine.

At 3 am, my husband brought me to the ER. We were thus precisely three weeks to the day prior to the election. It was NO TIME for me to be sick. But I was in pretty bad shape. There were doctors and nurses over me, taking readings, palpating, putting in lines, attaching electrodes. There was a whole team of them, because they, too, knew I was in bad shape. I didn’t know how bad for a while: later I was told that I had had internal bleeding, and was in danger of bleeding out in the not too distant future.

They were asking questions, looking for the source of the problem. Finally, they started telling me what they were going to do, where they were moving me, a lot of information, and then they asked if I had any questions. I had two, for all the people leaning over me: “Is everyone a registered voter?” and “Does everyone have a voting plan?” Once I ascertained that all of them were all set, we left for my tests and surgery.

I had to have some minor surgery, and was fine with the prep team: ALL SET! And then the doc arrived. She wouldn’t discuss the election. She wouldn’t say if she was registered. I instinctively knew that she was a Rethuglican. I explained that my grandmother had gone to jail twice in the 19-teens as a suffragette so that she, and the rest of the prep team, and I, could vote today. I explained that even if she was going to vote for someone to whom I was diametrically opposed, I cared that she voted. One of the prep team said that she was pretty sure I wouldn’t let her operate unless she came clean. She then said she was a registered voter and was still considering her options. And then she ended up misdiagnosing me.

I was in the hospital for three days. During that time, I was able to get some people mail-in ballots, determine voting locations, and since my attending was new to Pennsylvania and registered to vote, but confused, I sent him to get a mail-in ballot in the correct county, fill it out, and drop it in the box outside. Every person I encountered was asked about the election. EVERY PERSON.

I know that most of you are nowhere near as committed as I am about talking to EVERYONE about voting, and issues, and candidates. But I tell my stories to encourage you to find your motivation.

About 25 years ago, when I was a MENSA officer, I was asked to write an article for the national MENSA publication on why I was a Democrat. In searching my soul for that article, I realized that until I was in my mid-20’s, I’d never questioned my party affiliation. That was true, I thought at the time, for a lot of young people. But I met a man who was a registered Republican, and we were considering a mixed marriage. So I dug into WHY I was a Democrat and, leaning on everything I’d learned getting one of my BAs in Government, determined that the Democratic Party, the party of FDR, JFK, LBJ and the rest imbued me with a sense of belonging. Of belief in the party goals. Ever since then, I have read every party platform, every 4 years, to be sure I still align (and I always do). That belief in the party propelled me for decades.

And then I got sick.

Having a serious medical issue changes how one looks at the world. This is also true if you lose someone close to you, or have any other life-changing event. For me, I don’t know if this will be my last election. Might not be, might be: I take nothing for granted. And so I do everything I can to reach out to potential voters, inconsistent voters, on the fence voters, and just plain making sure all voters are set to go. I hope you will find YOUR motivation, and go get me five voters. Avoid feeling sad, and hopeless and angry – funnel that into ACTION. You can canvass, phone bank, send postcards, donate money – you can even go to a local candidate office and offer to babysit while others go out and canvass. Point is, there is a huge amount of work to do, and if we don’t do it, we won’t get the outcome we want.

BE PART OF THE SOLUTION!

SAVE DEMOCRACY!