Categories
News

Absentee Voting

With all the confusing information around absentee ballots, we want to set the record straight. 

Tennessee voters cannot drop absentee ballots off to county election commissions. Absentee ballots must be mailed only through USPS, Fedex, or UPS.

If you know you’re going to vote absentee by mail, request your ballot ASAP. Once you receive it, fill it out and mail it back immediately.

How to Vote Absentee

  1. Review the absentee ballot application and confirm that you meet the eligibility requirements for voting absentee. You can find those here.
  2. Fill out the application completely.
  3. Submit the request to our local election office. You should request your ballot as far in advance of the election as possible. The deadline to request a ballot by mail is (received by) Tuesday, October 27, 2020.
  4. When your ballot arrives, read it carefully and follow the instructions to complete it and return it immediately.

If you have questions, let us know!

Categories
News

The August Election

With the August 6th election just days away, we’re focused on just one action this week. Get People To The Polls Check in with all of the voters you know and make sure they’ve either voted early/absentee or have a plan to vote Thursday. For voters that are voting Thursday, a good practice is to check these three things with them: 

  1. When will you vote on August 6th? Set aside a specific time on Thursday to head over to your polling place.
  2. Where will you vote? If you don’t know your polling place, call our local Election Commission or go to GoVoteTN.com on your phone/computer.
  3. How will you get there? Make sure you’ve got a way to get to your polling place. If you need a ride, let us know!

 Statewide, Democratic turnout was only up 2% compared to the 2018 primary. Here in Lincoln County, Dems were up 17% but the GOP was up 21%. That means we’ve got to get a lot of people to the polls on Thursday. Take time now – go through your contact list – and check-in with every voter that you know. It’s the best way to make sure they’re voting in this August election. Let’s do this.

Categories
News

Online Town Halls

Usually during this time of the year, candidates are visiting our community to introduce themselves and talk with us. This year, the pandemic has forced us to move those types of events online. 

Through these online town halls, you’ll get to know the candidates you’ll be voting for in the Democratic Primary on August 6th. 

Here’s all the ones we’ve hosted so far:













Click on any of the images above to view the town hall video. 

Categories
Action

Vote Absentee by Mail

If you can’t vote on election day, you may qualify to cast your absentee ballot by mail!

Requirements

To vote absentee by mail, a registered voter must fall under one of the following categories:

  • The voter will be outside the county of registration during the early voting period and all day on election day;
  • The voter or the voter’s spouse is enrolled as a full-time student in an accredited college or university outside the county of registration;
  • The voter’s licensed physician has filed a statement with the county election commission stating that, in the physician’s judgment, the voter is medically unable to vote in person. The statement must be filed not less than seven (7) days before the election and signed under the penalty of perjury;
  • The voter resides in a licensed facility providing relatively permanent domiciliary care, other than a penal institution, outside the voter’s county of residence;
  • The voter will be unable to vote in person due to service as a juror for a federal or state court;
  • The voter is sixty (60) years of age or older;
  • The voter has a physical disability and an inaccessible polling place;
  • The voter is hospitalized, ill, or physically disabled and because of such condition, cannot vote in person;
  • The voter is a caretaker of a person who is hospitalized, ill, or disabled;
  • The voter is a candidate for office in the election;
  • The voter serves as an election day official or as a member or employee of the election commission;
  • The voter’s observance of a religious holiday prevents him or her from voting in person during the early voting period and on election day;
  • The voter or the voter’s spouse possesses a valid commercial drivers license (CDL) or the voter possesses a valid Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) card and certifies that he or she will be working outside the state or county of registration during the open hours of early voting and Election Day, and has no specific out-of-county or out-of-state address to which mail may be sent or received during such time.
  • The voter is a member of the military or is an overseas citizen.

If you qualify, you can apply for a by-mail ballot up to 90 days before the election.

Apply for a By-Mail Ballot

For the August Primary Election, you can send in your request form starting May 8th through July 30th.

To request a by-mail ballot:

  1. Print out and complete the Absentee Request Form here.
  2. Mail, fax, or email that form to our local election commission. You can find the contact info you’ll need here.
  3. Your election commission will process your request and mail you a ballot.
  4. Complete your ballot and mail it back to your election commission.

For the August election, to receive a primary ballot request either a Republican or Democratic primary ballot. If no indication, you will receive a general election only ballot.

Make sure to do all of this before July 30th. That’s the request deadline for the August 6th election.

If you need help with any of that, send us a message and we’ll help!

Categories
Action

Train the Trainer 2020

With the ongoing pandemic, campaigns all across Tennessee are shifting focus to digital strategies in place of the usual in-person organizing. To help out, our party has partnered with the Association of State Democratic Committees to launch our 2020 Train the Trainer (T3) Webinar Training Program!

T3 is a free, 100% virtual, six-week, twelve-part webinar course, covering several aspects of grassroots campaigning. This program seeks to expand the skills of progressive activists and volunteers, by ensuring that comprehensive training is free and accessible for Democrats all over the country. Register for T3 today, and help us take our country back in 2020!

–>> Click Here to Register

T3 trainings are held every Tuesday and Thursday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. ET, from April 7, through May 14. The deadline to register is Sunday, April 5 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Participants must complete all twelve sessions in order to receive certification. All training sessions will include a skills test to track retention and participation. Trainings will be recorded and made available following each session via a weekly wrap-up email, delivered on Fridays.

Click Here to submit your registration for the 2020 T3 Training Program! Registration will close at 11:59 p.m. ET, on Sunday, April 5.

We’ll see you on the campaign trail!

Categories
Action

Defending Democracy From Home

Usually at this point in an election year, our volunteers are out knocking doors, meeting new people, and helping candidates campaign. This year, we’re all adjusting to working from home and developing new plans for the campaign work needed to win this fall.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve gotten lots of emails and voicemails from people in our community asking how they can help during this new normal. We’ve put together this action guide so that you can make a difference in this election and continue to defend our democracy right from your home.

Check-In

Take some time to check in our your friends, family , neighbors, and co-workers. This could be with a phone call, an email, a Facebook message – even a letter. Find out how they’re doing during this time and if they need help with anything.

Complete the Census

The 2020 Census is happening right now. You can complete it online here. After you complete your census form, share that link with everyone you know so that everyone in our community is counted.

Register New Voters

Make a list of everyone you know and start working through it to find out if each person is registered to vote. If they’re not, help them register at GoVoteTN.com. It’s a quick and easy process. Registering new voters is one of the single most effective things any of us can do.

Expand Your Skills

The National Democratic Training Committee offers fantastic resources and training for local party volunteers. Now’s a great time to hone your skills as grassroots campaigning.

Donate to a Campaign

Find a few local and state candidates that you support and chip in money their way. It’s challenging to fundraise right now so every dollar you can donate goes a long ways.

Write Letters to the Editor

Do you think our local leaders are doing a good job? Think our state leaders could be doing better? Write a letter to the editor and share how you see things.

Share Resources and Information Online

Misinformation abounds in times of crisis, especially on Facebook and other social media apps. Use your platform to speak the truth and help others that follow you find good information. Keep in mind that positive and civil posts find more traction within the community. You can also share links to the websites and Facebook pages of candidates that you support.

Be Helpful

Above all – focus on being helpful in the coming months. As Democrats, we believe that communities work best when we work together for everyone. That’s how we’ll get through this virus pandemic – together.

Categories
News

Our Plan for COVID-19

A statement from our county party chair – Chase Clemons.

As the number of confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) diagnoses continues to rise, I wanted to lay out how this affects our community and what you can be doing.

This is not the typical seasonal flu. With an estimated 3.5% mortality and a vaccine months away at best, this virus is not one we need to take lightly or minimize. For now, we can’t beat this virus through a vaccine or other medicine. But we can beat it through our collective actions.

That’s where you can help. It’s called flattening the curve.

Take precautions such as washing your hands, minimizing travel, and keeping social interactions to a minimum. Put off any non-essential travel. Check in on your neighbors. Contact our state reps and urge them to take the right precautions now rather than delaying.

After you read this update, look through this trusted source -> flattenthecurve.com. It’ll give you more background on the virus along with more actions you can take to help flatten the curve.

Lastly, all of our remaining local party committee meetings in March are cancelled. Those that are absolutely necessary will be held via conference call. Our April 4th public meeting stays on the calendar for now. We’ll make a call on April meetings closer to that time.

On the state level, the Tennessee Democratic Party is considering and working on different contingency plans for the TN04 Congressional District Convention set for March 21st. I’ll let you know as soon as I have more info on any changes being made.

In short – be informed and helpful to those around you. The next few months will be hard, especially for the most high-risk people in our community.

We’re in this together. Let’s look out for each other. It’s what Tennesseans do best.

Categories
News

2020 Lincoln County Convention

With our Tennessee presidential primary results in, we’re now ready for our County Convention.

Our Convention is set for this Saturday – March 7th – at 12pm Noon. Doors open for sign-in at 11am. We’ll meet in the auditorium at the Fayetteville Municipal Building.

Lincoln County has been allotted Nine Selectors per presidential candidate that receives 15% or more in the March 3rd Primary. If there are more than nine potential selectors per qualifying candidate, we’ll hold an election to elect the nine selectors for the Congressional Convention.

These selectors are who we send to our Congressional Convention to elect our delegates. The four delegates elected there will represent TN04 at the national convention in Milwaukee!

From our county, we’ve got one person running to be a delegate – Melissa Groce-Thomas. If you’d like to help her get elected for the national convention, make plans to be at the Municipal Building this Saturday. The more folks there, the better chance Melissa has at winning a delegate spot. 

We’ll see you on Saturday!

Categories
Essays

Creative Maladjustment

Note: In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we’re publishing a speech Mr. King gave at Western Michigan University December 18, 1963.

There are certain technical words within every academic discipline that soon become stereotypes and cliches. Modern psychology has a word that is probably used more than any other word in modern psychology. It is the word “maladjusted.” This word is the ringing cry to modern child psychology. Certainly, we all want to avoid the maladjusted life. In order to have real adjustment within our personalities, we all want the well‐adjusted life in order to avoid neurosis, schizophrenic personalities.

But I say to you, my friends, as I move to my conclusion, there are certain things in our nation and in the world which I am proud to be maladjusted and which I hope all men of good‐will will be maladjusted until the good societies realize. I say very honestly that I never intend to become adjusted to segregation and discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few. I never intend to adjust myself to the madness of militarism, to self‐defeating effects of physical violence.

But in a day when sputniks and explorers are dashing through outer space and guided ballistic missiles are carving highways of death through the stratosphere, no nation can win a war. It is no longer the choice between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence, and the alternative to disarmament. The alternative to absolute suspension of nuclear tests. The alternative to strengthening the United Nations and thereby disarming the whole world may well be a civilization plunged into the abyss of annihilation. This is why I welcome the recent test‐ban treaty.

In other words, I’m about convinced now that there is need for a new organization in our world. The International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment‐‐men and women who will be as maladjusted as the prophet Amos. Who in the midst of the injustices of his day could cry out in words that echo across the centuries, “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” As maladjusted as Abraham Lincoln who had the vision to see that this nation would not survive half‐slave and half‐free. As maladjusted as Thomas Jefferson who in the midst of an age amazingly adjusted to slavery would scratch across the pages of history words lifted to cosmic proportions, “We know these truths to be self‐evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator certain unalienable rights” that among these are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” As maladjusted as Jesus of Nazareth who could say to the men and women of his day, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you. Pray for them that despitefully use you.” Through such maladjustment, I believe that we will be able to emerge from the bleak and desolate midnight of man’s inhumanity to man into the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom and justice. My faith is that somehow this problem will be solved.

In spite of the difficulties of this hour, I am convinced that we have the resources to make the American Dream a reality. I am convinced of this because I believe Carlyle is right. “No lie can live forever.” I am convinced of this because I believe William Cullen Bryant is right. “Truth pressed to earth will rise again.” I am convinced of this because I think James Russell Lowell is right. “Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne; Yet that scaffold sways the future, And behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, Keeping watch above His own.” Somehow with this faith, we will be able to adjourn the councils of despair and bring new life into the dark chambers of pessimism. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation to a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. This will be a great day. This will be the day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God, Almighty, we are free at last!”

Read the full speech here.

Categories
Action

How to Contact our Tennessee Representatives

Our state representatives are back in Nashville today for the 2020 legislative session. They’ll introduce a variety of bills, debate new ideas, and ultimately send new laws to Governor Lee for approval.

We encourage you to contact our state representatives throughout the year but it’s especially important while they’re in session. The policies debated now will affect communities throughout Tennessee in the coming years. With votes happening every week for the next few months, it’s a prime time to make sure our representatives are speaking for us.

Here’s a list of our representatives for Lincoln County and how you can contact them:

Senator Shane Reeves

  • Phone: 615-741-1066
  • Email: sen.shane.reeves@capitol.tn.gov

Representative Rick Tillis 

  • Phone: 615-741-4170
  • Email: rep.rick.tillis@capitol.tn.gov

Representative Pat Marsh

  • Phone: 615-741-6824
  • Email: rep.pat.marsh@capitol.tn.gov

A few key things to remember with all of these contact methods:

  • Be polite and direct. This isn’t a time to wander around the point. Their time is valuable just like your time is.
  • Be prepared. Do your homework and know what you’re talking about. Have the issue outlined along with various ideas for solutions.
  • Don’t go it alone. Talk with friends, family, and others in the community about the issue you’re trying to raise. Have them contact public officials with you.
  • Social media is easy to miss and/or ignore. Focus your efforts on calling or emailing rather than Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Keep this contact info close at hand. Try to call or email each at least once a week. It’s the best way to make your voice heard by our state representatives!