• Equality
  • Community
    • Health
    • Youth
    • Seniors
  • Voices
    • From the CEO
    • Take Five
    • Why I Give
  • About the Center
  • Galleries
  • Calendar
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • This Year’s AIDS/LifeCycle Participants on Why They Ride
  • Roxane Gay Celebrates Audre Lorde Health Program at WxW: ‘Care in the Truest Sense of the Word’
  • ‘Introspections’: The Los Angeles LGBT Center Celebrates Senior Artists in a Special Exhibition
  • Bridging Communities While Honoring the Diversity of AANHPI Month: Emiko Kenderes’ Journey at the Los Angeles LGBT Center
  • Mpox Resurgence: What You Should Know
  • Pamela Anderson Shares Words of Wisdom at Center Gala: ‘Love Relentlessly’
  • Keke Palmer Celebrates Her Queerness, the LGBTQ+ Community at Center Gala
  • An Unstoppable Force: Center CEO Joe Hollendoner Touts Successes in the Face of Adversity
Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube
LGBT News Now
Learn about career opportunities at the Center
  • Equality
  • Community
    • Health
    • Youth
    • Seniors
  • Voices
    • From the CEO
    • Take Five
    • Why I Give
  • About the Center
  • Galleries
  • Calendar
LGBT News Now
You are at:Home»Community»How We’re Changing Voter Turnout for the Midterms
Leadership LAB

How We’re Changing Voter Turnout for the Midterms

0
By on October 17, 2022 Community

Election Day is right around the corner, meaning it’s all hands on deck at the Leadership LAB. The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s deep canvassing operation is currently knocking on doors in Buena Park, working to mobilize voters in one of the country’s most hotly contested congressional districts. Below, Leadership LAB field manager Eden Mayle answers five frequently asked questions about the LAB’s work in the weeks leading up to the midterms.

What is the Leadership LAB?

We’re a program of the Center’s Policy and Community Building department that specializes in voter engagement using a tactic called deep canvassing, which we developed at the Leadership LAB during the fight for marriage equality back in 2008. Deep canvassing is a method of using vulnerability and curiosity to connect with people in a meaningful way that has been proven to change hearts and minds around issues that directly impact the LGBTQ community.

Since 2018, we’ve been using deep canvassing to explore how this technique could be used to change people’s views on voting itself. We believe we’re a progressive country, but we’re also a non-voting country, and empowering like-minded but unlikely voters is key to building a long-lasting progressive movement.

How does deep canvassing work?

Our process begins before we even do our first knock. Before we go out to knock on doors, our canvassers are trained in how to share the particular type of stories we employ to connect with voters—stories about people we love. We help our canvassers access more genuine vulnerability and get prepared to be in that space before we even knock on our first door.

It’s really our goal to get personal in the conversation as quickly as we can. And we know how to do that through this story exchange. We share our personal story about someone we love, and most importantly, we try to elicit a story from the voter. So, the purpose of sharing our own stories isn’t to change someone’s mind, but to really give space in the conversation for them to reflect on their own experiences, their own values, and their own motivations to vote. They’re really changing their own minds; we’re just giving them the space and listening.

Once we’re able to elicit that from the voter, we then make the case that voting is an act of love. It’s a gift that we give to the people in our lives and to our community when we show up to vote.

Who can volunteer?

Anyone who’s interested! I think deep canvassing is a skill everyone can learn. It’s a skill we can even use in day-to-day life. Our work uses skills of connection, learning to be more curious, being more vulnerable, and being genuine. We walk around in our day-to-day lives with a lot of walls, and being more comfortable connecting with others—with strangers—in a genuine and authentic way is something that we all can use.

And I recognize we’re not all extroverts, which is why we really try to offer support to folks who are new to this. When you’re doing this your first few times, you’ll have a partner at the door, and you’ll be going through the whole process together.

What should I expect when I sign up?

Expect to be welcomed onto a team that is really going to be invested in helping you feel good about this work. Expect to be a part of a project that is constantly experimenting and reflecting on how we can continue to do this work in the best way that we can. And expect to discover new things about yourself. We get pretty deep when we’re talking about our personal experiences, and sometimes that brings things up for us. But we work to make this a joyful experience.

Why is this current campaign important?

The reason we chose District 45 and knocking on doors in Buena Park is because of how much this race can impact not just our communities here in California, but really across the country. We’re invested in finding races that are very competitive, where the voters that we mobilize could have the biggest impact. District 45 is projected to be one of the closest congressional races in the entire country. There are actually three or four races in Southern California that fit this description, which is just a reflection of how split we are, even here in California. Talking with voters in a district that’s going to be so close and will likely be decided by turnout is definitely where we can have the biggest impact this November.

On top of the competitiveness of this particular race, the significance of midterm elections cannot be understated. Midterm election years like this where we’re voting on our local and state representatives both determine how much power the president will have for the remainder of their term and have impact on our day-to-day lives. With current voting trends, most people are unlikely voters in midterm elections – and we’re working hard to change that!

For more information about the Leadership LAB, visit leadership-lab.org, or sign up for canvassing at tinyurl.com/38btkkvc.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

Related Posts

This Year’s AIDS/LifeCycle Participants on Why They Ride

Roxane Gay Celebrates Audre Lorde Health Program at WxW: ‘Care in the Truest Sense of the Word’

‘Introspections’: The Los Angeles LGBT Center Celebrates Senior Artists in a Special Exhibition

Comments are closed.

Upcoming Events

Apr 29
April 29 - June 24

A New Brain

May 13
May 13 - June 12

The Bottoming Process

Jun 16
4:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Trans Pride LA 2023: Trans Town Hall

Jun 17
12:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Trans Pride LA 2023: Festival

View Calendar
About Us

LGBT News Now

LGBT News Now is a publication of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019, the Center is the largest LGBT organization in the world, dedicated to building a world where LGBT thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society. Learn more at lalgbtcenter.org.

Follow Us on Instagram

lalgbtcenter

The Los Angeles LGBT Center is building a world where LGBT people thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society.

Los Angeles LGBT Center
Day One of #TransPrideLA officially kicks off with Day One of #TransPrideLA officially kicks off with the #TransTownHall, a forum with many of your faves—like @xosonique, @msisisking, @sharsaysso, @cecetelfer, @ladragnuns, and so many more. Join us on June 16th at 5PM right on our Hollywood campus to celebrate our community and hear more about the fight ahead. Admission is FREE, so RSVP now at lalgbcenter.org/transpride23 (or hit that #linkinbio). 

Special thanks to our partner, @weareangelcity. 

#ProtectTransKids #TransVisibility #NonBinary #TransIsBeautiful #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransPrideLA #PrideMonth #AngelFC
Introducing: The #TransTownHall, a program curated Introducing: The #TransTownHall, a program curated and hosted by @raquel_willis that’s kicking off this year’s #TransPrideLA! On June 16th at 5PM on our campus in Hollywood, we’ll celebrate and center some incredible voices from the trans community—from @laith_ashley to @tracelysette, @thomaspagemcbee, @cecetelfer, @jordanilan, and many more. 

The Trans Town Hall is just Day One of our annual TPLA celebration, which continues on Saturday, June 17th with a festival, workshops, resource fair, vendors, and so much more. Come for the live entertainment and free goodies—stay for the community. RSVP today at the link in bio!

Special thanks to our partner, @weareangelcity. 

#ProtectTransKids #TransVisibility #NonBinary #TransIsBeautiful #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransPrideLA #PrideMonth #AngelFC
#TransPrideLA is back, baby—but this year, we’ #TransPrideLA is back, baby—but this year, we’re doing things a little different. We’re kicking off TPLA weekend with the #TransTownHall—a stage program curated and hosted by @raquel_willis that celebrates and elevates trans voices at this crucial time in our movement.

On June 16th in Hollywood, join folks like @peppermint247, @thechrismosier, Montana state representative @zoandbehold, and more for an evening you won’t forget. And let’s take a stand against the anti-trans bullshit, loud and proud. RSVP today at the #linkinbio! 

Special thanks to our partner, @weareangelcity.  #ProtectTransKids #TransVisibility #NonBinary #TransIsBeautiful #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransPrideLA #PrideMonth #AngelFC
Hello from #RedDressDay on @AIDSLifeCycle! That’ Hello from #RedDressDay on @AIDSLifeCycle! That’s right: On top of our riders making the 545-miles on bicycle from San Francisco to Los Angeles AND fundraising for HIV/AIDS—they also celebrate with the occasional dress code. (This is an LGBTQ fundraiser, after all.) Red Dress Day is a long beloved tradition in HIV/AIDS fundraising, but our #AIDSLifeCycle participants take it to a whole new level. Swipe to enjoy some of our favorite fashion moments from today…and a particularly compelling cameo from @joe.hollendoner.
They did it, Joe! Our @AIDSLifeCycle riders have o They did it, Joe! Our @AIDSLifeCycle riders have officially passed their halfway point to Los Angeles, biking over 200 miles from San Francisco. At the rest stop, we caught up with @colmacpro, otherwise known as Mr. Los Angeles Leather 2023. Colin is a #roadie on #AIDSLifeCycle, which means he’s volunteering for the week to keep our riders safe and motivated. “I’ve wanted to do ALC for 10 years,” he says. “When I got kicked out of my childhood home for being gay at the age of 15, the last thing my mom said to me was that I’d die of AIDS. I was terrified [of the virus] for most of my life—but now I’ve had partners who are positive. Growing up and seeing the evolution of HIV/AIDS treatment makes me want to help.” 

Colin is rocking his titleholder sash all week as a tribute to the way the Leather Community was impacted by HIV/AIDS. “We were hit so hard during the epidemic. That means the people still left are the ones who carry on the tradition. In fact, some people wear leather pieces from those we lost to the crisis. It’s our way of remembering them.”

Stay tuned for additional updates from the ride—and follow our friends at @aidslifecycle for more.
Last night, a school board meeting in #Glendale tu Last night, a school board meeting in #Glendale turned violent—with police having to issue a shelter-in-place order for participants. The reason? Glendale Unified was voting to recognize June as #LGBTQ+ Pride Month. Today, the Center issued the above statement. “It’s time we call out these attempts for what they are: Fascism. Pride, on the other hand, is about freedom.” Swipe to read it in full. #SafeSchools #LGBTQPride #OutForSafeSchools
The Los Angeles LGBTQties really turned it out for The Los Angeles LGBTQties really turned it out for #WeHoPride this weekend! Swipe to see some of our favorite highlights from the festivities—including one very good boy who believes in gay rights. (And by the way, thanks to any and all of you for rocking your #CenterYourPride swag. It looks good on you!)

📸 @mammothsprite
Mark your calendars for June 16-17 for the return Mark your calendars for June 16-17 for the return of #TransPrideLA, presented by @weareangelcity. This festival has been observed for more than a decade—making it one of the oldest, dedicated celebrations of Transgender Pride in the country. 

The iconic two-day event takes place at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Hollywood campus and features appearances by Montana state @zoandbehold, @raquel_willis, @laith_ashley, and many more! 

RSVP today at link in bio! 

Stay tuned for more details! 🏳️‍⚧️

#transisbeautiful #ProtectTransKids #TransVisibility #NonBinary #TransIsBeautiful #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransPrideLA #PrideMonth #AngelFC
Happy #Pride to @trinoxadam, the LA-based gay coup Happy #Pride to @trinoxadam, the LA-based gay couple whose photo shoot went viral at the beginning of this month. “Pride, to us, is celebrating and screaming to the world about who you are, with no fucks given,” they told us. “We keep our love alive with honesty and by having different layers to our relationship. We’re homies, friends, family, lovers, husbands, dads, brothers, and besties.” Shoutout to photographer @henryjimenz for capturing their love so beautifully. Want to be featured? Use the #CenterYourPride and you might show up on our page 🥰
Load More... Follow on Instagram
Stay Connected
Subscribe
Copyright © 2022 Los Angeles LGBT Center
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.