You don’t usually start a piece with a thank you, but here I am doing just that. Last month, I described our billboard program as having two, seeking to raise enough for a third. We now have seven and we are trying to add a few more if we think they are suitable locations. Our messages are issue based, and are designed to make voters think and know that we (you) are here in Brunswick County. You made this happen. A lot of hard work has gone into making sure that what many of you donated is well spent.
In a few days, our mailers will go out to ten thousand voters in Brunswick. These are voters who tend not to vote but are generally supportive of Democrats. Our good and wonderful volunteers are now calling Unaffiliated women in Brunswick. They have already called every Democratic voter in Brunswick who is female. Bill McHugh is our volunteer coordinator and he keeps all of this running smoothly. Bill McHugh billmchugh2@yahoo.com, 910.880.2688.
At our August meeting, we heard from Attorney General Josh Stein and Jenna Wainwright, Candidate for Commissioner of Agriculture. Josh gave us a good report on his office and his campaign. Jenna was on fire and lit the room up, or the Zoom, with her remarkable effusiveness.
We have done different things in the past as pertains to voters; COVID-19 has changed that dramatically. While we here, and the state party, are working on a plan to have our brochures and blue ballots available at the polls, we do not want, nor shall we allow, direct contact with a voter. Voters have the right to remain safe from exposure and this county party will adhere to that. At our HQ we have many things available that you could pass to friends in your circle or do literature drops in your precinct and neighborhood. It is easy to hang on a mailbox (not in the box) or put on a doorstep. Some precincts are doing mailings to their Democrats to encourage them to get the word out to vote.
Signs, signs, signs. Our Headquarters at 1420 Old Ocean Highway, Bolivia is now open six days a week. Monday-Friday 11 to 6, Saturday 11 to 4 for you to come buy and pick up material. We have ordered and should receive by the 10th, our Biden/Harris, Cal Cunningham, Cheri Beasley, and Roy Cooper signs and bumper stickers. The signs are $10 each, bumper stickers are $3 each or 2/$5. For the record, none of these were supplied to us, BCDP went with together with other counties and purchased signs, etc.
Many of you have been working hard to make sure voters who desire to vote Absentee have access to a request form for same. You have done a great job! - as I write this, 13.6% of registered voters in Brunswick county have filed absentee requests, and that number will only go up from now until election day. And speaking of absentee ballots, please be aware that the term drop off your absentee ballot is not quite how it works. If you decide that you are going to drop off your ballot at an early voting site or the Board of Elections, there is no such thing as a drop box in the entire state of North Carolina. You will have to check in and sign a log to indicate your relationship to the voter. The only people who can handle a ballot beside the voter are a near relative and/or legal representative. I plan to put mine in the mail and I recommend the same to you. The mail at my house is working just fine as I suspect it does at your house. Those medical and insurance bills always get through.
BCDP is sponsoring two blood drives: Saturday, September 18 11 AM to 4 PM and Sunday, October 19 12 Noon to 5 PM. Donors will receive a free COVID-19 antibody test and every donation will enable us to designate $20 to a non-profit here in Brunswick County. There will be a mobile unit set up for donations and our HQ will of course be available for social distancing of folks who may have to wait a minute. You can also get a campaign sign or two. Save the date please, we are working on a way to schedule folks in and out so that we won’t have crowds all at the same time. The Sunday is also an early voting day and you can go vote, then come and give blood. All blood collected by The Blood Connection stays in the Carolinas. They are a non-profit and supply many hospitals in North and South Carolina. Blood is badly needed across the area and you also would be helping others with the donation to a non-profit. It will be safer than it ever has been to give blood with the protocols they have in place.
That is enough for me. Thank you for what you have done so far in this election. I thank you again and the world thanks you.
Tom
“We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was legal and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was illegal.” Martin Luther King Jr