Only 364 more days: 5 things you should do a year before the 2020 election

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Today is November 4th, and while it may be shocking to think about it, exactly one year from now we will all be (hopefully) heading to cast our votes in what may be one of the most important elections of our lifetimes.

For those of you who want to be more politically engaged but haven’t had the time or guidance needed to plan out your Election 2020 game plan, no worries. Below is a comprehensive list of five things you need to do starting NOW to make sure that next year you do your part.

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Register to vote!

This sounds so simple but you would be surprised how many people spend all year talking politics on social media, penning nuanced think pieces and live Tweeting the debates, and yet never think to register to take part in the very election they’re tracking so closely.

Given how rampant voter suppression is, it’s not prudent wait last minute, in Donald Trump’s America to get yourself together.

If you don’t know where to go or haven’t voted in years, all that can be addressed simply by checking out this USA.Gov link. All the official information you need is just a click away.

Research everyone’s policies

Politics is theater with many people rooting for former vice-president Joe Biden, U.S. senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Elizabeth Warren, or even Trump based off emotions and optics more so than real information. But be clear, not all that glitters is gold and just because someone looks like your dream candidate doesn’t always mean they have your best interests in mind.

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So if you haven’t already, actually go to all of the candidates’ websites. Look through their proposed policies. Check their track records. And if there are particular issues that mean a lot to you, find out where they stand.

Will any one candidate satisfy all your needs? Probably not. But at the very least by knowing where everyone stands you can make an informed decision about who best represents you and deserves your vote.

Look up other races in your area

The president may be the the commander in chief but theres a whole ecosystem of people who hold him up and serve as checks and balances for different branches of the government.

While you’re registering to vote and looking up policies also add looking up who your local elected officials are to the list, and then find out who is up for re-election. One thing we learned during the 2018 midterms is that local politics actually plays more a hand in national politics than people realize.

We can’t just be focused on the next president, we also have to remember to keep an eye on what allies, foes, etc., are being offered a seat at the table.

In fact, many organizations like Common Cause, have created handy databases where you can just type in your location and generate a whole list of local reps and their official government pages.

Watch varied news sources

It used to be that politically engaged liberals watched cable news networks CNN and MSNBC, conservatives watched Fox News, and the rest of us just kind of flipped casually past local news networks every now and then.

But the years of complaining about “depressing” watching the news is are over. It’s actually dangerous and at times willfully ignorant not to stay informed on what is going on in the world today. It is also ill-advised to only go to just one source.

In this era where “fake news” is actually becoming a self full-filling prophecy, its important to check your sources, and also seek varying views. We often say we wish our elected officials would be more bipartisan but that’s behavior we need to be mimicking ourselves.

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In fact, if you can stomach it, get in the habit of watching both CNN and Fox News. Get a 360-degree view of what all sides are saying about the same stories and events and get in the habit of critically assessing what makes sense and what feels like spin.

Create a community voting day game plan

So we all know that powers that be love to use trickery and flat out aggression to suppress the Black vote. To top that off, in lower income areas where people have to work every day to make ends meet, the idea of taking a Tuesday morning off to vote may either be financially burdensome or physically impossible.

But in 2016 there were stories of how Trump supporters who’d never voted in their lives were gathering their family members in pick up trucks and personally taking them to the voting booths.

And you know what? That’s not a bad (or even novel) idea.

So in addition to working out your own voting day plan for how you’ll fit your civic duty into your work day, in 2020 we’re challenging you to take it a step further and also offer assistance to others in your community.

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If there’s a single parent who needs you to babysit so she can slip out to the polls, a group of elderly people or even broke college students who need to carpool with you, or family members who’ve never voted before and want some moral support, make yourself available.

Do your part to not only help yourself, but also the people in your tribe, do their civic duty and ensure that the next person who moves into the white house actually believes that all Americans deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.

The system may not be perfect, but you can’t keep complaining about a race you aren’t even taking part in.