Thread by @roybahat

On what I’m learning working on a get-out-the-vote project, as a tech person...

71 days ago, a friend and I who have already been active in work on this election were talking about what else we could do…

The season for fundraising is mostly over, and of course we’d phone bank and such…

Was there more?

We noticed a new need… with the mail becoming unreliable, and voting in person plagued by lines and an, um, almost plague. Ha:
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

All those new ballot dropboxes… would people know to use them? How could we encourage that?

We imagined what it would look like for those dropboxes to catch on... what if voting was something *better* that way, something people could do together… and maybe it’d be fun… like a... parade?

#walkthevote invented itself.

The already-strong get-out-the-vote groups were adapting to the new reality, vs. focused on it exclusively. They also had things they were doing that definitely made sense; we were looking to place a bet on something that might not work, but if it did, might *really* work.

I’m tempted to start thanking all the people who believed at the outset -- I see you @anadzhz and @persily and @debracleaver -- and instead I’m going to do the thank-you tick-tock after Election Day (right now I might miss someone because things are going fast).

My constraints were: stay at my day job during this period (success), avoid withdrawing from my family for yet another Roy special (less success), take an honest shot at moving enough votes to matter, and do it with a diverse group of people who I really enjoy.

This is a story of how you can still get involved, because the tools you know, combined with the expertise you can build, matters. (And there’s a chorus of us in tech learning what we need to learn about the political process, so we can be effective in how we engage...)

4 days in, I set up the first Google Doc -- a notepad of ideas.

The first daily update, August 24, had 6 people on it (partially thanks to @mishachellam and the Council on Technology & Society; again more fulsome thank-you inventory to come in a week).

Now there are 78 active volunteers on the daily updates... our national team (who took at least one meaningful action in the last week), and many, many more doing the actual #walkthevote voting parades.

So many other folks chipped in -- I see you all.

On the role of tech per se:

Number of people working full time on #walkthevote? 0

Number of software services we’ve used in our stack: 23 (at least)

My main role has been… IT manager. (The central role in almost any modern project!)

We’ve paid a few vendors (because we want the diversity of contributions you only get if you acknowledge some people need to get paid). We’re fortunate we had access to $.

Our original intention was to raise no money though we’re grateful to our fiscal sponsor (@opencollective).

We picked purple as our color, because red + blue. We had some beautiful help on making it look and feel right, and building this site.

wewalkthevote.com

We’ve met others doing similar/same, like any movement, and there are more and counting -- we find each other and go all Katamari Damacy.

https://twitter.com/roybahat/status/1321313657981120513

The first walk happened what-was-it just three weeks ago, when early voting started in Michigan.

Then it clicked. This isn't about voting. It's about... joy.

https://twitter.com/KyraHBolden/status/1315713446667788288

Some people started putting it on the line and asking their friends. @JoanJett!

Today, @tmbg did a #walkthevote playlist! (I'm kvelling.)

open.spotify.com/playlist/1E4xl…

Now... we have 6 days left. I’m tired. I feel guilty about evenings distracted from my family.

I think it’s working? 45 cities, 70+ walks, 11 states… and counting! I'm so grateful for and proud of the team.

I feel responsible for all the things we can do better. We still might hit the knee of the curve, so to speak. And that’s where, if you’ve read this far, come in?

You can still sign up to lead a #walkthevote, through Election Day.

If you already voted, do more? Take others to the polls. Enjoy it. Be safe. Play some music. Post something so you inspire someone else.

Our team will support you at every, um, step:
wewalkthevote.com

P.S. Make that 46 cities. As in the number of the next president.

I realized I missed recounting so many lessons! Will do more of a post mortem (is there such a thing a post vivus? or a post ambulate?) after Election Day. Many lessons to share, many thanks to give.

P.P.S.