#votebeat

So as you've probably heard, there is a presidential election coming up in the US this November. You may even be experiencing some concern about the outcome of that election -- given both the high stakes and the active efforts by Republicans to suppress the vote -- and wondering what more you can do to stave off the possibility of a literal fascist takeover of the United States.

The good news is: you're not helpless. There are wonderful organizations out there -- staffed by knowledgeable, talented people with their feet already on the ground -- and they could use your help.

Here are a few of them:

VoteBeat offers deeply-researched local reporting about elections, which is both valuable and rare in the current news environment. A spinoff of ChalkBeat, it was founded and is run by journalists from ProPublica.

Spread the Vote is an organization that works on the ground to help every eligible voter secure the documentation and the access they need to make their voices heard. In particular, StV runs a program called Vote by Mail in Jail to help ensure that incarcerated persons also have access to these rights.

VoteRiders, like StV, works to ensure that every American has the opportunity to vote. In particular, they provide financial and practical support to trans people so that they can get hold of the documentation they need and can vote safely and confidently.

FairVote advocates for ranked-choice voting, a system in wide use outside the US which far more effectively captures the will of the electorate. (we don't have an individual feature page for them, but FV was one of FTH's supported orgs in 2020.)

(This is just a short starter list of amazing organizations, pulled from FTH's supported orgs list in past years; there are plenty of others. Please feel free to add them in reblogs!)

Ways you can help

Donate to one (or more!) of these organizations. These are all fairly small operations, even if their goals and their impact is large; they could use the help!

Volunteer your time. Many of these organizations rely on volunteers to make their day-to-day operations work. Sometimes it's necessary to do this volunteering in person, but often there is a remote option for volunteering if that's what works for you.

The last few decades have seen the gutting of local news reporting in the US. As deep reporting and investigative journalism are increasingly concentrated in just a few cities across the country, local-scale failures and corruption have been misreported or overlooked entirely. This lack of local reporting has meant that, when elections come around, voters unequipped to make informed judgments about what the local issues are, or which local candidates can be trusted.

Votebeat was created in 2020 to combat a shortage of local news reporting on electoral issues and election integrity. VoteBeat reporters embed for three-month stints in local nonprofit newsrooms that provide expert knowledge of their communities. In addition to providing critical coverage of election-related issues at all levels of government, VoteBeat seeks to revitalize political reporting at the local level.

The last few decades have seen the gutting of local news reporting in the US. As deep reporting and investigative journalism are increasingly concentrated in just a few cities across the country, local-scale failures and corruption have been misreported or overlooked entirely. This lack of local reporting has meant that, when elections come around, voters unequipped to make informed judgments about what the local issues are, or which local candidates can be trusted.

Votebeat was created in 2020 to combat a shortage of local news reporting on electoral issues and election integrity. VoteBeat reporters embed for three-month stints in local nonprofit newsrooms that provide expert knowledge of their communities. In addition to providing critical coverage of election-related issues at all levels of government, VoteBeat seeks to revitalize political reporting at the local level.