NAHANT — Local Democrats are focused on Florida in a bid to help fellow party members ensure the state votes Democrat in the Nov. 3 presidential election.
The Nahant Democratic Town Committee joined forces with SwingLeft.Org’s North Shore chapter to help tip the balance from Republican to Democrat in 2020 for U.S. Senate races around the country and the race for president.
Nahant Democrats adopted Florida as their sister state but there are also SwingLeft activities focused on states including Arizona, Maine, Michigan, Pennsylvania.
Since April, committee members have mailed 3,690 handwritten postcards to Democratic voters in Sarasota and Palm Beach counties, encouraging them to sign up to vote by mail.
Town Democrats Kathy DiVittorio and Conrad Squires are leading the committee’s efforts to bolster voting by mail in Florida.
“The Trump campaign has a couple of hundred million dollars in the bank but we’re connecting with fellow Dems in swing states like Florida, making sure that they cast their votes by mail,” DiVittorio said.
The coronavirus pandemic has spurred a dramatic increase in the use of mail-in ballots. In five states, mail-in is the only option while many others, Florida included, have both mail-in and in-person voting options.
Committee Chair Jim Walsh said 39 local Democrats are working on the mail-in vote initiative.
Rebekah Richardson, sister-in-law to former Republican Attorney General Elliot Richardson, started working on the mail-in effort a year ago building on her many years as a Town Committee member.
DiVittorio and Richardson said it isn’t too early for people interested in getting involved in the national election cycle to pitch in.
“Let’s not just complain,” Walsh said, adding, “Let’s do something. And if anyone is interested in becoming part of this effort they can email me at [email protected].”
