Accomack County & Northampton County Democratic Committees
October 2018
The Accomack County Democratic Committee Oct.3rd meeting saw a full house crowd. Accomack Registrar Patty White was our very special guest speaker. Over the course of her 45-minute presentation she was very informative and seemed to enjoy the interaction. White gave us a detailed explanation of the absentee ballot process including a walk-thru of the required forms and some helpful tips about completing and returning the forms. Along the way she welcomed our questions and made a special effort to ensure that we got useful answers. Contact Patty at (757) 787-2935 or govote@co.accomack.va.us. Website: https://www.co.accomack.va.us/departments/registrar
Paul & Jane Berge reported on the independent bi-county Friends of Eastern Shore Democrats group. The Friends are planning a large old-time rally at Mary N. Smith School on Sunday, Oct. 21st from 1 pm to 4 pm. Plans have been finalized for music, food, fellowship and speeches from Sen. Tim Kaine, Elaine Luria, State Sen. Lynwood Lewis and other notable elected officials. Please help us spread the word and share with your friends on social media. There is a section below with more info on this rally. To download a printable or shareable event flyer please click here.
Please see the important info further down in the newsletter about absentee balloting dates, deadlines and procedures.
The Coordinated Campaign Office located in the Edward Jones Building at 4045 Lankford Hwy., Exmore, VA 23350 held its Grand Opening Celebration on Sunday, Oct. 7th. The office provides a much-needed central location to coordinate and assist our many volunteers to make phone calls, door-to-door canvassing and other tasks. There are a limited number of Luria & Kaine yard signs available at the office location. To volunteer, please call Ronnie Minkoff @ 203-554-3529 or Townsend Larmore @ 757-955-0828. Townsend's email is townsend.larmore@virginiavictory.org.
The "Final 4" is coming. The ACDC will be making a special push during the last 4 days (Nov. 3-6) leading up to and including election day. They have rented space at the Historic Onancock School, 6 College Ave, Onancock, VA 23417. There will also be a North Accomack County "Final 4" location at Debra Wharton's house in Temperanceville, VA. Both locations will be busy doing canvassing, door knocking and providing transportation to the polls. For more info about Onancock, please contact Greg Temple at gregorytemple50@yahoo.com or 757-419-8984 or for Temperanceville contact Debra Wharton at 757-824-5141 or dwhartonescsb@yahoo.com .
The November meeting date has changed. It will be held on November 1st @ 6 pm at the usual ES Chamber of Commerce Bldg. in Melfa.
The Northampton County Democratic Committee Oct. 2nd meeting kicked off with a brief reports from Townsend Larmore of the Coordinated Campaign Office in Exmore and Ivanna Hall from the Virginia Coordinated Campaign. They gave very informative talks about how they are reaching out to assist local Democratic Committees to better connect with local voters. Both Townsend and Ivanna have been extremely helpful.
We also heard from Northampton County Registrar Terry Flynn who went over the responsibilities of his office for elections. He also emphasized that Northampton County's voting apparatus is safe from cyberattacks or other security concerns. Contact Terry at (757) 678-0480 or vote@co.northampton.va.us. Website: http://www.co.northampton.va.us/gov/registrar/
The Coordinated Campaign Office, in the Edward Jones Building at 4045 Lankford Hwy., Exmore, VA 23350 held its Grand Opening Celebration on Oct. 7th. The office needs volunteers to make phone calls, door-to-door canvassing and other tasks. There will be a limited number of Luria & Kaine yard signs available at the office. To volunteer, please call Ronnie Minkoff @ 203-554-3529 or Townsend Larmore @ 757-955-0828. Townsend's email is townsend.larmore@virginiavictory.org.
Paul & Jane Berge reported on the independent bi-county Friends of Eastern Shore Democrats group. The Friends are planning a large old-time rally at Mary N.
Smith School on Sunday, Oct. 21st from 1 pm to 4 pm. Plans have been finalized for music, food, fellowship and speeches from Sen. Tim Kaine, Elaine Luria, State Sen. Lynwood Lewis and other notable elected officials. Please help us spread the word and share with your friends on social media. There is a section below with more info on this rally. To download a printable or shareable event flyer please click here.
Ivanna Hall emphasized the importance of following the Virginia Coordinated Campaign canvassing plan that has been developed. We will still need to knock on doors and contact about 3,000 more likely Democratic voters to ensure a victory at the polls in November. As members of the Northampton Committee your volunteer time and efforts are absolutely essential in helping to achieve these lofty goals.
Bob Toner talked about outreach, upcoming voter registration events and absentee ballots. For more information about these topics please contact Bob Toner at mbtoner@verizon.net or 757-442-2676 for information or to volunteer.
Bill Payne reported on Fundraising and Precinct Operations. Contact Bill Payne at payne1942@msn.com for more information or to volunteer.
Please note that our November meeting date has changed. The Nov. meeting will be held after the elections on Nov. 13th @ 7 pm.
Elaine Luria is running against Republican incumbent Scott Taylor, who has launched a series of very negative and grossly misleading ads against Luria.
You'd hope what you see on TV is true, but we all know that's not always the case. In politics it can be a challenge to separate fact from fiction. What makes this increasingly important is that this is a political season like no other, and Democrats in Congress smell blood in the water, hoping to take over the House and the Senate.
This is really ironic because the first ad launched against Elaine Luria has a shark lurking, with words like danger, stealth, radical. The shark is supposed to be the candidate.
The ad starts with scary music, and then the fin appears. It's slow moving and a deep voice states, "It's out there. You don't see it yet, but it's out there. Danger, lurking in the race for Congress. Stealth candidate Elaine Luria has quietly promised something radical and dangerous. She backs a government takeover of health care that will make your health care costs skyrocket and deteriorate your quality of care. What you don't know about Elaine Luria should make you nervous."
When Elaine Luria was shown the commercial she laughed. "You can actually see I am laughing at it," she said. "False implications", says the 2nd Congressional nominee who served in the Navy and is the target of this National Republican Congressional Committee political ad.
"I don't think my professional career and serving our country for 20 years supports that I am radical or dangerous or extreme in anyway." Luria wants you to know she served 20 years in the Navy. She commanded a combat unit with 400 sailors and she retired as a commander.
In the ad, Taylor says that "Elaine Luria, running a negative campaign against Scott Taylor, who is a Navy Seal Iraq War combat veteran is a disgrace. Worse, liberal Nancy Pelosi is pulling Luria's strings, bank rolling her attacks. Because Pelosi is desperate to rule as House Speaker, where with Luria's vote we will have higher taxes, lower wages, and fewer jobs. And if Nancy Pelosi puppet Elaine Luria wins, we lose."
The implication is that Luria is a puppet supporting Democratic Congressional Leader Nancy Pelosi. Luria claims the only time she saw Pelosi was in a crowd of 300.
Luria further responds by saying "To make me look like I'm someone's puppet, I am not anyone's puppet, and if his opponent was a man he wouldn't have had him dancing around like a puppet with strings and a crown on."
She also takes this not-so-subtle dig at Taylor, "If you're voting 98 percent of the time with Trump, it kind of looks like he (Scott Taylor) is the puppet."
A special prosecutor is still investigating Scott Taylor for campaign irregularities. Allegedly four of Taylor’s paid campaign staffers collected signatures at his direction and forged at least 80 names in the days leading up to the deadline to file the ballot petition sheets in order to push Shaun Brown over the 1,000-signature threshold.
All of this has left a lingering impression that the "Remain Vigilant Virginia" commercials against Taylor would continue, and as new information develops in the case, new commercials will air, and that is bad news for Scott Taylor who only wants to talk about other issues instead of the ongoing forgery charges involving him and his staffers.
The Coordinated Campaign Office in Exmore needs your help in phone banking and canvassing operations thru Election Day. If we truly want to create a Blue Wave it is imperative that we personally contact prospective voters in Accomack and Northampton to get them to the polls and voting Democratic. Campaign strategy says that winning is only possible if we directly contact and persuade enough voters. We need to contact over 3,000 more voters before Nov. 6. The Coordinated Campaign Office will be hosting Get Out The Vote weekends on Oct. 20-21, Oct. 27-28 and Nov. 3-4. To volunteer to help with phone bank or canvass operations at any time but especially on evenings or weekends, please call Ronnie Minkoff @ 203-554-3529 or Townsend Larmore @ 757-955-0828. Townsend's email is townsend.larmore@virginiavictory.org.
High-quality phone banking and canvassing operations are consistent vote-winners. By far the most effective way to turn out voters is with high-quality conversations that urge them to vote. Just one personal conversation had a profound effect on a voter’s likelihood to go to the polls, boosting turnout by a noticeable percentage. Canvassing seems to work best when voters who don’t care much about politics engage in a genuine conversation about why voting is important. So, when canvassers rush through scripted interactions, just trying to cram their message into voters’ minds, the impacts they leave are minimal — voters might as well have been sitting through a television ad. On the other hand, research has consistently found that authentic interpersonal exchanges usually have sizable impacts. Be that person.
Political phone banking is used not to convince or swing voter decision but to find committed voters. Once volunteers understand the purpose of the phone campaign, it keeps them motivated as they get to be part of the campaign instead of being mere supporters.
Here are some ideas and tips that will help you be a better phone banker.
Personal conversations are the most effective way to drive people to the polls on election day. Every door knocked and every conversation is a step toward victory.
Here are some ideas and tips that will help you become a better door knocker or canvasser,
Elaine Luria, a Democrat running in the 2nd Congressional District, spoke in support of preserving the Affordable Care Act and addressing sea-level rise during a Williamsburg Kiwanis Club luncheon Oct 3, 2018..
Luria cast herself as a representative who would work to provide people with affordable health care.
“I think the job of our government is to create a health care system that’s both affordable and provides care for people across our community,” she said. “People are really struggling with the rising cost of health care and our current representative, our current Congress voted to take away health care.”
Luria was referring to a failed effort by Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, last year. Taylor voted in favor of the American Health Care Act, a partial repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
The American Health Care Act as passed by the House would have ended the individual mandate and would have allowed no limit on the cost of insurance for people with pre-existing conditions.
Luria said she considered sea level rise a major concern for the area’s military presence.
“Sea level rise and recurrent flooding is a huge issue for this district. It has a huge impact on the military and the military’s ability to operate,” Luria said.
ABSENTEE VOTING BY MAIL
In order to vote Absentee By Mail you have to apply to receive a ballot. You can get an application here to mail in or you can apply online here. Applications must be received by 5:00 pm the Tuesday before the election. Your completed ballot must be received by 7:00 pm on Election Day. You can find a list of offices here.
ABSENTEE VOTING IN PERSON
Absentee voting in person voting is available starting 45 days before the election and will ends 3 days before the election. Your local registrar’s office will have Absentee In Person voting during their office hours and some offices will also have satellite voting locations. You can check the schedule by calling your local registrar’s office, a list of offices here, or by visiting their website.
We are searching in both counties for interested Young Democrats to startup an indepentently chartered Eastern Shore VA Young Democrats group - high school students, college students or working young adults under 35 years old are all eligible. Do you know any young locals with an interest in politics? If so, please share their names and email addresses with us.. Contact ckelly@easternshoredemocrats.com for more information.
Also see https://www.vayd.org/.
The newly formed Friends of Eastern Shore Democrats group will be sponsoring a FREE vintage political rally to Get Out The Vote (GOTV) on Sunday, Oct. 21st from 1 p.m. at the Mary N. Smith Cultural Enrichment Center located at 24577 Mary N. Smith Road, Accomac, VA 23301.
Doors will open at 1 p.m. and there will be free hot dogs and sodas, musical performances and socializing until 2 p.m. when the guest speakers will address the attendees. The guest speakers will include Sen. Tim Kaine, VA-02 Candidate Elaine Luria, Rep. Bobby Scott and State Senator Lynwood Lewis.
This is a rally to inspire the Eastern Shore to get All Fired Up To Vote. Early voting is now open in Virginia and we will have tables set up and staffed with volunteers to provide information about absentee voting. They will have the required forms on site and can assist you in filling them out. Click here for more information about voting in Virginia. Make your plans to join us for an afternoon of fun, food and politics.
Please help us advertise this event by downloading a copy of the event poster and then either sharing it on your social media pages or by printing out copies and handing them out at churches and other public gatherings.
Who is the Democrat? Elaine Luria is a former US Navy commander who now runs an art studio. She has earned the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue imprimatur, which means the national party thinks she’s shown she can be a credible candidate. She also has the endorsements of Emily’s List and End Citizens United. Most importantly, Elaine has won our trust and respect!
Who is the Republican? Rep. Scott Taylor, former state legislator, first elected in 2016. He voted for Obamacare repeal, the tax bill, and a 20-week abortion ban.
Access the Virginia Department of Elections website to register to vote online, to review your current voter registration status, and/or submit updates to your voter registration.
© 2018 Eastern Shore Democrats - All Rights Reserved
Authorized and paid for by the Accomack County and Northampton County Democratic Committees
