As Voters Not Politicians has evolved as an organization, we’ve worked with our volunteers to keep them engaged and continue the momentum of our pro-democracy movement. That’s why we make sure our volunteers stay engaged with our pro-democracy reform initiatives not just during the petition phase but all of the way through implementation.
Mike K. from Bay City is a Clerk Engagement volunteer who is doing exactly that!
Mike first started volunteering with Voters Not Politicians in 2022, during the petition circulation phase of our successful Prop 2 (2022) campaign to expand voting access. Now, as clerk engagement volunteer, Mike is committed to making sure the initiative he supported is implemented successfully.
[As a clerk engagement volunteer] I meet with my local city clerk to get a sense of what they have to work with for administering elections here, how equipped they are to be able to tackle the election changes Prop 2 will bring, and identify what areas they could use help in.
As a Voters Not Politicians volunteer, Mike understands that activism doesn’t end just because your proposal passes. That’s exactly why he finds his current volunteer role so important.
Prop 2 brings a further-increased access for people to be able to vote in governmental and municipal elections, which makes it crucial that each element of this new access is able to be carried out to its fullest extent, and that it all functions properly.
But working directly with our local election administrators (our clerks), I think, lets us take responsibility for the increased voting access that we had advocated for – sort of an, “okay, this is what you wanted to see happen and to have the people support – now what are you going to do to make sure it all works like you say it will?” This is part of how we do that.
Improving our democracy is a long-term project, with no one-step solutions. Volunteers like Mike who are with us for the long-haul are critical to the success of our pro-democracy mission. And Voters Not Politicians is, in turn, a critical structure that gives everyday citizens the power to enact change.
Although our efforts toward sustaining and even improving our democracy might seem like a heavy task because of just how serious a cause this is, the way we are so well-organized – both in and out of events – makes this task feel that much less daunting.
