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With control of Congress up for grabs and the election less than a month away, pundits are busy predicting which voting bloc will have the biggest sway this time around: will it be soccer moms? NASCAR dads? Religious voters?
Not then and not now. Election 2006 is the Year of Women on Their Own. Specifically, single women (perhaps you?). Call them overlooked; call them a sleeping giant. But whatever you call them, single women voters have the ability to impact the election and future of the nation – IF they turn out and vote.
In the 2004 election 20 million single women did not vote. 20 million single women: that’s the largest group of non-voters and the fastest growing large demographic in the country.
Yet these women are among the least likely to register or vote on Election Day. And in mid-term elections, they are much more likely than married women to "drop-off.” In fact, 7 million women, or 24% of single women who voted in 2004, are expected to stay home from the polls in 2006.
With recent elections that hinged on a little more than half a million votes nationally and a few hundred votes in Florida, single women have more power than they realize – or exercise.
This week, Women's Voices. Women Vote. (WVWV) launched the “Remember Your First Time” campaign to motivate these women to make their voices heard in the 2006 elections.
Some of American's best-known stars – including Angie Harmon, Felicity Huffman, Regina King, Rosario Dawson, and Marg Helgenberger – have contributed.
Watch/listen to this PSA on YouTube as some of American's best-known stars – including Felicity Huffman, Regina King, Rosario Dawson and Angie Harmon, - describe their “first time” doing it.
(Don’t forget to rate and share!)
America is changing and too many voices are not being heard in our democracy. It’s time for single women in America to use their voice – and their vote – to make a difference in their lives.
Sleeping giants no more,
--Lisa Witter
P.S. I admit, I was married 4 weeks ago, no longer a single woman officially but I am in spirit (don’t tell my husband).
While PSA's are fun and make people feel good, what gets voters to the polls is face to face contact. If you really want to turn out the single women, have an event like GOTV Night Out--find out what ward/precinct you live in, flyer the be-whatnot out of your neighborhood with the message of, "Use the Buddy System to Vote" or "Make a date with your neighbors to vote" - some non-partisan language to get those timid types out - set a time to go to your polling center together, and then go out for drinks/coffee/dog-walking afterwards to meet each other. Voting and meeting your neighbors? Not too shabby!
I tell you what--I'll try it in my neighborhood and see how it goes.
The main reasons single women don't vote are 1) they think it won't make a difference and 2) they're too busy. Single women will obviously make a difference if they vote.
I read somewhere that the reason this group has been so overlooked is because it has been really hard for campaign managers to characterize what is important to single women. We are such a diverse group (according to this article) that it's hard to appeal to us in a 30-second ad or a bumper sticker. Some of us have children, some of us don't. We represent a broad range in education and economic power. Some of us go to church, but a lot of us don't (etc.). A single woman has a hard time making in politics too, because of all the rabid whsiper campaigns centered around a woman's sexuality. For some reason, single women seem a lot more vulnerable to the "homosexual card" than single men do too.
I am a single woman. And I vote. Regularly. I have felt disinfranchised and left behind by political parties since the beginning of time. Still, I vote.
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Comments
This message needs to be reiterated on every feminist blog out there. We MUST motivate women in the US to get involved politically.
Thank you for this post.
Shawn
Posted by: Shawn![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://feministing.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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October 13, 2006 09:32 AM
I'm rather torn.
On the one hand, reading this makes me want to get out there and vote. But on the other...well, this kind of sums up my sentiments:
http://www.workingforchange.com/comic.cfm?itemid=21489
*sigh*
Posted by: Vervain![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://feministing.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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October 13, 2006 11:24 AM
While PSA's are fun and make people feel good, what gets voters to the polls is face to face contact. If you really want to turn out the single women, have an event like GOTV Night Out--find out what ward/precinct you live in, flyer the be-whatnot out of your neighborhood with the message of, "Use the Buddy System to Vote" or "Make a date with your neighbors to vote" - some non-partisan language to get those timid types out - set a time to go to your polling center together, and then go out for drinks/coffee/dog-walking afterwards to meet each other. Voting and meeting your neighbors? Not too shabby!
I tell you what--I'll try it in my neighborhood and see how it goes.
Posted by: Aireanne![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://feministing.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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October 13, 2006 12:07 PM
Vervain, that only applies in close elections.
The main reasons single women don't vote are 1) they think it won't make a difference and 2) they're too busy. Single women will obviously make a difference if they vote.
Posted by: donna darko![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://feministing.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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October 13, 2006 01:33 PM
I read somewhere that the reason this group has been so overlooked is because it has been really hard for campaign managers to characterize what is important to single women. We are such a diverse group (according to this article) that it's hard to appeal to us in a 30-second ad or a bumper sticker. Some of us have children, some of us don't. We represent a broad range in education and economic power. Some of us go to church, but a lot of us don't (etc.). A single woman has a hard time making in politics too, because of all the rabid whsiper campaigns centered around a woman's sexuality. For some reason, single women seem a lot more vulnerable to the "homosexual card" than single men do too.
I am a single woman. And I vote. Regularly. I have felt disinfranchised and left behind by political parties since the beginning of time. Still, I vote.
Posted by: Hype![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://feministing.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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October 13, 2006 10:56 PM