Parties are coalitions

Being in the majority matters.

No political party will ever match your values perfectly, because they need to appeal to a wide range of voters to win in diverse districts. Representatives with safe seats often need to cooperate with moderates in swing districts to get a majority.

In the words of political scientists Gary Miller and Norman Schofield, who studied all the elections in the 20th century:

"Successful American parties must be coalitions of enemies. A party gets to be a majority party by forming fragile ties across wide and deep differences in one dimension or the other."

You could see this in action in 2016:

"The Republicans' national success — the presidency, majorities in the House and Senate, unified control of 25 state governments — is a tribute to their ability to hold their coalition together. Many different people vote Republican for many different reasons."

No single politician can advance their agenda without a coalition behind them. Even if you don't like the specific candidate in your area, remember that politicians you do like may depend on the votes of your local candidates to get significant legislation passed.

Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez may not always agree, but they both contribute to Democratic control of the House. Susan Collins is a relatively moderate Republican, but she helped to put Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court and she keeps Mitch McConnell in power. Joe Manchin is a relatively conservative Democrat, but voted to remove Donald Trump from office. Every single Democrat voted in favor of removing Donald Trump from office. Every single Republican except for two opposed even hearing witnesses.

Example: the Affordable Care Act

The following two short videos show the way coalitions worked when it came time to pass the Affordable Care Act—Democrats had to sway wary supporters with specific home-state benefits:

What should I do next?

I'm not registered to vote.

You can register through Vote.org in two minutes. And you can find your polling place here.

I don’t know who to vote for.

That's okay! The key is to not stress about it, because not showing up guarantees you won't be represented. You don't need to know everything. Here are some simple ways to get started:

Find a friend whose values you respect and talk to them about how they're using their vote.
Go to Vote Smart, a non-partisan site, to find out about the stances, past votes, and issue ratings of politicians in your area.
Take this non-partisan five minute quiz to learn about how your values line up with the major political parties. If you know a party is a good fit for your values, you’re better off voting for a candidate for that party than not voting at all.
Search for a candidate's name online and see who endorses them. Endorsements send important signals about which groups trust the people running. Most states (with a few exceptions) let you bring your phone into the voting booth, in case you forget to do this earlier.
Remember, there is nothing wrong with filling out only part of the ballot. Your poll workers may ask you about it, but they just want to make sure you didn’t make a mistake. It's not a problem if you only vote in some of the races.

I'm still not convinced voting is worth it, but I'd like to make use of my vote somehow.

Even if you don't want to vote in your district, you may be able to donate your vote through the Emancipation Initiative to someone who's incarcerated, so they can have a political voice as well.

I want to get more involved.

Persuaded that more people should be voting? Be part of the change!

Remember that there will always be disinformation and efforts to interfere in the election. Talk to your friends about why voting is valuable. Feel free to share this guide.
Volunteer for a political campaign. There's a lot of work to be done, even during social distancing. It's easier than ever to help campaigns by calling, texting, or writing letters to voters.
When election day gets closer, look for apps that will help you connect to your friends and convince them to vote. Campaign apps will let you text people to remind them to vote.
Look for other local political causes to support with your time or money. Voting is important, but it's just the beginning of making change happen.

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Created by
Ben Struhl and Alexander Gard-Murray
in 2020

A Powderhouse Project

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