CCL Wisconsin kicked off its get-out-the-vote project with a Giant Work Party on March 2 in Stevens Point. Seventy-two CCLers from across the state met to hear about plans to engage with 30,000 potential voters in Wisconsin who care about the environment but haven’t voted consistently in recent elections. Dan Dieterich and the Stevens Point chapter hosted the event at the Frame Memorial church.
Madeleine Para explained how we’ll use postcarding and phone banking to reach all of these potential voters before the August 13 primary and the November 5 general election. Brandyn Keating from YOUnify spoke about effective outreach, Larry Sleznikow from CCL’s La Crosse chapter briefed us about Wisconsin elections, and Kathy Kuntz from the Dane County Office of Energy & Climate Change described the many opportunities for tax credits and rebates under the federal Inflation Reduction Act. (See speaker videos here.) Co-state coordinator Jill Mitchler was the emcee.
There were breakout sessions for outreach: postcarding, phone banking, courageous voting conversations, social media, and print media. There were also breakout sessions for building electrification and efficiency, faith voter outreach, student voter outreach, and writing postcards. (See breakout summaries here.)
Madeleine closed out the day by describing next steps. To get involved, you can:
- Join a team by using the Action Team Interest Form.
- Monitor the CCL Wisconsin website (cclwi.org) for information and materials.
- Email Madeleine and CCL Wisconsin state coordinators Jill Mitchler and Dan Dieterich at cclwisco@gmail.com to ask questions and share information.
It was inspiring to see all the interest in getting out the vote. As Madeleine said: “We’ll have an impact on people who are worried about democracy, the election, and the environment.”
By Steve Lewis, first published in the Madison CCL newsletter.
Citizens' Climate Lobby Wisconsin 