Implementing a Mental Health Voter Empowerment Project
Implementing a Mental Health Voter Empowerment Project
Throughout the history of our country, the vote has stood alone as the means by which disenfranchised individuals could empower themselves and force elected officials to pay attention to the issues that are important to them. Whether the group has been women, African-Americans, Hispanics, or gays and lesbians, elected leaders were forced to pay attention once these populations organized themselves into a body that was educated and would vote.
Individuals living with mental illness represent our nation’s largest minority. One in five Americans is estimated to be living with some form of mental illness, and yet our leaders still refuse to pay attention to the issues that are important to us. Why? Because we do not vote.
Contrary to popular belief, politicians do not represent the needs and wishes of all of their constituents. They’d like to, but there is an old maxim, “You can’t please all of the people all of the time.” If making a decision means angering a non-voter at the expense of pleasing a voter, they will anger the non-voter every time.
To gain the attention of politicians and policymakers we need to ensure that, as a population, we vote. That is what the Mental Health Voter Empowerment Project (MHVEP) was established to do. Founded by consumer-advocate Ken Steele in the early 1990s, the program seeks to register consumers to vote, to educate themselves about the issues, and finally “Get Out The Vote” on election day.
Tell them they are wrong. The fact is, in New York State, there are very, very specific rules as to when your right to vote can be taken away. The two main reasons are:
The primary reason that you may be unable to vote is that a court has said you are mentally incompetent. This does not mean you have been found to be mentally ill by a court. A determination of mental incompetence means that a Court of Law has said you are unable to adequately conduct your own personal business.
If they question whether or not you are “mentally competent”, think about your own treatment. If you have signed any paperwork regarding your treatment, then you are not mentally incompetent.
Mental incompetence indicates that you are unable to handle your own affairs and therefore cannot sign a legal contract. Signing your treatment plan, or any other treatment related paperwork, represents the signing of a legal contract.
If you have been mandated into treatment by a court, through Kendra’s Law or some other form of mandated treatment, you are still eligible to vote. These court decisions have nothing to do with mental incompetence, and cannot remove your Constitutional right to vote.
The one instance where court-mandated treatment can result in one losing the right to vote is if you have been mandated into treatment as part of a sentence for a felony offense. It is important to note here that, in this instance, your disenfranchisement, or the loss of your right to vote, is not related to your mental illness. Every individual in New York State currently serving time for a felony offense is unable to vote. Once your sentence is completed, you regain the ability to vote.
Your right to vote may only be revoked for a felony offense. Being found guilty of a misdemeanor does not lead to disenfranchisement.
Otherwise, as long as you are properly registered to vote (see below), they are wrong!!!
Having the right to vote does not amount to anything unless it is used. In general, this is an easy process; but, there are a few simple ground rules.
GET REGISTERED
The first step in voting is registering. This is simple. Get a Voter Registration Form, fill it out, and mail it in. It is likely that your local MHA will have registration forms. If not, your local library or post office will definitely have them. If you have Internet access, you can go to the New York State Board of Elections Website, at www.elections.state.ny.us, or at the MHVEP website, at www.mhanys.org/mhvep.
When you are filling out the form, you will be asked to provide several pieces of information about yourself. This includes your name, your address, and your Driver’s License number or the last four digits of your Social Security Number. These are for identification purposes only, to prevent voter fraud. Your driver license number or the last four digits of your Social Security Number will be kept private.
Further, due to recently passed laws, if this is your first election voting, you will need to show some form of identification when you arrive at the polls. This is to prevent fraud. A Drivers License or Social Security card will definitely be acceptable. If you do not have either of these readily available, please call your local Board of Elections, as the acceptable forms of identification will differ based upon the county in which you live.
In order to retain your ability to vote in each election, it is important to keep your registration current. Even if you just move to the apartment next door, you have to let the Board of Elections know. Otherwise, you may not be able to vote in the next election. Keeping your registration information up-to-date is important if you want to keep voting. Doing so is easy, all you have to do is file another voter registration form when you move, and check the box “address change.”
Keep in mind, there are deadlines before each election as to when you have to register to participate in that year’s election. For instance, to vote in the 2004 General Election (in November), you need to register to vote by October 8.
GET EDUCATED
Once you have registered to vote, it is time to educate yourself. It is important that you take time to learn about the candidates and their stances on the issues, especially those which are important to you. A good voter understands the candidates and the issues when they go into the voting booth, even if they do not necessarily know for whom they are voting.
Information about candidates is available through many sources. Your local newspapers will generally provide information about every candidate before an election. Candidates will make (biased) information readily available to registered voters. The Board of Elections will be able to provide you with information about the offices that are up for election in a given year, and the names and political affiliation of each person running for that office in your town.
There are also a number of organizations that will provide you with information about candidates. For instance, MHVEP provides voters with a Voter Education Guide that provides information about all candidates on the state level (this will be made available as the election nears). Groups such as the League of Women Voters also are a good source for non-partisan information about candidates. If you have access to the Internet, www.vote-smart.org is a non-partisan organization that provides voters with resources to make educated choices come election day.
Another good way to learn about the candidates is to attend events where the candidates will be speaking. Candidates are VERY visible in the time before an election. Go hear them talk and learn what they have to say. If you have a particular question, ask. The worst thing that can happen is they do not answer it.
VOTE
You’ve registered, you’ve gotten to know the candidates; now you have to make sure you get out and vote.
In the weeks before the election, you should receive a post card from the Board of Elections letting you know where and when to vote. If you do not receive this card, and you do not know where to vote, call the local Board of Elections and they will be able to tell you.
If your polling station is too far from your house, and you do not have access to a car, there are organizations that will drive you to the polls. In some instances, your local MHA may organize trips to the polls. Other times, candidates will. If you need assistance getting to the polls on election day, ask your local MHA for assistance. If they are not offering rides themselves, they can probably put you in touch with people who are.
If you know in advance that you will be unable to get to your polling place on Election Day, due to illness, travel, or some other reason, you can obtain an Absentee Ballot, which allows you to vote by mail in advance of the election. Contact your local Board of Elections to get an Absentee Ballot request. If you choose to vote by Absentee Ballot, you cannot vote on Election Day.
It is important to know your rights once you are at the polling place. You have the right to enter the voting booth by yourself, unless you wish to bring someone in with you to provide assistance. You have the right to bring whatever materials you like into the voting booth with you. You can take as much time as you need to vote. Nobody can rush you. Finally, your vote is your business. You can tell someone who you voted for if you want to, but nobody can make you.
Remember, due to new laws intended to prevent voter fraud, you will be required to show identification of some sort if this is your first time voting. A Driver’s License or Social Security Card will definitely be acceptable. If you do not have either of these available, call your local Board of Elections in advance of Election Day to make sure you have I.D. that is acceptable, as this will vary by county.
Yes, one person can make a difference.
As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of committed individuals can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
But when that small group becomes a movement - a large group of people all fighting for the same thing - it is amazing and impossible to ignore. This is where the Mental Health Voter Empowerment Project enters the picture.
The goal of the Mental Health Voter Empowerment Project is simple: to register individuals living with mental illness to vote, educate them about the issues that are important to them, and then make sure that they vote. The program acts in a non-partisan manner to make sure individuals with mental illness vote.
BEGINNING
The first step to getting involved in MHVEP is finding one to get involved in. If there is not a local MHVEP in your area, start one; it is really easy. All you need are voter registration forms, MHVEP membership forms, and a large number of unregistered individuals living with mental illness. MHVEP can provide you with the first two materials - it is up to you to find the voters.
Make sure you tell MHANYS you are starting a chapter in your area. We can provide you with technical support. Plus, in order to help build our power statewide, we need to have centralized records. Send your new MHVEP memberships to us, so that they can be entered into the database. This ensures that all the MHVEP members you sign up will enjoy all the benefits of membership. It also ensures that the program realizes its potential in affording the mental health community greater public understanding and acceptance.
Once you have your materials and a pool of potential voters-to-be, set up a chair and a table in a visible location. To get attention, you may want to have a sign or some other resource that draws attention to you and what you are doing. This is not hard; you do not need professionally drawn signs. A marker and paper should serve your purpose.
While making your sign, it is important to remember the golden rule of MHVEP. The Mental Health Voter Empowerment Project is non-partisan. This means we do not, and can not, support any particular political party or candidate. So, when you make your sign, keep this in mind.
If there is already an MHVEP in your area, we still need you. MHVEP relies upon volunteers to function. The more volunteers we have, the better the program is. Consumers who recognize the importance of voting, and who want to make sure that others participate in their democracy, give the program its strength and allow MHVEP to grow and thrive. We need YOU!
To find out if there is an MHVEP in your area, or to learn more about starting an MHVEP, contact Bryan O’Malley at MHANYS at (518) 434-0439, ext. 29, or ask about it at your local MHA.
NEXT STEPS
Once you have registered to vote and joined MHVEP, talk to your friends, family, and peers and get them to register to vote and join MHVEP.
Next to volunteering, the single most important thing you can do to help build MHVEP is to spread the word. Tell your friends, family and peers about the project. Make sure that they are registered to vote, and let them know about MHVEP, and why they should join.
One great way to build the program is to send a letter, or an e-mail, to everyone you know letting them know about MHVEP and why you joined. Include a voter registration form and a MHVEP sign-up sheet. If you arew communicating by e-mail, include a link to the MHVEP website. Encourage people to sign up.
If you don’t feel comfortable doing this yourself, give the names to other people. Local MHVEP volunteers may be willing to reach out on your behalf. No matter how you do it, building the program is the only way to help ensure its long term success.
Keep in mind, while MHVEP targets mental health consumers, ANYONE is welcome to join. We encourage everyone who cares about the mental health system to become a MHVEP member. In this way, we can truly demonstrate the importance of mental health issues to elected officials. Do not be shy in whom you tell about this program. Consumers, family, friends, health providers and many other folks have a huge variety of reasons to care about mental health.
It is also very important to keep in mind that a person does not join MHVEP just by registering to vote. They have to fill out a separate MHVEP membership form as well. This ensures that people know they are signing up for the program, in addition to registering to vote. Also, make sure they know membership to MHVEP does not carry any necessary burden. Make sure they know there is no cost, no commitment, and no obligation. Make sure they know they do not have to vote for a particular candidate (remember, MHVEP is non-partisan, we can’t tell them who to vote for even if we wanted to). Let them know that while we appreciate volunteers (and economic help), it is not necessary and they are free to choose to participate in whichever way they feel most comfortable, even if it is just getting out to vote on Election Day.
If someone tells you they are already registered, let them know that they can still join MHVEP. Also, ask to make sure they are registered at their current address.
Remember, always send in the forms you collect to the appropriate offices. When people register to vote, or sign up for MHVEP, they will expect you to follow through. If someone registers through you and does not get to vote, they may never participate again. It is crucial that you always send in your voter registration forms to the Board of Elections (addresses available on the back of the Voter Registration form) and send in your MHVEP forms to the central MHVEP office at MHANYS (194 Washington Ave., Suite 415, Albany, NY 12210).
Sending MHVEP forms to the MHANYS Central Office will allow you to help grow your local Chapter by allowing you to focus your limited resources on registering new people, while we do the data entry. Because MHANYS has the capability to maintain a centralized list of all MHVEP members, we are able provide you with lists of all members in your area, not just those you sign up. Having the program centralized also allows us the ability to assess the program’s power at the state level, so that we can have an impact on policies and programs that are made here in Albany.
MAINTAIN CONTACT
Once someone has signed up for MHVEP, maintain contact with them. Keep them informed about what is going on with your local efforts. This will give them a sense of connection to MHVEP, and make them more likely to go out and vote. Remember, it takes a lot for people to get out and vote for the first time, so the connection you establish will be one large aspect of determining whether or not that person actually gets out to the polls in November.
Staying in touch might also get them to help you. More volunteers makes the process more fun. It also helps you get more done.
The best way to get people involved, and keep them involved, is to keep it fun. This should not be all work, it should be fun too. You can do different things to maintain contact while having fun. Maybe have a pizza social with all of the members of MHVEP (note, food almost always attracts new members as well), or have fun little outings to the park, or some other place.
Another great way to keep things fun while maintaining contact with lesser involved members is to organize outings. Maybe a candidate is speaking at a local forum, or the League of Women Voter’s is holding a debate. This is an excellent opportunity to reach out to your members and get them together. It also lets them know there are advantages to being an MHVEP member, as they get the information without having to find it out themselves.
It is also important to note that contact should not just be made during an election season. Contact should be kept up year-round, so that people know what is going on in the legislative world. Remember, this is a never-ending cycle where people vote for candidates based on their positions, then the officials are elected and go to Albany or Washington and must hold true to those positions, then people vote again.
By keeping people informed, you show them the merit of MHVEP and help build the program further.
“GET OUT THE VOTE”
What is a Get Out The Vote effort? GOTV, as it is known, is simple. It is a large effort by you and other volunteers in your area to ensure that all those people who are members of the MHVEP get to the polls to vote. Usually, GOTV takes place in the four days immediately preceding an election (Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday).
The single most important thing to remember during your GOTV activities is that MHVEP does not care who our members vote for, just as long as they vote.
With that established, there are several different ways to conduct a GOTV campaign. The first method is phone calls. With this technique, we use the phone numbers people provided on their MHVEP sign-up list to contact them in the days leading up to the election. It is best to set up a phone bank at a central location. This way you can get people together as a social event and collectively make the calls while ensuring that the list of members remains confidential and is not exploited.
To set up a phone bank, you will need space and phones. Your local MHA may be willing to donate phones. If not, there is most likely some other local space that would allow you and other volunteers to use their phones to call each of the MHVEP members to remind them of the election and the importance of going out to vote. The most important part of setting up a successful phone bank is doing it in advance. If you try to do it at the last minute, you will most likely lack volunteers and phones.
When you are making phone calls, have all the election information in front of you, in case the people you are calling have questions. It is also good to have the phone number of groups offering rides to the polls, for those who need one, as well as the local Board of Elections, for questions you can not answer.
It is also important to once again stress the golden rule of MHVEP here. MHVEP is non-partisan and does not endorse candidates. This means that if, while you are making phone calls, someone asks you who they should vote for, you cannot make a recommendation. What you should say instead is that MHVEP is non-partisan and cannot tell them who to vote for, but it is vital that they get out to vote. Offer them the MHVEP website, http://www.mhanys.org/mhvep, which will have the Voter Education Guide. Otherwise, point them to local resources which have information on the candidates or provide them with both candidates' positions on any issues they inquire about.
A slightly more expensive and less personal way to conduct GOTV efforts is through a mail campaign. Send postcards to each MHVEP member before the election. Remember though, this is not as personal, so it will not have the same effectiveness.
You can also go door to door to each MHVEP member. This is certainly the most time intensive method and with the likelihood that your members are spread throughout a large area, is most likely not very time effective. Door to door visits are good because they remember the visit well, and you can answer any questions or address any concerns members have while you are in front of them, which is more reassuring.
AFTER ELECTION DAY
Remember, MHVEP does not end on election day. In order to keep building the program, to keep building the movement, we need to keep our activities up throughout the year.
First, keep registering people, and keep signing up new members. The power of our movement grows with each new person we register, with each new person that joins MHVEP. If we stop registering new voters when the election ends, we stop building our movement.
It is also important that we keep educating people. MHANYS works on a number of legislative issues related to mental health issues. MHVEP needs to continue to reach out to its members to keep them informed about what their elected officials are doing for them in Albany, Washington, or the local county seat. This will allow us to hold our elected officials accountable and let them know that we are paying attention.
Finally, keep recruiting new volunteers. Even the most committed volunteers need help. Eventually, you need a break. You need someone to step up to pick up the slack when you no longer can. Plus, two people can do more than one. Three can do more than two, and so on. Keep spreading the word, keep finding new volunteers, and keep growing your movement. Then MHVEP will be a force that can not be ignored.
Additional training materials for the Mental Health Voter Empowerment Project are available upon request.
For more information, or to arrange a MHVEP training in your area, please contact Bryan O’Malley at (518) 434-0439, ext.29, or by e-mail at mhvep@mhanys.org.