Newsletter

March 7, 2023

To wait is to lose. American Veterans Vote is mobilizing now to educate, register, and motivate Veterans and Veteran Supporters to vote early. While we currently have the advantage of time before the next election, there is no time to waste. 

One day of voting in November cannot offset the advantage built over 45 days of both early in-person and absentee voting. The summary charts below from the 2022 Congressional election clearly show this. Focus on the bottom-line net difference in both CD 7 and CD 10.

Mathematically, the election was likely determined by early votes before voting on election day took place. In CD 10, while election day votes put Republicans ahead of Democrats by 5,405 votes, Democrat early in-person and absentee votes beat Republican votes in the same categories by a net of 18,305 votes. Similarly, CD 07 election day votes put Republicans ahead of Democratic votes by 12,938 votes before Democrat early in-person and absentee votes beat Republican votes by a net of 11,976 votes.

Even with differences in candidates and issues, these margins indicate one thing. With new Virginia laws expanding early voting (45 days) and new no-excuse absentee voting allowances, one party is working harder and longer to educate and enable voters to legally vote early.

It’s for that reason, AVV is busy working “harder and longer” to educate and enable Veterans to make their voices heard in upcoming elections. EVERY VETERAN, EVERY VOTE matters. This does not necessarily mean you have to devote extra time to learn every detail about the election horseraces now. We will do that. 

The very best thing you can do boils down to four steps:

Inspiration Corner

The Psalmist in Psalm 139:10 writes: “…even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast.”

I wondered about the phrase “even there” for the Psalmist, and the hope those words imply for us today, no matter what our current circumstances are.

Even there when our health is failing

Even there in our homes

Even there when we’ve lost a job or promotion

Even there when we are anxious

Even there when we succeed

Even there when our nation seems to have lost its way

…He is there to guide us and hold us fast

AVV Regional Team Update

AVV continues to organize regional activities and teams to help Veterans understand the issues, the urgency, and the choices at a more local level. Our most recent regional team meeting was on 25 February in Stafford (see pictures below). The next event is in Virginia Beach at the Golden Corral on 18 March. Watch for details.

Stafford meeting called to order

AVV CEO Bob Wood introduces speakers

AVV Veteran Voter Registration Event

AVV members at the SGK Gun Show at The Meadow Event Park, Doswell, VA on February 18 & 19, had a busy weekend registering Veteran voters and signing up new members.

Legislative Update

Virginia General Assembly

After a very busy 46 days of work, the General Assembly session gaveled out on Saturday, February 23. In both the House and the Senate, a total of 2,200 bills were introduced, of which 867 are heading to Governor Youngkin’s desk for consideration. But the Assembly’s work is not done. Much remains to be done in budget conciliation with many budget amendments still undecided. This process is one of compromise, standoffs, and tradeoffs. The Assembly still must return to the Capital in April for final votes on this budget work. 

The upcoming elections in 2023 will experience the full impact of redistricting on the political map of Virginia. The implications of these changes may cause changeover in 25-35% of Assembly seats. In fact, the General Assembly has not seen such turnover since Reconstruction. There are new districts with no incumbents as well as new districts that pit one incumbent against another incumbent. As a result, many legislators are retiring rather than choosing to run again. Sixteen legislators have formerly announced retirement with more to come. Significant leaders of the Assembly such as Senator Dick Saslaw (D), Senator Tommy Norment, Representative Rob Bell (R), and Representative Ken Plum (D), and Representative Roxanne Robinson (R) are departing. 

With uncertainty comes opportunity. AVV is organized to inform, educate, and advocate – to achieve change through the ballot box. We are working hard to track these openings and resultant opportunities. Your involvement, your donations, and your votes will be so important to the work we do and the victories we seek in this year’s elections.

Contact Your Elected Official

Speak up if you're unhappy with your elected officials' decisions or the direction of the country. They're supposed to work for you!

The websites below are a great place to start for a dialogue with your elected official:

·        For Virginia General Assembly members: https://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov

·        For the U.S. House of Representatives: https://www.house.gov.

·        For the U.S. Senate: https://www.senate.gov/senators

These sites operate similarly – enter your address or zip code, and your elected official is revealed, usually with a link to their website. At the website, click on the “contact” link where you’ll fill out a contact form - name, address, phone number, etc. Then there’ll be a space for you to state your message, and specify whether you want a response to your concerns. You’ll also find links nearby to subscribe to the officeholder’s newsletters and e-mail updates.

    Some tips for contacting your lawmaker via their website:

·        Draft your message ahead of time and then copy and paste it into the space allotted at the website.

·        Keep your message concise, fact-based, professional, and snark-free.

·        Always request a response. This ensures that someone in the office read your message.

·        Subscribe to the newsletters and e-mail updates. Use these to keep apprised of each official’s political priorities and activities, and to provide critical or favorable feedback. 

The telephone is another option and is especially useful when a vote is upcoming for your elected official. Call your legislator’s office, identify yourself as a constituent, and state to the aide or staff member that you want it registered that in your opinion the legislator should do X or Y. You can find your legislators’ phone numbers via the websites listed above.

In either case – website or telephone, legislator staff members are supposed to track the number of messages they receive on various topics, and these can help sway the thinking of lawmakers.

American Veterans Vote, Inc. (AVV) is a volunteer team of Veterans and Civilian Mission Partners who led the Veteran Coalition for Glenn Youngkin. We are a 527 Political Action Committee with a nationally-focused mission to promote the political voice of Veterans and mission partners in support of our three key objectives:

• Support of Veterans and their Families,
• Defense of the Constitution, and
• Promote Our Nation’s Security.

AVV’s goal is to help Veterans maximize their political voice by supporting Veterans’ ability to Vote, Volunteer and Run for Public Office.

"Every Veteran, Every Vote."

We don't speak FOR Veterans... we speak AS Veterans.

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