Miami, FL (Send to Friend)
Where we stand
The ballot measure that became Amendment 2 was filed by Florida4Marriage.org in
February 2005 -- on Valentine's Day. For three years, SAVE has been
working to defeat this amendment, and to combat the lies that our opposition
tells about gay people.
Today, our three-year battle is coming down to the wire. Polls have
varied; there have been eight public polls showing the opposition with a lead
ranging from 11% to 25%; the average of those polls shows us trailing
56-37. The opposition needs 60% to win here in Florida, and we need 40% -- so each side is
just a few percentage points away from victory. Both sides are airing a
limited TV ad campaign designed to appeal to voters statewide. Voter
turnout is expected to be very heavy, and early voting has reflected that
enthusiasm.
Election
Day Strategy
Together, we have one last chance to win this election. Statewide, over
85% of registered Florida
voters are expected to vote -- and on Election Day itself, about 70% of them
will be casting ballots. (although we are encouraging our supporters to vote
early-see below!) On election day we still have time to have one last
face to face conversation with each of those voters.
Here in Miami-Dade
County, if we win 53% of
the vote, we can win statewide. In some areas of Miami-Dade and Broward,
we will do much better than that; this is our strongest area of the
state. But to maximize our impact here, we need to make sure that
absolutely every person on our side votes with us. But -- believe it or
not - we have a couple challenges to overcome.
First, we must stop what's called "wrong-way voting." In Oregon in 2004, about 8%
of our supporters voted yes, because they misunderstood the ballot! Every
wrong-way voter costs us two votes- we lose one and the opposition gains one.
That's 81,000 votes we could lose here in Miami-Dade County
alone! We cannot let that happen. So we need to make sure everyone
on our side VOTES NO, rather than mistakenly thinking they should vote "Yes"
for gay marriage!
Second, we must stop "ballot drop-off" -- people who vote for
President but skip the rest of the ballot. In 2004 here in Miami-Dade County,
11% of voters voted for president but skipped Amendment 1 -- the abortion
question! That's a pretty hot issue that people care deeply about.
If just about one in ten of our supporters leaves Amendment 2 blank - they vote
for President and skip the rest, we lose another 53,000 votes in Miami-Dade County alone. So with just those
two numbers, 134,000 of our votes are at stake in Miami-Dade County
alone. And that's if we just get people already on our side to vote No!
Those are the two simplest ways for us to get lots of votes on Tuesday. We are
going to focus our campaign teams on areas where we have lots of support --
areas where we're going to win big. We want to talk to supporters on
Tuesday. We need to make sure they know how to support us.
We have also been working with an amazing group of student leaders at the
University of Miami (Go 'Canes!), who have built
a large team of students coming to volunteer at polling places in and around Coral Gables. We'll
still win in Coral Gables,
but not as big as elsewhere - we expect to meet "on the fence" voters.
We'll run into these voters in our base, too -- who might be undecided or
voting Yes, but who, when they hear from us face to face, will vote No. Our
volunteers learn how to talk with voters to support us with their votes.
But of all our strategies for Tuesday, our top strategy is getting pro-gay
voters to vote No.
WHY WAIT? Be the first on your block to vote-NOW! Thanks to Florida's early voting,
you don't have to wait until Tuesday to make your voice heard. SAVE Dade
strongly encourages our supporters to get out and vote in early polling places
before Election Day. To find the one nearest you, check our website:
Early Voting
Avoid the election-day rush, get your voice heard, and then-- come volunteer
with us on Election Day!
To volunteer on election day email us at volunteer@savedade.org
