With the pandemic forcing FLIP NC to go completely virtual with our voter outreach efforts, many volunteers have recently joined us from all over the country through Vote Save America’s Adopt North Carolina program. In a lot of cases, they chose North Carolina because of a deeply personal connection: They went to college here, their favorite aunt lives here, or they spent part of their early years here. Such is the case with Annie. She was born in Charlotte and spent part of her childhood in the Tar Heel State.
“FLIP NC has been so awesome and welcoming,” Annie says. “Everyone should volunteer!”
Check out this Q&A with Annie, and then sign up to join her for an upcoming virtual phone bank!
How many times have you volunteered with FLIP NC?
I've volunteered three times with FLIP NC for phone bank shifts. I had never phone banked before, and they made it super easy, accessible, and not intimidating at all. It helps that North Carolinians are unfailingly polite!
What has surprised you most about our voter outreach?
How many people are willing to talk on the phone! As someone who never answers my phone when I don't know the number and generally hates talking on the phone (even though I've done it constantly in most jobs I've had, including my current one), I'm consistently bowled over by people willing to engage in a conversation. It's baffling but 1,000% rewarding.
Have a funny story or touching moment to share? Maybe something that happened while you were making calls? A conversation you remember?
The one person who was less than kind to me when I was calling was so funny that I can't even be mad about it. After introducing myself and what I was calling about, he said, "Lady, I'm gonna vote for who I'm gonna vote for and I don't care a hill of beans what you have to say," before hanging up. It made me laugh so hard and sort of respect him. The touching moments have been too many to count – mostly people thanking me profusely for hooking them up with a link to get their absentee ballot or telling me they appreciate the work I'm doing to help get out the vote.
What's your top tip for someone who is new to voter outreach?
Just do it! I have wanted to do something like this for so many years – it's embarrassing to admit, and it just took the most important election of our lives and a pandemic to finally get myself to take that first step beyond social media slacktivism and obsessive news consumption. When you decide to just take the action you're afraid to take, you wind up feeling so much better. Action is the antidote to anxiety, and I don't know anyone who doesn't feel anxiety about the upcoming election.
What is really motivating you to get involved? Obviously, you want to FLIP NC, but tell us a bit about the "why."
I was born in Charlotte, spent a handful of years there growing up (we moved around a lot), and my older sister lived in Charlotte for many years before moving just south of the border to Fort Mill, South Carolina. I've paid close attention over the years as the NC legislature has repeatedly made national news for some of the most awful initiatives and dirty tricks in the book, and it has made me angrier and angrier. There is so much to love about North Carolina, and it just felt like all of its worst people were elevated to power and all the best parts of the state were tarnished by it, at least from a public image standpoint. I've lived in New York for the past 11 years, but I always have a lot of pride in being from the South and pride in North Carolina's beauty and kindness, and I want to start seeing that get the spotlight again.
How are you feeling about the 2020 election? Optimistic?
I vacillate constantly between optimism and terror. I worry a lot about voter suppression, Post Office hijinks, foreign interference, and the total lack of scruples in the GOP, particularly on the national level.
Tell us a little bit about your background.
I live with my wonderful husband (who has worked in Raleigh at Theatre Raleigh!) in Astoria, Queens, a stone's throw from Manhattan. After nearly a decade working with babies, kids, and pregnant women as a yoga teacher and a birth doula, I'm now the office manager for a Physical Therapy + Running Clinic on the Upper East Side. I'm an aunt to four wonderful nephews and one niece who will be the ruler of the world someday. I've always been passionate about my political beliefs, even when I was a child and parroting my parents' beliefs. I've gotten more and more informed and passionate with age and was not only certain of Hillary Clinton's assured victory in 2016 but beyond excited for it. That election night was one of the worst in my life and absolutely changed my life.
Other than politics, what’s a passion of yours?
Kids. They're the best people. I'm also a very passionate runner and am so grateful that I achieved my longtime dream of running the New York City Marathon in 2019 before COVID cancelled everything.
Who do you admire in politics?
Stacey Abrams! She did not take what happened to her in Georgia lying down, had the greatest non-concession speech ever, and is taking incredible, sweeping action to help preserve democracy and our right to vote in the country. And, of course, my very own Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I'm extremely lucky to have the privilege of being represented by her, and I constantly admire her courage and her outreach to her constituents.
What would you say to someone who is feeling totally dejected by our current state of politics? And how do you stay in the fight?
The fight to save our democracy is in a critical moment, and now is not the time to accept defeat or pessimism. We have to keep being optimists, like John Lewis said, and find ways to make ourselves useful. The act of making one donation or talking to one voter pays you back 10 times over in energy and resolve. It's hard, and I definitely have days where I feel like it's too overwhelming, but it's also important to remember that there are a lot of us fighting for what's right – we aren't alone.
Tell us about a political moment that inspired you, whether it was a personal conversation, a speech given by a president, or a recent "blue wave" moment.
I'll always remember tears of joy the night Obama won in 2008. I couldn't stop crying – it was a moment of pure joy. Most recently, AOC's speech on the floor of the House after Ted Yoho's verbal abuse rocked me to the core and made me cheer.
