“The fierce urgency of now”

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A year before he was killed, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke these words at Riverside Church in New York City:

   We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being “too late.” … This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.

Dr. King was speaking about the urgency of the civil rights movement he led in the 1960’s. Yet, his words ring true today when applied to the urgency of the upcoming election.

We’re only a little more than 100 days until election day (to see countdown, click here). The majority of ballots likely to be cast, however, will be with early voting. Here’s a list of when early voting begins in each of the seven “battleground” states:

Mail ballots get sent to voters in

  • North Carolina – 60 days before the election, so voting begins there in 43 days.
  • Pennsylvania – 50 days before the election, so we have 53 days (less than 2 months) before voting begins.
  • Wisconsin – 47 days before the election, so we have 56 days before voting begins there.
  • Michigan – 45 days before the election, so we have 58 days.
  • Georgia – 25-29 days before the election.
  • Arizona – 24-27 days before the election.
  • Nevada no later than 20 days before the election.

Any delay in us taking action to help register people to vote, inform them about the issues, help assure that they vote, and ensure that their votes are accurately counted, will, in the words of Dr. King, likely be “too late.”

There are many things you can do:

  • Join thousands of other like-minded people on the Focus for Democracy Briefing this Sunday, July 28th at 8pm ET, 6 pm MT, 5pm PT, by registering here;
  • Engage and enlist your like-minded contacts, including family members, friends, colleagues and others to attend a Focus for Democracy briefing;
  • Volunteer to work on a nearby Congressional or U.S. Senate race;
  • Volunteer to write letters to likely Democratic voters with Vote Forward’s national letter writing campaign; and
  • Write letters to the editor.

The time to get involved in this campaign is right now. I believe we can win this election and elect a President who believes in democracy, wants to protect women’s rights to make their own health decisions, will emphasize efforts to fight climate change, will reaffirm U.S. commitments to critical international alliances like NATO, will stand up to authoritarian leaders around the world, honors the separation of church and state, respects important institutions like our judicial and voting systems, will consistently tell the truth, and much more.

I hope you’ll join me in this critical fight.