Pic: Click for Natalie Zebian’s (top left photo) training video. Byron Shehee talks with GA GOP Chair Josh McCoon (top center). Team met conservative leaders from all 72 Wisconsin Counties (top right). Camille Solberg (bottom photo, standing to far left pictured in this 2016 Board photo of former sister organization 501c3) attended in her new home state of Georgia.
This past weekend, TBOR Action’s Wisconsin and Georgia teams met with hundreds of conservative leaders in their states to launch our new candidate training program, advocate for important solutions, and grow our coalition outreach.
In Georgia, Board Member Camille Solberg teamed up with National Field Director Byron Shehee in Fulton County, which includes much of Atlanta. They discussed issues facing the county, and building coalitions such as Camille oversaw for Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Ron Johnson before moving from Wisconsin to Georgia. With Solberg now on the ground in the state, we’ve expanded our reach for advocating important election-related issues.
At the same time, our Wisconsin-based team worked to advocate for key reforms at the Wisconsin GOP convention and launched our new outreach and training program for potential candidates, campaign workers, and election observers, with President John Pudner and Communications Director Noel Wilkins passing out fliers at the convention as National Grassroots Director Erin Yager called grassroots leaders and Special Projects Director Natalie Zebian’s video was sent via text and email.
This new training program aims to deploy our team's veteran campaign experience toward empowering local activists, community leaders, and potential citizen legislators. In its first few days, not only have many Wisconsinites signed up, but through Monday night, they forwarded the sign-up page to over 600 others they thought would also benefit from the program. While more than 95% of those who visited our sign-up page were Wisconsin residents, our outreach efforts resulted in students on campuses as far away as SEC schools and Liberty University, known for producing a large percentage of national door canvassers, signing up as well.
BACKGROUND
Board Member and National Field Director Connect with Grassroots in Georgia
Both Shehee and Solberg connected with newly-elected Georgia Republican State Chair Josh McKoon after he spoke and took questions about issues regarding election operations within Fulton County as well as throughout the state. Currently, there is a standoff regarding their county Board of Elections. By statute, the Fulton County Board of Elections must be composed of 2 Democrats, 2 Republicans, and 1 Independent to promote consensus. However, the Board of Commissioners has refused to appoint the current Republican nominees, circumventing statute and dealing a critical blow to the confidence in election administration within the county.
However, what was most notable to both Camille and Byron during their time was their unity of purpose in working to encourage more people to vote. This builds on recent developments noted in other recent posts on one-time skeptics of mail-in voting now encouraging its use. That’s why we’ve begun our grassroots training program - to equip those who want to get involved with the skills, tools, and leadership necessary to enact change in their communities.
President and Communications Director Advocate for Innovative Solutions in Wisconsin
As team members linked with grassroots activists in Georgia, President John Pudner and Communications Director Noel Wilkins talked about our election solutions with hundreds of Wisconsin conservative chairs at the convention in La Crosse, meeting with dozens of local, state, and national leaders to discuss our election solutions as well as many leaders priorities such as banning out-of-state contributions towards elections operations.
Often brought up in our conversations was how to solve divisions that arise from partisan primaries. We recommended the Final Five solution. As Noel wrote, enacting Final Five would end divisive primaries that result in split local parties and bruised victors, promote citizen legislators to become upset candidates, and allow candidates to focus on the issues that matter.
Overall, though, we heard a consistent thread of three goals among the states visited so far this year - all see the need to evolve their election operations, seek transparency and fairness, and want their voices heard. That’s why we remain committed to advocating for solutions to achieve these goals, deploy across our Republic to advance key election-related issues, and will continue to work towards ensuring the will of every voter is sought out, heard, and reflected.
Comments