Powerful Parents Vote
Exercise your power. Vote.
The Oakland REACH exists to make the powerless parent powerful. It’s hard to think of a simpler, clearer way to exercise that power than to vote. And there are some elections here in Oakland where your voice will matter a lot.
Unfortunately, too often, too many of us come up with excuses not to exercise that power — a right our parents and grandparents bled and died for. It is a scandal that while nonwhite students make up 89 percent of district schools, state data shows that only about half of likely voters are people of color. It is one of the reasons people in power feel free to make decisions that damage our communities — because we don’t exercise our voting power.
Below we’ll walk through some of the most common excuses we hear — and the information you need to make your voice heard.
Excuse #1: “But it’s too late to register to vote. And I don’t know where to do it.”
Every registered voter in California had a mail-in ballot sent to them (mail ballots for all started in the pandemic and are now a permanent policy). If you’ve got yours, you can put your ballot in the regular mail (no postage required; must be postmarked by Nov. 8) or drop it at a special drop box by 8 pm on Nov. 8. Do it as early as you can — there are more than a dozen 24-hour drop boxes in Oakland. Don’t forget to sign the envelope! (More on how to vote in Alameda County here.)
Not registered yet? It’s not too late. You can still register in person right up until election day, or even on election day (Nov. 8, 2022), and your vote will still be counted. Not sure whether you’re registered? You can check your voter registration online. Want reminders? Sign up here. Need help? Check out this Q&A or call the Alameda County Registrar of Voters at (510) 267-8683 or the Secretary of State’s Voter Hotline at (800) 345-VOTE(8683).
Excuse #2: “But my vote doesn’t matter.”
This year, there are three school board seats up for election. In 2020, the last time seats were on the ballot, the margin of victory for one seat was 788 votes. Every vote counts. Your choices on school board seats and on school-related measures will decide who makes decisions in our schools and how much money our schools will have.
Excuse #3: “But it’s complicated to figure out who and what to vote for.”
It’s not complicated, but you will need to do a little research. Here’s how to get info about some school-related decisions on the ballot:
School board and local measures: Three school board seats are up for election (Districts 2, 4, and 6). There’s a parcel tax extension, OUSD Measure H, to extend funding for the District’s college and career-readiness initiative (it originally passed in 2014 as Measure N). And Oakland Measure S would allow noncitizen parents to vote in OUSD school board elections.
If you've already registered, you should have received a sample ballot that lists everything you can vote for, but if you don’t have that, you can see what’s on your ballot through the county website by entering your information and following the links (choose the “Election” tab and click on the Voter Information Guide). You can also read the candidates’ statements and arguments for and against Measures H and S in this breakdown of the Oakland ballot. Want to learn more? See the candidates speak at a recent forum. There are videos for District 2 (English | Spanish), District 4 (English), and District 6 (English | Spanish).
Statewide measures: These are decisions that affect the whole state. There are some really important questions about abortion and arts and music funding in schools. You can find a breakdown of all the ballot items here.
It’s not too complicated. It’s not too late. It matters. It’s how you exercise your power. If it weren’t important, white supremacists wouldn’t be trying to figure out how to keep you from doing it.
So go vote. And then make it a habit.