The Greater Royal Oak Democratic Club is holding a candidate forum for the six candidates running for four seats on the Royal Oak School Board:
Our guest speaker will be Lisa Ze Winters of the Royal Oak Multicultural Parents Association (ROMPA). ROMPA is a voice for equity, diversity and inclusion for children of color. For more information visit https://www.facebook.com/ROMPApublic, or email royaloakmpa@gmail.com
Our treasurer Ian Michael has created a means for us to accept membership dues payments on-line. If you are not a dues-paying member and would like to join please visit https://greater-royal-oak-democratic-club.square.site. Dues are just $10 per person per year.
Our co-chair Lauren Jasinski records and uploads all of our virtual events to our club YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjRzSueWlf_hBQC0mlG-e6g/featured.
Congressman Andy Levin has challenged us to boost Royal Oak turnout to 22,000 Democratic votes this year (up from 20,319 in 2016). Can we do it? Make it happen by volunteering at one of the opportunities listed below.
The "One Campaign for Michigan" is the Democratic Party coordinated campaign, coordinating all voter identification and get-out-the-vote work. They are recruiting volunteers now to make phone calls, send text messages, write postcards, and other (at home) work. To volunteer in Royal Oak now contact:
Wave is a web page tool that you can use to encourage your own personal network of friends, family and neighbors to vote by mail, or you can select a group of voters from your precinct, city, or any area where you have a special interest in the election result. The Wave page is incredibly easy to use and gives you incredibly detailed information to inform or remind voters (Did the voter request a ballot? Is it on the way? Has it been received by the city clerk? etc).
Join Wave Michigan at https://wave-michigan.com/
Statewide Indvisible Michigan (SWIM) wants to reach 8 million voters between now and the November election through phone calls and text messages. Sign up to volunteer and receive training here: https://www.beinvinciblemi.com/8m-voters-project
Use the Indivisible "digital bulletin board" to sign up for phone banking, text banking, and letter writing: https://www.indivisiblefighting9.com/.
If you are on Twitter, join the Indivisible "Digital Warriors" project (https://www.beinvinciblemi.com/digital-warrior-project) by volunteering to spend 10 minutes per day Tweeting in targeted Michigan house districts.
Indivisible has postcards, scripts and postage for sending postcards to urge voters to re-elect State Representative Padma Kuppa. To get your package or to work on the virtual phone bank please contact Paula Martinos-Mantay at martinosmantay@gmail.com
Questions about Indivisible: contact Paula Martinos-Mantay, martinosmantay@gmail.com
The Royal Oak City Clerk needs to hire people to help with the November elections. Because of the pandemic many people are no longer able to serve as election inspectors. This is a paid position. To apply to be an election inspector in Royal Oak please visit https://www.romi.gov/172/Election-Inspectors, or email the city clerk's office at cityclerk@romi.gov.
To check the status of your voter registration, absentee ballot application or ballot please visit http://www.michigan.gov/vote. If you already have your absentee ballot application, and you would like to avoid paying postage, you can take a digital photo of it and email it to cityclerk@romi.gov. You can also drop off the application in one of the secure drop boxes, in front of city hall or the police department.
Our vice-chair Lauren Jasinski has compiled complete information about how to volunteer and otherwise participate in the 2020 election at all levels: https://sites.google.com/view/grodcelection2020/voter-information?authuser=3
Free Joe Biden yard signs are being distributed at the Oakland County Democratic Party office while they last on Fridays:
Sales of Biden-Harris yard signs, available through the Oakland County Democratic Party with a $25 donation, have resumed after a short pause:
Why is the county party selling yard signs instead of giving them away free? Much of the county party's budget was raised by bingo, which was shut down to to covid-19. They are hoping to cover the resulting budget shortfall by selling yard signs.
Pick up your (free) Gary Peters yard sign at my house:
Please extend a special "thank you" to to these incredible elected officials and local Democrats who sponsored our "Democrats and Beer" online event this year. Here's to the defeat of Trump, the corralling of Covid-19, and a raucous, in-person Democrats and Beer celebration in the summer of 2021!
The Royal Oak Schools Foundation has postponed its regular projects and is instead raising funds to help school district families in need. In a relatively wealthy community like Royal Oak it is easy to forget that we have families in our city who have difficulty making ends meet in the best of times. During the current crisis these families are suffering, and the Royal Oak Schools Foundation is doing its best to help them.
The pandemic forced the Royal Oak Schools Foundation to cancel their summer fundraiser. If you can help them make up the gap please visit https://www.royaloakschoolsfoundation.org/ and scroll down to "Donate to the Foundation" to make a PayPal or credit card donation. Or mail your check payable to Royal Oak Schools foundation to:
Royal Oak residents who need any kind of assistance (health, food, financial, stress) should call 248-246-3800. City staff are on call to provide assistance or to refer you to help. Do not feel ashamed to ask for help; as Katie and Julia sang so beautifully before our May meeting, we all need somebody to lean on.
Oakland County residents can call 1-800-848-5533 to schedule a Covid 19 test. Tests are much more available now, so medical authorities have made it much easier to get tested.
Our co-chair Lauren Jasinksi has compiled a list of links to reliable information: about the virus itself, how to seek assistance, and how to volunteer: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tjCKWtVJd_6t7ukRfrfZvCOdvTtkn-bHJ-Som_bxQ2M
Zoom works on a PC, laptop, or on an Android or Apple cell phone. Install Zoom on your Android or Apple cell phone using your app store, then open it and enter the meeting number.
If you are using a PC or laptop you do not need to install Zoom; you can join the meeting using your default web browser by clicking the meeting link.
If you are using a PC or laptop you will probably have a better experience if you install Zoom first (it is free) from this link: https://zoom.us/. Click "Sign up, it's free" on the top right, then enter your email address in the input that says "Your work email address" (I don't know why it specifies "work" email; you can enter any email). To test that your installation worked visit https://zoom.us/test."
If you have trouble getting Zoom to work our co-chair Lauren Jasinski has graciously offered to help, please contact her directly at LJ.Jasinski@gmail.com or (734) 649-4944