Dear Friends -
I’m excited to share some of the ideas our 100% Democracy Celebration co-hosts are developing as part of the 100% Democracy Research and Design Symposium!
The team at Vot-ER has proposed “Voting is Recovery”, a movement to support peer recovery specialists with the tools and messages they need to make voter participation a part of the healing process for people in recovery from substance use disorders.
Vot-ER is an organization building voter education and mobilization into the health care delivery system. The Voting is Recovery concept builds on “civic transitions,” the idea that we should mobilize voters specifically during moments of life transition when they are uniquely open to new identities and behaviors.
But “Voting is Recovery” can do so much more for the 100% Democracy movement than just mobilize people in recovery to vote. Recovering from a substance use disorders is one of the most challenging transitions a person can go through. In using voter participation to support people in recovery, we can all learn lessons about how to build a 100% democracy.
To build a 100% Democracy, we must accept ourselves and our neighbors as we are. Not as we wish we were. Not as we hope to be. Not a version of ourselves that’s somehow “more informed” or “more at home” in the place we live. Not a version of our neighbors that agrees with us more. Building a 100% Democracy requires us to accept what’s broken about ourselves and our communities - and heal together.
That is hard work. But that is the work of healing that individuals in recovery and the peer recovery specialists who support them do every single day. I’m so hopeful that we all can learn something from the way they approach elections.
The team at Vot-ER is exploring interest in this concept and doing an action around International Overdose Awareness Day on August 31. Does this concept spark ideas or reflections for you? Do you have feedback on how to make it work well? Do you have suggestions for partners who could bring it to life? Do you want to help build it? Reply to this email to join our conversation with the Vot-ER team about “Voting is Recovery.”
Best,
Sam