Khalilah Worley Billy has been with Greater Cleveland Congregations since it was founded in 2011. As senior organizer, she heads up the interfaith coalition’s voter engagement efforts, which began in 2012. That year, GCC and Northeast Ohio Voter Advocates knocked on 10,000 doors and registered 5,000 voters to help pass a levy for Cleveland schools, the first one in 16 years.
GCC mobilized again for ballot issues in 2014 and 2016, and in 2020 decided they needed to make a more sustained and long-term commitment to engagement. We asked Billy to talk about how the organization has built on and refined those efforts, how they led to an ongoing project called the Battle for Democracy, and how everyone can apply what GCC has learned about “vote hurt.”
This is an edited version of the conversation. Audio and video versions will be released later in the week.
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Q: Can you talk about the Battle for Democracy?
In 2020, we were concerned that [turnout] would really decline if people were afraid to be in long lines or in crowded spaces. So we took the risk and went door-knocking just to ask people if they felt safe enough to vote. And we heard story after story, not just about safety, but lack of trust in democracy, lack of trust that anything would change. What we discovered was just deep hurt. These were registered voters, people who wanted to act on their right to vote. But somewhere along the vote journey, that energy, that joy, that interest had changed. As we heard these stories, we decided that we needed to do this every election cycle, to capture stories around local issues, create an issue agenda and then form an accountability strategy with elected officials.
Q: You used the words “hurt” and “journey,” and I know that GCC uses the term voter depression instead of voter apathy. Can you explain why?
When we were door-knocking in 2020, there was a common theme around hurt. We had always heard people say that [low-propensity] voters just don’t care, they’re apathetic. And we found ourselves on people’s doorsteps, six feet apart, with our masks, not for three to four minutes, but sometimes 10, 15 minutes of stories of deep hurt. And that’s when we were like, ‘We have to change the way we’re thinking about this voting journey.’
These voters are not apathetic. They care. There’s an emotion tied to how they feel. This is different than apathy. This is depression.
So while we still fight to end voter suppression tactics, we’re also really working hard to eradicate voter depression, and that’s by inciting joy, creating issue agendas that we can act on together, and showing people that their voice does matter and that we’re listening.
Q: Can you talk about how you’ve involved young people in these efforts?
Young adults have always shaped movements in this country, and that was something that we knew we needed. We brought on one of our colleagues from the West Coast, Alejandra Tres, who is a senior organizer and has an organization called Comunidad that functions out of the state of Washington, which has been doing phenomenal work around youth organizing.
We presented at a CMSD Civics 2.0 gathering. We told them about the Battle for Democracy and said we would show them how to canvas with an approved adult. And they surprisingly loved it. We had about 40 students sign up.
We continue to teach them organizing tools. We ask them their opinions around issues, to see if they agree with our positions. So they continue to shape our work as well. This year they created their own campaign targeting new voters, something that had a little bit more joy, a little bit more energy. [That campaign will be announced on Tuesday.]
Q: Do you have any advice for people who want to have conversations with their family, friends and neighbors who might be experiencing vote hurt?
We tell [our canvassers], This is not a guilt trip. People know how they feel, and it’s real. Hear the story first. Ask why, instead of telling them what to do. When we’re canvassing we ask people, ‘On a scale of one to five, five meaning you’re definitely voting, one meaning you’re definitely not, how do you feel?’ And if a person says one, we don’t say, ‘Well, you know what you need to do.’ We say, ‘Why does that number feel right to you?’ And we validate their reasoning. Sometimes we’ll even share our own vote hurt story. And then we say, ‘Is there anything that you would need to know to help change that number?’ And we ask, ‘If we follow up with you, is that OK?’ And if they say yes, that’s another opportunity. And then we have another script with them. ‘Hey, the last time we spoke, your number was one. I brought you some more information. On a scale of one to five, where are you now in terms of your voting journey?’ If it changes, great. If it doesn’t, that’s OK.
So find out their why first, listen to that, but revisit it. Don’t just give up. And then also, what we learned from youth, how are you making your voting journey joyful? Who wants to join a downtrodden team, right? Are you talking about what brings you joy in this process, not just why you did it? Invite them on the journey with you.’
This article is part of U.S. Democracy Day, a nationwide collaborative on Sept. 15, the International Day of Democracy, in which news organizations cover how democracy works and the threats it faces. To learn more, visit usdemocracyday.org.
