Youth Organizers With LIT Raise Awareness For Wisconsin Election And State Budget Hearing

By Isiah Holmes, Wisconsin Examiner

April 4, 2023

Youth with Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT) have been hard at work knocking on doors and making phone calls ahead of the spring election. By early Tuesday, LIT had knocked on 50,000 doors and counting, to help ensure residents are prepared and able to cast their ballots. Amanda Avalos, co-executive director of LIT, told Wisconsin Examiner that the group has also made over 300,000 phone calls.

“We’ve been knocking since Feb. 1,” said Avalos. Even as people headed to the polls Tuesday, LIT’s entire staff of 75, including student volunteers, was out in the field knocking on doors across Wisconsin. “Just to remind them that they still have six hours to go, so if they haven’t voted yet they still can,” said Avalos. Whether it’s making sure people are registered to vote, distributing its youth voter guide, helping people find polling places, or engaging on the issues that are important to voters.

As LIT conducts outreach, several issues appear to resonate with its membership and the potential voters whom they reach. Reproductive and abortion rights remain top concerns, as well as voter suppression, gerrymandering, and economic inequality In addition to the statewide Supreme Court race, LIT, has focused on school board elections in Milwaukee and La Crosse.

For LIT, election outreach and voter education is a year-round effort. “I know there’s a lot of voter fatigue,” said Avalos, “but in Wisconsin there isn’t really an off season for us. Chances are, every six months there’s going to be another election. And also, chances are, it’s going to be a huge one. This could have an impact on your life, your parents’ lives, your family, your neighborhood, your schools.”

Avalos feels that young people understand the importance of staying plugged into electoral politics in Wisconsin.

For Avalos, this election cycle has shown the importance of having continued civic engagement training.

“People are actually able to mobilize and activate because they are already trained up,” said Avalos.

People trained by LIT become credible messengers to their friends, loved ones, classmates and neighbors.

“They have those actual conversations,” said Avlalos, “and people understand after that and then are then moved to actually go vote. I’ve seen that a lot every election season, especially election cycles that I’ve had with LIT. But honestly, the last couple have been even more than usual. I’ve seen people become really just motivated to come out because of a specific issue, or issues.”

Voter suppression weighs heavily on the minds of LIT members. Earlier this year, Urban Milwaukee reported that a Republican official on the Wisconsin Elections Commission celebrated the fact that fewer Black and Hispanic voters participated during the election in November.

“It feels like every election season there’s a new thing,” said Avalos. Besides pushing for voting rights and fair elections, LIT is also working more proactively to expand those rights.

“People are feeling very motivated to vote,” said Avalos. “And voting is just one part of people’s activation.”

LIT’s work doesn’t stop once the election is over. On Wednesday morning, the day after Election Day, members are planning to attend a public hearing in Waukesha held by the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee. The committee has scheduled several listening sessions around the state, though none in Wisconsin’s most populated and diverse counties of Milwaukee and Dane. LIT members will offer comments in the public hearing, and also canvas neighborhoods to ensure people are aware of the meeting.

“It never stops,” said Avalos, “honestly, voting is just one piece of the larger strategy to actually organize and fight for everything that people deserve.”

The Wisconsin Examiner, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site, offers a fresh perspective on state politics and policy through investigative reporting and daily coverage dedicated to the public interest. The Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by grants and a coalition of donors and readers.