CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — As the 2016 elections start to come into the collective consciousness of voters, one group has been out educating the public about issues that will be important come May and November.
The “Our Vote, Our Future” initiative spawned from the Our Children, Our Future campaign, keeping the focus on non-partisan public policy that helps families across the state.
The grassroots, nonprofit organization takes the task of educating the public on how they can get involved directly to the voters’ front door, according to director Alexandra Gallo who spoke on Wednesday’s edition of “The Mike Queen Show” heard on the MetroNews affiliated AJR News Network.
“Everyday we’re going out into neighboring communities and really just engaging with folks and talking with them about issues that are relevant to them and really getting their feedback and support so that we can continue together to really bring West Virginia back on track.”
The group has a policy of not advocating for any particular candidates in favor of focusing solely on the issues, including Buy America, taking on the state drug problem and Equal Pay for Equal Work.
The group selects which issues need to be focused on within its board of directors, which is made up of Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike.
However, Gallo understands when they come across to the voters they visit as having an agenda leaning a certain direction.
“Not knowing much about the organization or not having much familiarity with the work, folks be a little more hesitant to get involved,” she said. “But I think, for the most part, the overall consensus is that we do need to make some change.”
While the main objective of Our Vote, Our Future is to “develop a base of members that support working West Virginia family issues,” Gallo said they actively challenge people they interact with to get involved from the start.
“In addition to just educating folks at the door about these issues, we’re having everyone that we speak to hand write or type out a letter to whichever representatives are focused on that issue.”
The current letters are predominately being mailed to Delegate Eric Nelson and Senator Mike Hall, the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Tax Reform in hopes they will keep the Earned Income Tax Credit in place.
In the months leading up to the first elections, Gallo said they will continue to focus on their door-to-door operation and hope to expand those operations to areas they may sometimes be neglected.
“Areas that are a little further from the Capitol to keep them engaged in issues that are happening,” Gallo said. “If anything, just create awareness and advocate for working families and continue to push for a better future for West Virginia.”
More information about the group, their list of issues and how one can get involved is found on their website, ovofwv.org.