Hundreds of volunteers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia have participated in a get out the vote campaign hosted by VAratifyERA in an effort to drive people to the polls for Virginia’s 2019 election on Tuesday, Nov. 5. By end of day on Friday, Oct. 25, over 40,000 postcards will have been written and mailed to Virginians.
“We’re overwhelmed with gratitude for the time, energy and resources equality advocates around the country and the world have spent writing postcards on behalf of our campaign,” said Kati Hornung, campaign coordinator for VAratifyERA. “Our goal is to inform people about Virginia’s historic opportunity to be the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and to make sure they participate in our democracy on November 5.”
In 2019, the Equal Rights Amendment cleared the Virginia Senate before falling one vote short of reaching the house floor, where it had the bipartisan votes for passage. Had it succeeded, Virginia would have been the 38th state to ratify the amendment, the last state needed to reach the threshold for inclusion in the U.S. Constitution.
“As you can see with postcards coming from everywhere, the Equal Rights Amendment isn’t just a Virginia issue,” continued Hornung. “When Virginia ratifies, it will be the first time Virginia has been on the right side of an important civil rights issue. We will be the state to ensure the U.S. joins the rest of the major countries in the world, by guaranteeing gender equality in our Constitution. Virginia has the opportunity to fix that historical exclusion with this very important election.”
A Washington Post-Schar School poll from September found that over eight in 10 respondents said they support the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Virginia’s election is on Nov. 5. All seats in the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates are up for election.
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