class of bernie 2016

Okay, I signed up. What next?

Be sure to join our Slack group! Once you’ve taken a look around, get started! Create events for your school on Bernie 2016 Events, such as flyering, tabling, and voter registration drives. Additionally, look to found a club if possible. Keep us updated with everything you do! Our most active volunteers will win prizes. ;)

Talking Tips

An easy, great way to start getting active is to talk to people you know about Bernie, whether friends or family. At the end of the day, our goal is to talk to people and make them Bernie voters. Some kids won’t be interested in politics, but a lot will care about certain issues, at the very least. These people are the ones we want to reach out to – not just people who you know are progressives, but anyone who will discuss politics in any way.

Each individual cares about different issues, so talk about Bernie’s stances on the relevant ones. Some students might care about legalizing drugs, some about racial justice, climate change, and many about college costs, etc. – talk to them about that specific issue, then introduce Bernie’s stance. Current events are great to talk about too – but always be understanding and respectful of other people’s views.

If you know people who are Bernie supporters, be sure to get them registered! This is very important.

Starting a Club

The best way to start is to gather a group of people that support Bernie. Once you start this (probably small) group, then you can start getting active and recruiting more members. Look into starting a club at school – you may need to register it or have it sponsored by a staff member. Once you’ve done that small step, you just need to have a solid group of involved students.

Spread the world about this club with good old fashioned word of mouth, social media, flyers around school, tabling at lunch, or advertising in your school’s announcements, if allowed. You can name your club a variety of different things, for example Young Democrats Club or Young Progressives Club.

Ask your government teachers and other relevant teachers to help out in whatever way possible with your club and with voter registration, which brings us to our next point…

How do we create a Bernie voter?

There are two steps to creating a voter – convincing them and registering them.

Convincing – Know Bernie’s policies relatively well, and specifically how they relate to HS kids (free college tuition, universal healthcare, legalization of marijuana, getting big money out of politics). Liberally consult and refer people to FeelTheBern.org, and use its flyer kit.

Registering – Know your state’s rules (whether you have to be a registered Democrat) via VoteForBernie.org. Print out pre-filled registration forms and spread them to all the kids. Then, have someone each week take the forms to the place they need to be taken. Voter registration’s importance can not be emphasized enough.

It is crucial that before Iowa’s caucus on February 1st, every kid that’s eligible to vote knows about Bernie and his policies and is properly registered. Organize efforts on election day to get people to the polls. Sometimes, the polling station is in your own school. Post on social media about getting out and voting! Voter turnour will win us this election.

Once you get set up in your local high school, encourage kids at other schools to join and grow their Bernie chapters to be as large as possible. Promote those with large chapters and encourage those with small ones to grow. Suggest wearing Bernie shirts, pins, and other things to promote bernie and grow their chapter.