By Dianne Anderson

If a robot calls sounding like President Joe Biden or some other social media AI-generated image of him saying not to vote on March 5 – don’t believe it.

The last time it happened two months ago in New Hampshire, thousands of Democrats missed out.

Yet, for all the tricks in the world today, Kelita Hull-Gardner said their church is working with the Registrar of Voters, and the community is invited out to cast their vote from March 2 to March 5 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

“We feel that the community needs to have safe places where they can vote and we have a convenient place of safety where people can exercise their rights,” said Gardener, Executive Director of Operations of Second Baptist Church, located at 4300 Westminster Ave in Santa Ana.

Gaston Castellanos, spokesperson for the Orange County Democrats, said he’s always amazed by the energy of their Democratic activists, particularly as the county is dealing with several serious issues, namely extremism.

For starters, he said a groundswell of community activism is taking place with initiatives, and charter amendments in Huntington Beach.

But he said the extremists are also causing problems with the Orange County Unified School District where parents are fighting to recall two board members over the firing of a superintendent of schools without cause or due process.

There, he said they have also instituted other policies, such as forced outing of LGBTQ+ students, which he stressed has more to do with a culture war, not education. He said that OC Democrats are fighting back.

“What we’re seeing is they’ve drawn people who were never concerned about politics before until they saw this extremism rearing up in their own backyards,” he said.

Seeing the strong pushback from extremists shows the fight is a long haul, but he said Democrats have achieved some things that were unthinkable years ago, including a 70,000 voter lead in registration over the Republicans.

In 2022, Democrats gained the majority on the OC Board of Supervisors.

“That hasn’t happened before, since the 1970s. We’re looking at these races and we are going to contend, and we’re going to be in the fight on all of them,” he said.

The local Democratic Party is actively searching to continue to build up the Black Dems base. He emphasized that they are looking for increased participation from all men and women of color because their perspectives have been left out of America’s narrative.

“They need to be included, not just for the sake of inclusion, but because of the world view and experiences they bring to the table,” he said. “That voice is what makes good policy. That’s always been and will always be true.”

Although California leans Democratic, Darlene Futrel said it’s important for voters to get out for the Primary. Local politics is also important, particularly the race for Orange County Board of Supervisors.

“That’s where the money is, and wherever the money is, that’s what’s going to impact you the most,” said Futrel, president of the Orange County National Action Network. “I want people to get out there and vote, whether you are 2.1% or 22.1%, your vote matters if for no other reason than that our ancestors and their allies put their lives on the line so we could vote.”

To vote, she said, is to honor their sacrifice and their legacy. She participated in voter registration for the Black History Parade and plans to participate in more voter registration opportunities until the November Election.

“When I vote I am actively participating in the decisions of my life,” she said. “So we vote to honor people who have died. We vote to say my voice does matter, and I will not be silenced. No one will make a decision about my future but me.”

Adam Tallabas, Chair of Orange County Young Democrats said they are directly engaging young voters about the importance of voting in the primary since there is no competitive Presidential primary.

He said that the Orange County Young Democrats are focused on electing Democrats who will bring about positive change to our community through policymaking and legislation.

“To help get out the vote, Orange County Young Democrats is supporting inspiring candidates like Kim Nguyen-Penaloza, Joanna Weiss & Allyson Muniz-Damikolas, who are true community leaders and are leading a grassroots effort to get out the vote. Additionally, we are educating voters on the importance of down-ballot races that are decided in the primary – particularly the important Orange County Board of Education races and Central Committee – among others,” he said in an email.

While statewide California is certainly a blue state, he said that Orange County is still very much a battleground.

They plan to defend the blue seats.

“In CA-38 (Sánchez), CA-46 (Correa), CA-47 (Porter -> Weiss) & CA-49 (Levin) while flipping Biden seats CA-45 (Nguyen-Penaloza) and CA-40 (Muniz-Damikolas) with a powerful grassroots effort that Orange County is known for. We did it in 2018 – we can do it again,” he said.

For information on polling locations and popups, see

https://www.ocvote.gov/voting/voting-and-dropoff-locations-by-election

To see the OC Voter Guide,

http://www.orangecountydemocrats.com/

For Second Baptist Church and upcoming poll events, see https://sbc.family