Member Spotlight--Lori

Member Spotlight: Lori

Lori moved to Louisville four years ago from Phoenix, which has a vote by mail system. Being accustomed to easy voting and high voter turnout, she was surprised at how voting works in Kentucky. After the 2016 election, she decided to do something about the low voter turnout in this state.

Lori started a MeetUp.com group called Liberals Over 50, and also checked out other local and national groups. She discovered Together We Will: Louisville through our Voter Registration Training. Along with some other members of her MeetUp Group, Lori attended our training and joined our Voter Registration Working Group. Soon she stepped up to help organize volunteer opportunities for the group, and also went out registering voters every weekend this spring. She recently became Outreach Coordinator for the Louisville Democratic Party and will be organizing their voter registration efforts. As an introvert, she has had to go outside of her comfort zone for her activism, but as a result, she says, “I’ve come out of my shell”.

Lori also volunteers for a state House candidate, managing the candidate's Twitter account. “Twitter is my outlet,” she said. She handles all of her activism and a full time paralegal job by taking time off from social media occasionally, and going to the movies or the pool when she gets too stressed out. She’s in this for the long term because, “after the November election, it’s Bevin’s and then Trump’s.”

Her advice for new activists is “Be patient, be persistent. We’re all learning.” Also, it’s important to “take initiative—no one else is going to do it, you have to do it!”