Credit unions around the state are engaging with their staff, board and/or membership in encouraging them to vote in the primary elections through ElectionWatch (and there are Saturday voting options tomorrow on May 12th!). In addition, credit unions have made an impact in the elections by engaging in physical campaigning assistance for specific candidates:
- On Thursday, May 3rd when individuals from credit unions in the Macon area and GCUA staff made get-out-the-vote calls to help support State Representative James Beverly (D-Macon)in his re-election campaign at CGR CU’s office in his district. Beverly is the newly elected Minority Caucus Chairman, and in this position, he is exceedingly helpful in shaping the opinions of others in his caucus on credit union bills. Even before this leadership post, he stayed dialed into the issues the credit union lobbying team tackles regularly. A night of phone-banking could make all the difference in who wins the election, and thank you to the credit union volunteers from Atlanta Postal CU, CGR CU, Robins Financial CU and GCUA for sharing their time and generating calls to the individuals in the district. Phone calls from volunteers are often the only interaction a person may have with a candidate, and impact who shows up to vote!
- On Tuesday, May 1st GCUA provided physical assistance at State Senator Frank Ginn (R-Danielsville)’s campaign event in the district in Jefferson. Sen. Ginn has been open to credit unions and the legislative issues important to our industry since he was first elected in 2010, and his understanding of credit unions and his relationship with the industry has only grown since then. In this past 2018 session alone, Sen. Ginn was instrumental in helping prevent credit unions from being saddled with greater regulatory burden and expense in lending operations, and we appreciate his willingness to assist.
Whether it be through phone banking, legislator meet-and-greets with members, credit union tours, yard sign deployment, or providing physical hands-on assistance at campaign events, credit unions can help shape the results of elections by providing candidates that support credit unions the type of support they need!
