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Teamster volunteers, including Daniel J. Kane, vice president, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, at far right, operate a phone bank at Local 237 to call Teamsters in battleground states.

Local 237 was the site of a phone bank organized by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Weeks before Election Day Teamster volunteers, including Daniel J. Kane, vice president, IBT, volunteered their time from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. to call Teamster members in battleground states such as Wisconsin and Michigan.

Unfortunately, the Teamster effort to get out the vote was not enough to reverse a broad trend of voter apathy that resulted in the lowest voter turnout for a midterm election — 36.3 percent — since 1942 when only 33.9 percent voted during World War II.

The turnout was equally shameful in New York State, where a mere 28.8 percent voted—the fourth lowest in the country — despite a race for governor, attorney general and comptroller. Although the trio of Democratic incumbents — Andrew Cuomo, Eric Schneiderman and Tom DiNapoli — won re-election, Republicans took over the state senate.

The wave of Republican electoral victories was a shift in power which may threaten the livelihood of average workers in a variety of ways. Republicans gained seven seats in the United States Senate for a total 52 seats to the Democrats’ 43. At press time, several seats were still undecided. They also strengthened their majority control of the House of Representatives.

Republican priorities include repealing the Affordable Care Act, substantially cutting the highest tax rates, shrinking domestic spending, overhauling Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and stalling any meaningful reforms in the tattered immigration system.

Voter turnout for the 2016 presidential election will likely be much greater, and if Republican plans prevail from now till then the effects may motivate voters to swing back and elect a Democratic administration that will commit to stabilize and grow the economy in the aftermath of the Great Recession, reduce unemployment significantly and provide affordable health insurance for all Americans. 

In the next two years, as the 2016 presidential campaign heats up, you can be sure that Teamsters will launch the mother of all get out- the-vote campaigns. It’s a matter of livelihood.

 

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