IDCCA President’s Message
by Kristina Zahorik, IDCCA President
@ILDCCA @McHenryDems

Dear County Chairs and Friends,

This February includes an extra day; thus we are blessed with more time to canvas, phone bank, and early vote!

We also have more time to fight the disinformation war currently being waged on the internet with micro targeted ads and fear mongering trolls as described in the Atlantic magazine article “The Billion-Dollar Disinformation Campaign to Reelect the President:  How new technologies and techniques pioneered by dictators will shape the 2020 election”. If you have yet to read it, click here to take a look. The goals of the attacks are to divide us, keep us from exercising our right to vote, normalize the Trump Administration, sow seeds of mistrust in American institutions like the press and the justice system, and destroy America.

You can learn more about web based tools to fight disinformation using The Rand Corporation’s “Fighting Disinformation Online: A Database of Web Tools” here.  A good resource for a quick fact check is Snopes at https://www.snopes.com/ .

As reported in a recent New York Times analysis, “… American intelligence agencies face a new question: How do they run such operations, and warn Congress and Americans, at a moment when the president is declaring that the intelligence on Russian election meddling is “another misinformation campaign” that is “launched by Democrats in Congress”?”  Read the analysis here.

Democrats are not the problem.

Combatting these attacks can seem over whelming, but for the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association (IDCCA), our mission is clear. At the grassroots level, we must identity our voters and get out the vote. This is why the REV Project is so important. Sign up to help here.

In addition, we must remain grounded in our Democratic values of fairness, of dignity in work and in all people, in facts and truth, and that the economy should not be rigged to benefit a few. These values are American values. As Democrats, we should not sink to their level, but remain THE Party to trust. As a former First Lady Michelle Obama said, “When they go low, we go high.”

We must also support those Democrats who fight corruption and believe in good government. On March 2, you will have the opportunity to do just that at our IDCCA Chicago Reception. Join us as we honor the 2020 IDCCA Party Builder Honorees – the Hon. Jesse White, the Hon. Michael Cabonargi, and Invest to Elect. Click here to read more about our Honorees. I hope that you can join us on Monday March 2^nd. Please RSVP here.

There is much for us to do. We are up to the challenge with your help.

Primary Election Day is March 17. Check your voter registration here: https://ova.elections.il.gov/RegistrationLookup.aspx and find your polling place here: https://ova.elections.il.gov/PollingPlaceLookup.aspx .

Thank you for all you do.

Best wishes,

Kristina