In June, we hosted the Local Leader Lab National Summit in New York City. We brought together Local Leader Lab members who care deeply about civic engagement, democracy, and voter participation. Our goal was simple. Activate voters across the country ahead of the midterm election.

Since then, we’ve watched something happen that none of us planned. These women started finding each other, across states, across communities, and across cohorts.

After the Summit, we started holding voter activation calls to keep the momentum going. On each call, members share what they’ve been working on and where they could use a hand. Those calls have turned into much more than a check in.

None of the women in the three stories below went through the Local Leader Lab together. They met afterward, promised to show up for each other, and then actually did. That’s the community we’re building: women who want to take action where they live and protect our democratic values in the most fundamental way there is. The vote.

Kimberly and Ashleigh: She Didn’t Just Talk. She Walked.

Kimberly Green (Spring 2026) and Ashleigh Lee (Fall 2025)

Kimberly Green is pouring her own time and resources into voter engagement. She won a small grant from Donuts & Democracy, a program that brings donuts and voter information to college campuses, and she takes it to HBCUs across the South, especially in North Carolina and Tennessee. The grant covers the donuts and a pink, collapsible wagon.

What she didn’t have was help. As she put it: “I kept saying to myself, I need help, I don’t have anybody to help.”

On one of our voter activation calls, she connected with Ashleigh Lee from Washington, DC. Ashleigh wanted to support voters in the South but didn’t know how to get plugged in. “It’s time to go back to the South, and I’m just trying to figure out how to get there,” she said, “and Kim has provided a pathway.”

Ashleigh’s aunt works at North Carolina A&T State University, which gave them a warm contact on campus. So Ashleigh got up at 5 a.m., drove to Greensboro, stayed with her aunt, and started registering voters as soon as she got there. Kimberly was amazed. In her words: “She didn’t just talk. She walked.”

They set up inside the student union between two entrances, with donuts, voter information, and plenty of one-on-one conversations. With no music or crowds pulling students away, people actually stopped to talk. They registered about 75 to 80 students that day, and around 15 to 20 of them had been dropped from the voter rolls and needed to register again.

One thing they didn’t plan for: Ashleigh wore her DC shirt, and so many A&T students are from DC that they headed straight for the table. Both student volunteers who helped that day were from DC too.

Kimberly has kept registering voters across the South since then. Her advice for other lab members is short: “Do not underestimate one-to-one relational organizing.” Ashleigh’s is about not going it alone: “You don’t have to create something on your own, you can just partner with somebody. And that compounds the effort.”

Andrea and Allison: From Facilitator to Partner

Andrea Bade (Fall 2025) and Allison Miessler (Summer 2026)

Andrea Bade was Allison Miessler’s facilitator during the Summer 2026 cohort, coaching her through her activation. Somewhere along the way the roles flipped, and Allison pulled Andrea into her work.

They figured out pretty quickly that they both live in Richmond and are both moms, and they started texting. Andrea wanted to help people get to the polls this November but felt stuck. “I wanted to help encourage people to vote and get to the polls,” she told us. “But I didn’t know how to do that and was alone.”

Allison had an idea. In June, she and a few other moms had started a Richmond group of Chamber of Mothers, a national nonpartisan nonprofit that organizes moms around paid leave, childcare, and maternal health. Her response to Andrea was immediate: “Oh my gosh, you need to join Chamber of Mothers with us.”

Andrea showed up to the group’s next event, a kids’ playdate and diaper drive at a local park. She went through the Chamber of Mothers training, and now she’s one of four local facilitators alongside Allison.

The threads cross here too. At the National Summit, Carrie Ricci (you’ll meet her below) shared a story about voting and the line she uses with her kids: “In this house, we vote.” The room lit up. Andrea heard Carrie talk about voting again on a later voter activation call, and it got her thinking about what Chamber of Mothers could do.

As it turned out, the national organization was already on it. Vote Like a Mother is Chamber of Mothers’ nonpartisan 2026 voter guide, and it helps moms check their registration, see what’s on their ballot, and make a plan to vote. Allison made bringing it to Richmond her Local Leader Lab project. They just launched it on social media, asking moms to check their registration and share their voting plans, and each week they’ll spotlight one member’s plan.

They’ve been showing up in person too, tabling at a nonprofit awareness gathering in downtown Richmond and at Glen Allen Day in Henrico County, where they met moms who care about maternal health, postpartum care, and affordable childcare. “It’s so refreshing to know there are people out there who care, and to hear other people’s stories,” Allison said.

Andrea’s advice is to take the leap: “You have to take a leap of faith. Put yourself out there and ask to connect with someone. Ask if they’re willing to share their ideas with you for inspiration. Maybe you can both even share the workload on a similar project.” Allison put it in bigger terms: “In a time of misinformation and lack of connection, it’s now more important than ever to get connected to communities.”

Carrie and De Andra: One Postcard at a Time

Carrie Ricci (Spring 2026) and De Andra Judge (Fall 2025)

Through her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, Carrie got connected to the League of Women Voters. With her alumnae chapter in Virginia, she wrote and launched a voter registration plan with monthly registration tables through November. (You can read more about it in What does a Local Leader Lab project look like?)

In August, Ashleigh Lee hosted a gathering in Washington, DC for lab members to talk about their civic activations. (Yes, the same Ashleigh who drove to North Carolina.)

Carrie and De Andra Judge had both been at the Summit in New York, but that gathering is where they really connected. Carrie shared that she wanted to get postcards out to voters, and De Andra raised her hand. She took home about 25 postcards to send. “I thought it was a great way for me to participate,” De Andra said, “especially seeing that my availability has shifted this year.”

De Andra’s advice, especially this close to the midterms, is to plug into work that’s already happening. “Partner with League of Women Voters or similar organizations, because they’re probably already in motion and have structure,” she said. “And I think that’s a great way to connect across the cohorts.”

Carrie hasn’t slowed down. In the last month, she’s registered voters at a new citizens swearing-in ceremony, her local university, her local high school, and a long list of festivals, and now she’s focused on Party at the Polls events. She’s noticing something else, too: “I’m finding that in voting for these midterms, many people are also learning about the importance of state and local elections. My hope is that they will continue to come out every year and not just for the midterms and presidential elections.” If you want to do something but don’t know where to begin, she suggests looking up your local League.

Postcards are a simple thing, and they take two kinds of people. Someone has to organize them: plan the campaign, print the cards, pull together the addresses. Someone else has to sit down, write 20 or 30, and drop them in the mail. Both jobs matter, and it’s been wonderful to watch our Local Leader Lab community take on both.

There Is Still Time. Here Is How You Can Take Action.

None of these six women waited for a perfect plan. They found each other, said yes, and showed up, and there’s still time for you to do the same.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. The most important thing you can do is vote, so make a plan, bring a friend, and pitch in wherever you can over the next few weeks. Here are a few places to start.

• Check your registration. Visit Vote.org to find your state’s official election website. Check even if you think you are all set. Some voters find out they have been dropped from the rolls.
• Help someone register. The deadline may not have passed, and 24 states and DC offer same-day registration. Check yours here.
• See what is on your ballot and find your polling place. VOTE411.org, from the League of Women Voters, lets you look up your ballot, early voting options, and where to vote.
• Make a plan to vote. Decide when you will vote, where, and how you will get there. Then share your plan with a friend. Moms can use Vote Like a Mother or text MOTHER to 26797.
• Support Get Out the Vote (GOTV). Find a candidate who aligns with an issue or cause you believe in, and volunteer to do door knocking or make calls to remind voters to get to the polls. Even a few hours can make a difference.

This is what it looks like when our community connects and commits. Let’s finish strong together.