With so many issues and interests dividing this nation, it is important that Americans know if they are registered to vote as they head to the polls. No one knows this better than Hillary Holley, executive director of Care in Action, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group fighting for dignity and fairness for domestic workers nationally and people of color locally in Georgia.
Already, the latter is experiencing record-breaking numbers for voter turnout, with more than 131,000 Georgians casting ballots since early voting began Monday, Oct. 17. High-profile candidates such as Brian Kemp, Herschel Walker, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Raphael Warnock, and Stacey Abrams have turned the state into a ground zero for how attendance may be for the presidential elections in 2024. Holley, who also was a Strategic Advisor at Fair Fight Action and helped to launch Abrams’ historic 2018 campaign, is a native Georgian and dedicated to supporting the states’ voter protection efforts.
It goes without saying just how many obstacles and roadblocks are being implemented to discourage Black people and other voters of color from showing up to the polls. For the millions of domestic workers across the country, the midterm elections are a hotly contested battleground that could decide whether policies like universal paid leave, accessible and affordable childcare, and increased wages could have a positive impact in the immediate future.
Hillary Holley graciously made time in her overwhelmingly busy schedule to talk with ESSENCE about the importance of Care in Action’s mobilization efforts, Stacey Abrams’ critics and the gubernatorial candidate’s chances to win this year, and what’s at stake this November for those still on the fence about voting.
ESSENCE: For those who are just becoming familiar with Care in Action, may you share details about what the organization is, what the goals of the organization are, and how important it is for domestic workers to activate themselves ahead of the November midterms?
Hillary Holley: Care in Action is a 501(c)(4) and an electoral organization. What we do is ensure that our domestic workers and voters of color—specifically women of color and those who oftentimes don’t get out to vote—know their power. We teach them how important their voting power is and how to get involved in the voting process. Care in Action believes in direct voter contact. We are a boots-on-the-ground organization.
We currently work in seven states—Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Michigan, Nevada, and Arizona—and we’re there 365 days a year. We hold community events, lobby in state legislatures, give out information regarding voting season, and enlist volunteers and experts in handling voter education. We’re also helping to enact policies that matter not just to domestic workers, but for working class people in general.
From expanding access to dignified healthcare to getting paid leave for workers who are under-defended when it comes to labor protections, we aim to physically and electorally impact people every single day. It is our goal to help people get to the polls and for them to know that their vote matters. A lot of times, domestic workers are seen as the invisible workforce. With Care in Action, we want to make people understand that they—like everyone else—needs support when it comes to their day to day lives.
Simply put, without domestic work, this country would not function.
ESSENCE: Recently, there was a screening of American Blackout, a 2006 documentary about Cynthia McKinney and how antagonistic forces made attempts at implementing voter suppression in Georgia. There are a lot of things that have happened then that continue to happen now. How have these elements helped to evolve Care in Action’s policy agenda that make you excited for voters to participate and engage in?
Hillary Holley: We see a lot of statistics and data that show us by 2030, domestic workers are going to make up the majority of the economic sector. This means that the domestic workforce will be the majority of workers in the U.S. That is a significant voting bloc! This is another reason why Care in Action’s work is very important and we’re working to have outreach on the ground and bring more movement into that voting bloc.
To your point, Jim Crow 2.0, also known as voter suppression, is here! The way that I see voter outreach is that it is our obligation to make sure voters not only know their rights but, more importantly, know about all of the resources available to help them if and when they have questions when they go to vote. For example, in our voter contact list, when we reach out to voters, we’re inquiring if they have a plan to vote, and if so, we let them know when early voting starts in their district. If they need help finding the closest polling location to them, if they requested an absentee ballot, we help them with that.
Another thing that we do that we’re excited for others to know is to share the Voter Protection number, which is the Lawyer’s Committee Election Protection Hotline, 866-OUR-VOTE. It is in all of our materials, so no matter what we’re talking about with voters, they are always going to have the resources to ensure that they’re able to vote competently and that they feel confident their vote gets counted. We will always work in tandem with our legislative allies to help fight back on any voter suppression bills, making advocacy work and voter outreach work one in the same.
Without doing either, we cannot embed voter protection for those who want to go out to the polls. That’s our belief in Care in Action.
ESSENCE: In your and Care in Action’s opinion, what is at stake with this year’s midterm election?
Hillary Holley: There is a lot at stake. We’re in a labor movement and we’re seeing workers demanding more, demanding better, and that includes this country’s domestic workers that Care in Action represents. We’re seeing special interests attempt to push anti-union measures in the legislatures across the state. With the filibuster in the way, we’re seeing an inability to pass legislation that would help not only domestic workers, but workers in general.
Democracy is at stake [and] we really need to defend the US Senate and House. If we can pick up two more seat to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, then we can also defend the right to an abortion. I believe that we have so much to do, but I also believe that we can win. If we want to have a fighting chance in this country, we need to have all hands on deck to defend the seats that we have and do more to gain the seats that are necessary for this defense.
ESSENCE: How can those involved with Care in Action or who are concerned voters contend with the numerous phony electors who are still under investigation for the 2020 elections?
Hillary Holley: Again, we need all hands on deck. Anyone who has extra time to be a volunteer, to be a poll observer—it is greatly appreciated. When it comes to fake electors, having people that can help is important, since we saw that that keeps pressure on Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Secretary of State, and the state’s Attorney General to let all eligible votes be counted to cease any obstruction. In Arizona, we see a lot of election sabotage efforts happening, so making sure we have poll observers who can be on the ground to witness what’s happening on a county level is important.
If we were able to stop what happened in 2020 using those volunteer efforts, then I firmly believe we can do it again. Despite all of the anti-voting bills and efforts that have risen since 2020, our democracy still has a chance. It will take a lot of volunteer efforts and watchdog operations, but I believe that we can save and protect our democracy as we know it. It’s just going to take a massive effort similar to the one we had in 2020.
Being able to watch our Georgia team reach out to these potential voters and seeing their reaction when someone genuinely cares about them brought me so much joy and it makes all of this hard work worth it.
ESSENCE: As a 30-year-old, proud Georgian who’s dedicated nearly half of her life working in the political space, what has been the most rewarding experience while being involved with Care in Action?
Hillary Holley: Two things excite and reward me. We’ve recently had our partner organization, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, celebrate its 15th anniversary. We had over 150 domestic workers present and I think seeing them all together was our first time [and] we delivered a trifecta. We had the National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights heard and taken up in the House. We had the Virginia Domestic Workers Bill of Rights passed by the state legislature there. It was amazing to see and be with our domestic workers who deal with assault, harassment, no sick leave, and low wages to smile, dance, and enjoy themselves knowing they’ve achieved a level of power. It was incredibly beautiful.
The other thing was seeing the level of excitement when it comes to voting. I love the fact that we at Care in Action focus on low propensity voters who don’t get reached out to all that frequently. They’re oftentimes ignored. Being able to watch our Georgia team reach out to these potential voters and seeing their reaction when someone genuinely cares about them brought me so much joy and it makes all of this hard work worth it. The biggest thing that ultimately makes me happy at Care in Action is being amongst the people and seeing them feel empowered and joyful—even through the rough times. The people are who are going to save us, and I love seeing that in real time.
ESSENCE: With speculators saying that Stacey Abrams’ 2018 percentages may not repeat this November, what do you say to critics and pundits who take that to mean that she may not have a legitimate shot at winning the governorship?
Hillary Holley: The polls have never had Democrats winning in Georgia. They definitely never had it as such when it came to Stacey’s numbers. They never captured just how close the 2018 campaign was going to be. Around this same time in 2020, critics and pundits had [Joe] Biden losing, and the Republicans were launching investigations into Black and brown organizations throughout the country. We always saw them attempting to shut down polling station locations, [and] it’s always been something happening in Georgia.
To that, I always say, ‘Come to Georgia and see for yourself,’ because the momentum we have for the polls and to vote is real. It has always been rough, but Georgians are always ready to fight. People outside of the state are still learning what goes on in Georgia. They don’t know how to adequately poll the hundreds of thousands of Black voters in Southwest Georgia. They don’t sample enough Latine(x) voters and AAPI voters, who are prominently becoming a very large chunk of the Democratic electorate.
For example, Biden wouldn’t have won the state without Latine(x) and AAPI voter turnout in the northern metro Atlanta areas. But, even now, the pollsters aren’t sampling and talking to those voters ahead of the midterms. The reason why we won the U.S. Senate was because more Black voters in southwest Georgia voted for the runoff than they did during the presidential election. The magic that we have here in Georgia is rarely represented at the polls—or is at least hard to capture if you’re sitting all the way in [Washington] D.C., California, or New York City. I think people should come here and know that Georgia has this undeniable magic.
ESSENCE: How seriously should Black voters believe that “He Who Shall Not Be Named” could return again to run in 2024?
Hillary Holley: I think Black voters understand where we’re at right now in American history, and it lies far beyond Donald Trump. If he’s listed on the ballot in 2024 or not, Trumpism and right-wing extremism will be there no matter what. The Republican Party has been party—pun intended—to the rise of racism, fascism, and all the other -isms. For Black voters, it is continuing to understand that these sentiments are growing and no longer behind closed doors, but also that there are more of us than them—and we have power.
When we organize together, within and outside the Black community—that means with our Asian, Latine(x), and African brothers and sisters—the people power that we have can work in coalition together to help us win whatever goals we’ve set in front of us.
ESSENCE: What obstacles should voters be aware of?
Hillary Holley: Every person who is eligible to vote needs to check their voter registration status now. What we are seeing right now is what’s called “mass challenges.” Right-wing conspiracy theorists are trying to challenge voters’ eligibility and get the board of elections in those counties to remove them from the voting rolls. States have called it “cleaning [out] their list,” but what that really means is that they’re removing voters of color. We need everyone to make sure that they’re checking their voter registration status and if they notice that there’s an issue or that they may have had their name removed, then they need to quickly re-register to make sure their name is in active status as we head further into the voting cycle.
ESSENCE: How can anyone support the National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights that was reintroduced 2021?
Hillary Holley: We need everyone to head to careinaction.us and volunteer at Care in Action. Help us to reach out to voters and make sure that every Black and brown voter who is eligible to vote shows up to the polls Because then when we win, we’re going to re-engage those volunteers, those voters, and then go back to the U.S. House and say, ‘All right, let’s get this thing passed.’ Then we’re going to go to the people who we’ve endorsed this year and say, ‘Listen, we’ve knocked on doors for you, made phone calls for you, and now we need you to show up for our domestic workers to help us pass this bill.’
We’re going to use those bodies to demand of them to help get our plan elected.
ESSENCE: Last question, how do you see the results of this year’s midterm elections going?
Hillary Holley: I see this election as an opportunity to continue moving forward. It will help us learn and determine what we need to do to win in 2024. I’d like to believe that if we win, we would then continue to advocate and make sure that we pass everything in our power to keep those wins coming in. And if we happen to lose, I think it will force us to come back and have family conversations with the progressive ecosystem, reevaluate what happened, get our stuff together and then build, build, build to double-down our efforts for 2024 immediately.
Honestly, I’m not going to go into this at all thinking that we don’t have a chance to win in 2024. I’m from Georgia and I reject that type of thinking. It would’ve been easy for us to cry and go home after what happened in 2018, allow the Republicans to continue to win for another 20 years, but we reject that theory! So, with Care in Action, our goal is to bring that energy to this midterm and to 2023 regardless of the election results.
Kevin L. Clark is a screenwriter and digital media specialist, who works at the intersection of music, film, Black pop culture, and social justice. Follow him on @IAmKevitoClark
