There's just one week left to vote. Everyone calls these the mid-term elections, because there isn't a Presidential election on the ballot (although we might all wish there was!). But that also makes them seem less important. Let's not mince words: this is a critical election.

Last night we held our annual Stand Up, Speak Out dinner, and nearly 900 people attended the event. We had dozens of elected officials and candidates, and are grateful to everyone who attended, and donated, to support the work we do here. Thank you.

While we are taking this morning a little easy, we do want to remind you that there are 15 days left until the election, and you have a few important tasks.

During an election season, you will hear two calls to action. Register to vote! Get out and vote! Both are often directed at those populations that don't vote much, especially youth (we're talking about people aged 18 to 24, in this case). But a look at the data suggests that one of these is misdirected. Registering to vote is crucial, yes, but our efforts, even with youth, will find the most return in getting registered voters to actually vote.

This is a column written by Davis Merritt, a Wichita-based journalist and author, and is used with permission. Mr. Merritt is not affiliated with the MainStream Coalition.

This summer, for the primary election, MainStream hired interns, contacted voters about issues, and got out the vote. We hit 22,000 doors, made 5,000 phone calls, and also engaged with 2,500 voters in our Voter to Voter program. That's a lot of hot days walking, and a lot of calls to strangers. But the part we'd like to focus on is the last one, the 2,500 voters we touched directly with Voter to Voter. Because we want you to help us multiply that tenfold.

Among all the positions at stake in the election on November 6th, only one has the opportunity to affect every election to come. Governors can sign and veto laws, the Legislature is responsible for writing those laws, and our Representatives in Washington DC look out for our state and the nation as a whole. But all of those public officials are put there by voters. And only one position in this election helps decide who in Kansas gets to vote: the Secretary of State.

You know this is an important upcoming election on November 6th. We've pointed that one or two times! A couple of weeks ago, we talked about how important the race for Governor is. Today, we want to impress upon you the importance of the races for the Statehouse in Topeka.

For more than a hundred years, Labor Day has been a national holiday. Started by workers, it has celebrated, not just work, but the rights of workers to dignity, representation, and freedom. But in the last decade, we've seen the rise of "corporate rights," of "right to work" movements, and a shocking concentration of the country's wealth among a few investment barons. Worker rights are being challenged in the courts, and yet, just last month, our neighbors in Missouri rejected a right to work proposal that would have further curtailed the ability of workers to organize for their rights.

This is the MainStream Coalition's twenty-fifth anniversary year. Few people expected the small group founded by six dedicated individuals in 1993 to still be around a quarter century later, but few also expected there would still be a need. Yet we find ourselves today, still working to educate and inform, to get voters engaged to advocate for their families, their schools, and their communities.

The stage is set. The election on November 6th (or earlier, if you vote early!) will be one of the most consequential in Kansas' history. After eight years of fighting for education, health care, civil rights, and basic human dignity, we are on the cusp of an enormous opportunity to return Kansas to it's roots as a centrist, caring, thoughtful state where people look out for each other and care about their neighbors. We're talking, of course, about the race for Governor of Kansas.