Vote Morongo Basin is a voter registration organization that was founded by Jo Ann Bollen, a retired small business owner who unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Yucca Valley Town Council in 2018. Vote Morongo Basin partners with several left-of-center voting registration organizations including Field Team 6 and Vote Early Day, an effort created by media company MTV during the COVID-19 pandemic.

About

Based in the Morongo Basin in California’s San Bernardino County, Vote Morongo Basin is an organization focused on voter engagement, turnout, and registration. ^[1]

The organization partners with Field Team 6, a left-of-center voter registration organization with more than 40 other partner organizations in California and a number of left-of-center national partners such as Blue Future and Vote Save America. ^[2] Vote Morongo Basin also partners with Vote Early Day, an effort created by MTV during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of a larger movement of businesses, entertainment companies, and nonprofits encouraging voters to cast their ballots early in elections. Vote Early Day is supported by New Venture Fund, a left-wing nonprofit organization that disburses hundreds of millions of dollars in grants each year. ^[3]

Activities

Vote Morongo Basin participated in the Twentynine Palms community’s 2022 Juneteenth celebration hosted by Women of Color Global 29, a local activist group. Vote Morongo Basin registered voters at the event amongst over a dozen local vendors who sold a variety of goods at the event. ^[4]

Vote Morongo Basin also endorses community members running in local elections. In the 2022 elections, the organization endorsed Alfred Twu for the Alameda-Contra Costa (AC) Transit At-Large seat ^[5] to potentially represent one of the largest public bus systems in California. ^[6]  Twu is an architect and small business owner who serves on Berkeley’s Planning and Landmarks commissions and previously led the East Bay Young Democrats. ^[7]

In 2021, Vote Morongo Basin hosted a voter registration event at Copper Mountain College, a community college in Joshua Tree, California. ^[8]

Leadership

Jo Ann Bollen, a former small business owner, is the founder of Vote Morongo Basin. ^[9] Bollen ran to represent District 3 in the Yucca Valley Town Council election in 2018 and lost to Merl R. Abel after garnering about one-third of the votes. ^[10]