Some weeks, these diaries are harder to write than others. That is definitely not the case this week! I have a notebook full of anecdotes and i doubt i will get to them all. But only clever young man really stood out to me because he really wanted to argue and he successfully kept me at the door delaying my exit.
Special elections can be more fun than a regular campaign (in part because there are far fewer meetings!) because things are less structured. That’s certainly true in the case of Hope Springs from Field PAC’s special elections efforts here. We have a rotating set of organizers and even have organizers who are cutting turf from afar.
And the organizers who are in the district canvass and make follow-up calls. Collecting data, feeding the machine.
It’s very repetitive. So these kinds of stories get traded a lot to ease the tension of the repetitiveness. This one has been mine this weekend.
On Thursday (iirc), i knocked on the home of two Democrats with a frequent voter history. A family, which was made even more apparent when a teenager (or young adult) answered the door. I asked if the voters on my list (by name) were home and he replied, ‘my Mom will be home shortly.’ And as i was starting to reply (would you mind giving her this (the lit)) he started inquiring about what i was doing.
“I’m talking to people in the neighborhood about the upcoming special election.”
Why’s that?
“Because i am supporting Tom Suozzi and i want him to win!”
What about Gaza?
“Huh?”
You know, Israeli’s massacre of the people of Gaza. What about that?
In my mind, i am asking myself if i should just wait for the voter to get home or just move on. Because i tell everyone, don’t engage, don’t get bogged down, move along as quickly as you can. But he is holding the door open so...
“We’re not electing anyone to something in Gaza, we’re replacing an expelled Member of Congress who got elected by crook and fraud (or something like that).”
Yeah, but Gaza is part of this election, too. Don’t ya think?
“Well, both candidates support releasing the hostages as soon as possible, so i’m not sure that it is.” And now we know that about a fifth of those hostages still in captivity are presumed dead.
Yeah, but the genocide.
I’m thinking, how do i turn around and walk away without too much. “I thought the World Court ruled there was no genocide here,” i said as i start to walk backwards. And, as i turned…
Oh, there’s my Mom!
He got me.
That’s her car, he reiterated.
Hope Springs from Field PAC has taken on GOTV responsibilities for the “heel” of the 3rd Congressional District, in the area where Massapequa has an Early Voting location. There are 11 Early Vote Centers in Nassau County and 4 Early Voting Locations in Queens. We’ve identified 16,846 (mostly) Democratic households who have voters with a history of voting early, and these comprise our initial Early Voting GOTV universe.
As of our latest count, 19,714 residents of Nassau have voted in the special. 8,497 Democrats have voted so far and 6,770 Republicans (3,735 registered independents and a few hundred 3rd party voters registered to minor parties) have also voted.
NYC’s Board of Elections added 3,519 Queens residents to the early vote totals through Monday. Around 80% of registered voters in the district live in Nassau County according to the New York State BOE. 20% of the voters who turn out in this election could be Jewish.
We focus on Democrats because Democrats turn out in special elections. Independents not so much. But starting Saturday (Feb 3rd), we added dragging to our canvassing options. We have organizers and volunteers out every day now as we approach Election Day (13th). We ask the voters willing to talk to us (and that rate has dropped significantly due (presumably) to the cold weather) whether they are planning to vote in this (special) election. When a voter responds positively, we follow-up by asking if they were willing to vote early, and, if so, whether they would like a ride to their Early Voting location (in these case, in Massapequa). Just like in Ohio, we mark responses to that question with either a check mark (voter didn’t say when they planned to vote), an EV (voter said they would vote early) or an ED (voter said they wanted to vote on Election Day — not so many of those!). We have volunteers willing to take them immediately (in some cases, the volunteer who knocked on their door). Surprisingly, in the last two days, we’ve had more voters than we expected take us up on the offer. It’s not that many, but we didn’t expect any on this first weekend.
We continue to use our hybrid GOTV approach, using a shortened Issues Survey in our pitch to voters. Last week, i had one voter who completed the survey in a minute (he timed it), answering 8 of the 14 questions. And that’s what i say at the door, it will only take a minute.
Hope Springs from Field PAC has been knocking on doors since January 13th for the special election in the New York CD-03. We are canvassing Democrats and unaffiliated voters with a systematic approach that reminds them not only that Democrats care, but Democrats are determined to deliver the best government possible to all Americans.
Obviously, we rely on grassroots support, so if you support field/grassroots organizing, voter registration (and follow-up), GOTV and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopespecial
Hope Springs from Field understands that volunteer to voter personal interactions are critical. Knocking on doors has repeatedly been found to be the most successful tactic to get voters to cast a ballot and that is the goal of what we do.
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It wasn’t her car. He just wanted to argue. And by looking down at the VAN report on my iPad i could see that i was older than his parents.
I didn’t want to say that the Mideast War was something that got raised occasionally in our surveys but wasn’t the dominant issue that maybe some thought it would be.
You don’t think the slaughter of 20,000 men, women and children is important?
“I’ve actually been to the region, and seen for myself how complicated this topic is. I believe in Democracy and i respect the results that people have voted for.”
Wait, what do you mean? Are you trying to say that the Palestinians VOTED FOR THIS?!? To see their family, friends and neighbors killed? Are you really….
“Yes, both the Palestinians — by electing Hamas to rule in Gaza — and the Israelis — by electing Netanyahu to by Prime Minister voted for war and perpetual conflict. Do you disagree?”
You really want to say that the Palestinians choose their death??? *gasp*
“See, you want to frame things differently than i. I wouldn’t say they choose death, more likely that they chose Honor, Respect and a land of their own.”
But you are saying they CHOSE to die?
“I’ll stick with the frame i offered. I think people have a right to choose for themselves.”
Two things were now clear: his mother was not home or even likely to be home soon. And this was getting me nowhere. But this young man didn’t want to disengage. He came out of his door, leaving it wide open, and started to follow-up me to the sidewalk.
You really don’t think we should be pushing for an immediate ceasefire, to stop the genocide??? He was almost yelling by this point. As i was walking away.
You don’t think we have a MORAL RESPONSIBILITY to STOP THIS?!?!?
I wasn’t out in this cold (definitely cold for a Floridian) to argue about the Mideast. And i was angry with myself that i had been sucked into it.
FREE, FREE PALESTINE! he yelled as i was leaving earshot. I looked back and he had raised a fist. *groan.”
We aren’t knocking on doors to get into arguments, and i always, always tell volunteers to avoid them. But here i am, doing exactly what i say don’t do. My cohorts are laughing about this, noting the hypocrisy of my action here. “See, it happens to all of us.” But i know better, and i am kicking myself for getting dragged into it. Leadership means leading by example and here’s an example of where i sucked. That’s not why we are here.
To put it simply, February is about November and the suburbs,” said Larry Levy, executive dean at Hofstra University’s National Center for Suburban Studies. “Who wins the 3rd District goes beyond which party gets one more, or less, seat. It’s about seeing what tactics and strategies — particularly messaging — work or don’t work with the moderate swing voters who will determine which party controls the gavels of Congress, as well as the keys to the White House.
So, no pressure! Our job is to turn out Democrats and progressives in spite even though we have a lot more infrequent voters on our side. We include more infrequent voters in our weekend canvasses, which are (much) more widely attended. But even though we don’t hit as many doors on the weekdays than we do on the weekends, we are still reaching tens of thousands of voters on the weekdays.
If you are able to support our efforts to protect Democratic voters, especially in minority communities, expand the electorate, and believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation and election protection, please help:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopespecial
If you would rather send a check, you can follow that link for our mailing address at the bottom of the page. Thank you for your support. This work depends upon you!