Greetings, Kossacks from purple Virginia. This is a call for advice and tips.
As you may have heard, Virginia hasn't voted Democratic in a presidential election since 1964 (they didn't even go for Carter when he swept the region in '76) and before 1964 you have to go back quite a ways, too. We've been trending Democratic in the last couple of years, largely owing to the rapid population growth in Northern Virginia (DC suburbs).
Here's the part where I need help:
Now that Virginia is actually in play, it's very exciting, and the Obama campaign has now opened several offices in my area (Hampton Roads). The two people from the Obama campaign are experienced (one worked Iowa and the other worked New Hampshire) but naturally they don't know the city at all.
I'm a government teacher and I know the city pretty well, and I have been collecting some data on precincts and whatnot to help them focus their efforts. I always knew that the lower socioeconomic status people tended not to vote, and that when they do vote, they vote Democratic, but it wasn't until I start combing through the data that I saw the really shocking numbers. For example, the precinct with the lowest turnout (20%) voted 96% Democratic in 2006. Other precincts with dismal turnout voted over 90% Democratic.
So this is what it comes down to: we are concentrating right now on voter registration. This is worthwhile, to be sure, but I feel like it will be all for nothing if the voters don't turn out. My question to you all is this --
What experiences do you have with GOTV efforts in your area? I'm particularly interested if you live in an area with a lot of minorities/low SES voters.
And, do you have any tips, advice, etc, on how we can increase voter turnout in the city? What has worked, what hasn't?
Thanks.