My mom is sixty-something, retired and has been actively involved in progressive causes for most of her life. But she lives in Massachusetts and like me in Illinois, it's been awhile since either of us could get involved in an important national issue at a local level.
While we were discussing how to help Obama by money or finding neighboring states to help in, she suddenly said, "You know what? I'm going to Ohio." She packed a bag, got in the car and drove to stay with a friend in Cincinnati for 6 weeks leading up to the election.
She's been sending periodic updates to an email list of friends and family. I told her she should blog or put them up in a DKos diary. She reads DKos, but asked me to put up the updates for her. So I am. Update #4 from yesterday is below.
News from the Front 4
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Big news in Ohio.
First, early voting started yesterday. Over 800 people voted in Hamilton County. The head of the NAACP camped on the Board of Elections’ doorstep so he could be the first to vote. About 60 labor union members were lined up to vote by 7:30 along with a lot of other folks. U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn came in for the festivities. Buses came from the campuses.
In 2005 a new law was passed that allowed absentee ballots without restriction. People could do it by mail or at the county Board of Elections. Hence, early voting. No one paid much attention to the fact that the early voting start date of September 30 overlapped the voter registration period which ends October 6th. No problem – until this year when that week of registering and voting at the same time became the Obama campaign’s "Change the World Week." Hence, three lawsuits by the Republican Party to outlaw it. On the night of September 29th the courts turned down the third and final Republican challenge. And so we are in the middle of changing the world.
Second, the polls in Ohio are going up for Obama and down for McCain. I especially like it when they describe it as Ohio "surging" for Obama. Ironic that we have our own surge. In fact, all the battleground states appear to be improving for Obama. Check out realclearpolitics.com where they average recent polls or 270towin.com or fivethirtyeight.com or msnbc.com to check out the electoral maps. North Carolina’s improvement was reported this morning. Thank you Michael and Shari. Colorado has been up for a while. Thank you Jenn, David and Kendra Sue. Norma and David, you are doing a great job in Virginia.
I registered voters at the Univ of Cincinnati campus the other day. Voter registration has been going on there for a while so it was encouraging to be told by so many that they were already registered, but I got a few more and had good conversations with many. Almost all of the students will be first time voters. Some are really excited. When I talked to one group of young men (all registered), I tried to convince them to vote early, that shuttles would be leaving from in front of the rec center several times a day. They resisted. What is going to happen to our votes? What if they lose them? This whole thing sounded fishy to them. I countered with the many things that could happen on election day: a hurricane, a headache, long lines, broken equipment. I told them that early voting meant their votes would be in the bank. One of them said, "I don’t trust banks either this week."
I had one disturbing conversation with two young women. Again, already registered. I was giving the early voting pitch (only to Obama supporters, btw), when one of them said she might not vote because her vote didn’t count. What? "People don’t elect the President. The Electorial [sic] College does," she told me. I explained that her vote would determine how Ohio would vote in the Electoral College. Maybe my explanation was a little longer than that because she said I was giving her a headache. I said, "Ok, forget all that. Just know that you matter." "Well, of course I matter," and she preened a little. "I mean your vote. Your vote matters."
Those of us who grew up with parents and neighbors and older siblings voting, have no idea how strange voting can seem. I remember registering voters on Court Square in Springfield in 1984. More than one person asked me if it cost money. And many too many people think that, in the end, their vote doesn’t matter.
I am sending this before the VP debate, but I would like to declare that JOE BIDEN IS THE WINNER!!!
My thought is that these reports might be of interest to others who have done or considered volunteering and/or traveling to be part of the grassroots ground game during the election. If so, I can also dig up the 3 short updates that preceded this one about getting started in Ohio.