In 13 days the Lone Star State will hold elections for Governor, Lt. Governor, US House and Senate, State House and Senate, Local School Boards and one statewide Referendum. While the majority of voters will cast their ballots on Nov. 4, a significant number of voters will exercise their franchise in early voting or by mail in ballot.
With the departure of four-term Republican Governor Rick Perry, the longest serving executive in the history of the state, and the unprecedented landslide defeat of three-term sitting Lt. Governor David Dewhurst in the primaries, Republicans and Democrats were handed a rare opportunity to reshape the Executive power structure in Austin. With stakes higher than ever across the board, both parties have poured huge sums into voter turnout, and a key to those efforts has been to encourage early voting.
Traditionally, Democrats have held the edge on early voting but this year Republicans have made a concerted effort in Texas to catch up and as a result the number of early voters across the state is expected to be higher than other years. While the net result for both sides remains to be seen, Battleground Texas, built on the legendary Obama For America turnout machine, has had a huge impact on GOTV across the state.
As part of that effort, I have been engaged in calling registered Democratic voters in my area through the Battleground Texas virtual phonebank, powered by the Texas Democratic Party's comprehensive Voter Activation Network (VAN). Join me beneath the fancy Longhorns for a story about why all the effort we put into GOTV matters.
Cold calling voters and asking them to commit isn't for everyone. I know many people for whom the idea brings a cold sweat, and that is understandable. There is a natural disinclination to "bother" someone on the phone, especially a stranger. Add to that an instinctive fear of rejection and cold calls are automatically off limits for a lot of people.
I am one who is not bothered by this, and since I have done phone banking before and am generally a gregarious person, I actually look forward to ringing up strangers and inquiring about their plans and intentions. And because the VAN phone banking system is so well designed and user-friendly, I can do all of this from the comfort of my Barcalounger with dirty hair and no one is ever the wiser (until now).
While I have made a lot of calls since beginning this work, one in particular stands out as an example of why all this effort is worth it. Don't get me wrong, every vote counts and every voter I have talked to, even the ones that didn't want to talk back, were worth the effort. Sometimes, though, you come across a person who otherwise would almost certainly not have voted had you never called. I've recently had two of those, and if they were the only calls I ever made I would be able to sleep at night knowing my efforts to elect Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte had a legitimate impact.
The first and most dramatic call happened this past Sunday afternoon. I was tasked with calling mail-in ballot voters, primarily people over 65 and in some cases disabled. These are important right now because this Friday, October 24th is the deadline, so we want all of them in ASAP. The reminder calls are important because they work. I have had many, many people thank me for reminding them and let me know there was a likelihood they would have forgotten until it was too late.
This particular call was different. What I heard on the other end of the line was a voice of frustration and resignation about the state of the race, a person who had made up their mind not only that Wendy Davis had no chance of winning but that one voter not showing up didn't matter at all. She had absolutely and completely given up.
Now, one of the "rules" in phone banking is not to badger voters because a) who are you to do so and b) it rude. How people vote and IF they vote is a personal choice, so the job of the caller is influence and gain a commitment without infringing on that privacy. Most voters I have encountered are eager to commit and accept a follow up call. After all, these are registered Democratic voters. So, when I encountered this particular person I was very careful not to be pushy and I DEFINITELY double checked my tone of voice.
The following is, more or less, how that call went down.
"Hi, is this Voter Awesome? My name is Mr. Bastrop and I'm a Wendy Davis volunteer in your neighborhood. Are you planning to vote for Senator Davis for Governor this election?"
Dead. Silence. I thought the call had been dropped until I heard this enormous sigh come across the line.
"I'm really sorry, I'm just not sure I'll be able to vote this time around. I'm not expecting it to go our way and really, I haven't been feeling well at all."
I'm generally not one to lose heart so quickly but I have to admit the sinking feeling grabbed me on this one. Her sense of resignation was palpable.
"I'm so sorry you aren't feeling well. Do you have anyone at home that can help you out while you get to feeling better?"
"My husband is here, he takes good care of me. I'm really sorry to waste your time, I know you are working hard to get Wendy elected. I just don't seem to have it in me this year and I am really just thinking that she doesn't have much of a chance anyway right now."
Since she wasn't trying to get off the phone and returned from how she felt to the election, I took the opportunity and ran with it.
"Well, there is no doubt this is a tough race. Early on I had given up before I even started, but one of the things that changed my mind and motivated me to get involved was acknowledging that the alternative was unacceptable to me. Do you have specific concerns about Senator Davis' platform or what she stands for?"
This woke her up a bit.
"No, no, I love Wendy. She's the real deal, as they say. I just...I dunno. "
It went on like this for a while. All told I was on this call for over ten minutes, far longer than average. Slowly my friend on the other end became more and more animated, waking up from the doldrum she had occupied for some time. I don't like to lead the conversation when it becomes overtly partisan, it feel unprofessional and manipulative, so mainly I let her talk but I drew it out as carefully as possible.
She talked about how Greg Abbott is a tool of Big Business and wants to sell the state to the highest bidder. She talked about Tom Delay, interestingly enough, and the effect his gerrymandering had in ushering in the Tea Party crazies. She talked about how Dan Patrick thinks he is Jesus Christ and how Ted Cruz maker her physically ill to listen to. She talked about how schools in Texas used to be the gold standard and how our fine roads have been left to deteriorate under the weight of trucking and neglect. This was one keyed-in, knowledgeable Democratic voter! I let her talk, I agreed and I listened.
I realized right about the time she got to Tom Delay that was what she really needed: someone to listen. For whatever reason this woman was not being heard, probably in many ways and on many levels, and one result was she had checked out and given up on doing something about the very issues she was clearly passionate about. Here was a voter who paid attention, understood the issues and the stakes, yet had given up hope. As she came around and her mood changed, my previously sinking heart had become so full it nearly brought me to tears. Ok, it DID bring me tears, I am man enough to admit that. They were running down my face as she talked about schools and roads. It was all I could do to hide that from her as I directed her back to my script.
"So, after all we've talked about, after all I've heard you say, are you planning to vote for Wendy Davis this election?"
There wasn't even a pause this time. "YES! I will be voting and I have my ballot right here!"
Music to my ears, I asked if she would be willing to accept a confirmation call to be sure she remembered to get it in by Friday.
"Only if you are the one to make the call!" she laughed, half-jokingly. "I'm not going to forget anyhow, but still, I would love a reminder."
"I will keep your name open on my list so I won't forget. But I'm not going to forget anyhow." I said, my chest ready to burst at the seams. "This is definitely a call that I will never forget. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me about this important election. I am so glad that your name was on my list."
This old-school Ann Richards Democrat told me with a smile in her voice and a warmth that was pure Central Texas
"I look forward to your call, neighbor. Anytime."
If you live in Texas and have time to volunteer, it isn't too late to get involved!Folow this link to Battleground Texas volunteer sign-up page, where you can give them your details and let them know how you want to help out.
If you live in Texas and would like to sign up for a block walk or make calls with Battleground Texas
click here.
If you live in Texas and would like to sign up for a Wendy Davis event near you, click here.
If you live outside of Texas and are as sick and tired of Texas Republicans ruining the reputation of the Lone Star State as we are,
click this link and look for the phone.
In just a few minutes you can be set up to help by making calls within Texas to registered Democratic voters and have a measurable impact on getting out the vote!
Since I couldn't say it any better than nomandates (plus she already wrote it for me) here is a good reminder for calling from out of state.
And now we have a Virtual Phone Bank (VPB) so that folks can make calls from their homes! Just look for the blue Battleground phone at the top right of any page of the Battleground Texas site.
Battleground Texas will provide a script and, of course, the numbers to call. Remember that most of Texas is on Central Daylight Time (CDT), with a small part of far west Texas on Mountain Daylight Time (MDT), so don't call too early or too late here! We usually make calls between 10:00am CDT and 8:00pm CDT.
If you prefer to make an impact with dollars,
Donate to Wendy Davis directly.
13 days, y'all. Don't let that number scare you just because it's Haloween time, because it's also election season and that number is how many days left until Democrats show Republican control of the Lone Star State the sole of our boot on their way out the door.
Thanks for reading! GOTV!
- bastrop
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