On Saturday, at least 8 Democratic Texas legislative staffers joined our Voter Protection canvasses in Harris and Tarrant counties. There may have been more, those are the ones who asked to join us, and we suspect that more may have come out (because we got post-canvass feedback that suggest this is so). It was our biggest canvassing effort in Texas to this point.
This weekend, Hope Springs from Field PAC organized Voter Suppression mitigation canvasses in Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It was the first weekend that we had all the states we are involved with in the field at the same time. But it was a lot of turf to cut beforehand!
You undoubtedly know that last Monday, 51 Democratic legislators left Texas to deny Republicans a quorum in the Texas state House. They left the 30-day special session called by Gov. Abbot in an effort to prevent the passage of the onerous Republican election overhaul bill. Without a quorum, Texas House rules state “no business shall be transacted, except to compel the attendance of absent members or to adjourn.” These brave men and women left their homes and their lives because Texas is already the hardest state to vote in, and they see no need to make it harder — especially for minorities.
But the sacrifice of these 51 Democrats is nothing compared to that of their staff. At least the legislators are getting paid. That is not the case with their legislative staff. Abbot used a line-item veto so veto Article X, a two-year budget bill that pays for House and Senate lawmakers, their staffers and those working in non-partisan legislative agencies. So their sacrifice is immense.
These legislative staffers asked to canvass with us this weekend so that they could get the word out that they were still working, intrigued by our Issues Canvass/Voter Suppression mitigation concept and because they wanted people to know the provisions in HB3 that Democratic legislators left the state to fight against. A ban on drive-thru voting, where 1 in 10 in-person early voters in Harris County cast their ballots; new ID requirements for voting by mail; a ban on the 24 hour; monthly citizenship checks that identify and disenroll naturalized citizens.
Including these 8 Democratic staffers in our canvassing meant that their turf had to be cut early. Why? Because we cut their turf bigger than normal (they count as experienced canvassers) and we did a robocall that went out to the known phone numbers in their turf.
Houston/Harris County Robocall
This is why I think more than 8 staffers showed up on Saturday, because they didn’t know about the robocalls in advance. “You could have done more,” they said. Even more amusing: “I wish you could have done this for my boss,” who was in D.C. But that’s where this practice came from. In Iowa, in 2008, we did robocalls, especially in the summer, whenever Barack took out turf. Of course, they were in his voice (and future robocalls may be in their voices, but we had to make due in quick fashion).
Hope Springs from Field PAC is knocking on doors in a grassroots-led effort to increase awareness of the fact that Democrats care about our voters and are working to protect their rights. We are thinking about how to mitigate Voter Suppression efforts, get around them and make sure we have "super compliance," both informing and helping our voters meet the requirements and get out and vote. We are taking those efforts to the doors of the communities most effected (the intended targets or victims) of these new voter suppression laws.
Obviously, we rely on grassroots support, so if you support field/grassroots organizing and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopevoteprotect
Hope Springs from Field PAC was started by former Obama Field Organizers because field was the cornerstone of our success. The approach we adopted was focused on listening, on connecting voters and their story to the candidate and our cause. Repeated face to face interactions are critical. And we are among those who believe that Democrats didn’t do as well in the 2020 Congressional races as expected because we didn’t knock on doors. We are returning to the old school basics: repeated contacts, repeated efforts to remind them of protocols, meeting them were they are. Mentoring those who need it (like first time and newly registered voters). Reminding, reminding, reminding, and then chasing down those voters whose ballots need to be cured.
We also shipped the Mobile Printers we had acquired for North Carolina and Florida to Texas. We wanted our guests, the legislative staffers, to see the full impact of our Voter Suppression mitigation strategy. Five teams (probably more) of canvassers went out with Texas Democratic legislative staffers, and each of those teams had a mobile printer with them. They came back having witnessed 4 voters use the scanner/printer to make copies of their IDs for voter registration purposes.
85 people canvassed with us on Saturday, 61 of them in Harris County. The more we can do it, the more people become convinced that we can mitigate many of these voter suppression efforts by reaching out to our voters and helping them navigate around them. One person did contend that many of the items in these bills (SB1 and HB3) will hurt older, and disabled voters the most. So the effects cut both ways. But the general consensus is that PoC in the larger counties will be the voters most affected. The urban, Democratic areas of Harris and Tarrant counties would see a drastic drop in polling places — and that’s exactly the counties we are targeting right now.
While SB 7 targets the state’s biggest counties that use countywide voting, the more than 60 other Texas counties that offer it — many rural and under Republican control — would remain under the state’s more relaxed rules for polling place distribution.
In urban areas, a formula based on voter registration will inherently sway polling places toward Republican-held districts. House districts are drawn to be close to equal in total population, not registration or voter eligibility. Registration numbers are generally much lower in districts represented by Democrats because they tend to have a larger share of residents of color, particularly Hispanic residents — and in some areas Asian residents — who may not be of voting age or citizens. That often results in a smaller population of eligible voters.
We got terrific feedback from the Texas legislative staffers that joined us on Saturday. Sure, it was hot (95 in Houston) but the robocalls help alert voters that someone is going to knock on their door, and historically, we have found that increases the number of opened doors. The staffers noticed that, too. One canvasser recorded the reaction at one door: “They’re here! They’re here,” yelled one young girl.
Hope Springs from Field PAC is trying to reinstitute these best practices, such as doing robocalls before candidate’s canvass. Lot of these got forgotten because of the Covid restrictions in the last cycle, and we have an entire cycle of campaign staffers who were trained without the benefit of actually getting to do field. That’s why it is so important to start knocking on doors now, and not wait until a month or so before the primaries. We have a lot of make-up work to do. Can you help?
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, please do. Contributions go towards purchase of Mobile Printers, canvassing supplies (water, snacks, cooling towels) and use of VAN:
https://secure.actblue.com//donate/hopevoteprotect
Thank you for your support.