Florida, Texas and Georgia were the first states we started this Deep Organizing canvassing in back in June, 2021. Part of the rationale for Florida then was not only the 2022 senate election but also the remap, with the hope that early organizing would allow for Democrats to contest some legislative seats. And the final piece was ongoing efforts to shape the electorate by the Trumpies who have really discouraged minority participation in elections (unless, of course, you were voting the White way).
It was, as they say, a target-rich environment.
There’s a huge difference between Hispanics in Central Florida and those in South Florida. Cubans still dominate Florida politics but they are not even the majority among Hispanics in the state. And our canvassing suggests that non-Cuban Hispanics believe that they are more discriminated against than Cubans are (presumably because they have the power(?)). But the one thing we learned this summer, and the reason why we never stopped canvassing in FL-09, is that this feeling has led them (non-Cuban Hispanics) to strongly favor the Constituent Service Request forms with which we were walking. The fact that we try to walk with volunteers who look like the neighborhood (and, in this case, were bilingual) may have been a factor. But the point i want to emphasize is that this is a target-rich environment.
But even in Florida, there was no active attempt to recruit volunteers. Prior volunteer lists from our (mostly Obama alum) organizers combined with a few other lists from prior organizers made up our activity notice lists. For the most part, volunteers had pre-existing relationships with organizers and a pre-existing commitment to this kind of field activity/campaign effort. The Constituent Service Requests did mobilize a few people to want to join our canvassing efforts, and, in Florida, we did have candidates or would-be candidates come out, sometimes with the thought of understanding what we are doing and sometimes with the thought of scarfing some volunteers (this happened in almost every state). Which is actually good — we got them all trained up! and gave them an experience that will long benefit them. Because this is Deep Organizing, there is less pressure than the candidate’s or coordinated campaign efforts. Volunteers never felt guilty about missing someone on their list. First Round, not “last” round canvassing.
198 volunteers came out on Saturday to knock on doors for Hope Springs from Field PAC. We canvassed in Hispanic neighborhoods in Osceola and the Orlando suburbs of Polk, Seminole and Volusia Counties. We ask every voter we talk to if they are registered to vote at their current address and help those who aren’t to re-register accordingly. Of course, we also register people who have never been registered before, primarily, young people.
We canvass with an Issues Questionnaire that allows voters to tell us what is on their minds. We use it as a conversational check to guide volunteers through their dialog at the door. It makes it easy on our volunteers as provides us with vital data that will be entered in VAN (the Democratic database) after the primary. The first thing we ask is whether the people we talk to are registered to vote at their current address.
We also ask voters whether they have a primary issue concern. What we are looking for is to determine whether they are “single issue” voters. We use open-ended questions because we are really looking for quick, immediate responses. People know what issues they will be voting on, and if they can’t think of any, that doesn’t defeat the purpose. The Economy was the number one concern we heard in Central Florida. Voters are really concerned about the economic uncertainty on the Tourist Economy. Lots and lots of comments about how Florida just has not returned to (pre-Covid) normal. Health Care Costs and potential Increases in Health Insurance Premiums was second. This week, Climate Concerns was third.
58% of the voters we talked to expressed approval of President Biden in Florida on Saturday. 8% expressed disapproval in the job the president was doing.
DeSantis’ approval numbers are still stuck in single digits in Central Florida, 2% on Saturday; disapproval of DeSantis was 59%. Senator Rubio’s approval numbers fell to 11% this week. 38% disapproved of Rubio’s job performance.
Hope Springs from Field PAC has been knocking on doors in a grassroots-led effort to prepare the Electoral Battleground in what has been called the First Round of a traditional Five Round Canvass. 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, voter registration (and follow-up) and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/2022senateswing
Hope Springs from Field PAC understands that 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 — and we didn’t register new voters (while Republicans dud). 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 registered 5 New Voters last Saturday and updated (or corrected) the addresses of another 47 voters. All of these registrations were accomplished using the Florida state SOS website (Florida has some interesting rules so it is easier to allow voters to use a tablet with the website than anything else).
We also ask people who open their doors about whether they need public services delivered to their neighborhood. 78 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms last Saturday. In general, we send these to Democratic elected officials responsible for the requested functions, but if the appropriate office is held by a Republican, we still send it along. For Democrats, though, we encourage them to reach out immediately to the voter who filled out the Constituent Service Request forms and let them know they are working on the issue. This credit-taking is enormously valuable to the Democratic office-holder.
We specifically ask voters if they have any concerns about the upcoming elections. Last year, we walked with lit about the changes in voting laws in Florida, but we also asked voters about their fears and experience in prior elections. Voters who say they have experience voter intimidation or other problems with voting are asked to fill out Incident Reports. We found 4 voters who wanted to fill out Incident Reports in Florida on Saturday. These are voters who witnessed some form of voter intimidation or malfeasance at the polls. We collate these Incident Reports, to be shared with local, state and federal officials in charge of voting, as well as use them to plan out our Election Protection strategy in the fall. They could also be used in court cases.
Several professional fundraisers have told me my reports are too cheery, that if I want to raise money I need to be more scary. Maybe that is true, but Hope Springs from Field’s origins are more grassroots. If this work needs to be supported, then it will be funded. If this work needs to continue into 2024, then it will be funded. So if you are able to support our efforts to protect Democratic voters, expand the electorate, and believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation and election protection, please help:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/2022senateswing
Thank you for your support. This work depends on you!