Our campaign GOTV (or electoral battle) plan in Ohio is the same as August, and really simple, comprising of 3 phases — the last two actually running concurrently with the first.
- Phase 1 is our hybrid GOTV/Issues Canvass. Even though this is a hybrid approach, we will weed out voter households where everyone has already voted.
- Phase 2 is pure GOTV.
- Phase 3 is Ballot (or signature) Curing. When we are told that there are voters who need to correct a missing signature, et al, before their ballot can be counted, we will initiate frequent attempts at contact until they correct their ballot error.
Basically, we won’t stop working to turn out supporters for Issue 1 until the vote is called. We are determined to win this one, as well.
1,064 volunteers showed up to knock on doors in Ohio with Hope Springs on Saturday. We are knocking on doors in three Congressional Districts (OH-01 represented by Democrat Greg Landsman (the grey CD on the lower left), OH-09, Marcy Kaptur (the pink CD on the top left) and OH-13, Emilia Sykes (the grey CD on the top right)) as well as the Columbus and Dayton areas. We’ve added 11 more Ohio (volunteer) organizers since the start of Summer, and that means the ability to handle more canvassers. But the truth is that we have people cutting turf from outside the state, as well, as efforts in their states have wound down.
Ohio has become the new Georgia (this year, at least).
We knocked on 81,289 doors on Saturday and talked to 6,413 voters. 4,181 of those voters answered at least some of our questions on the Issues Survey.
We continue to ask voters two supplemental questions related to Issue 1.
The Economy was the Top Concern we found in Ohio this week. The Auto Worker’s Strike is one reason, but we have voters wondering if things would get better by Christmas. Reproductive Healthcare/Freedom was the secondly most cited concern, which isn’t much of a surprise given all the media on the Constitutional Amendment. Hamas’ attack on Israel was the third most frequently mentioned concern. Also, not much of a surprise, since the news about Israel is just as prominent as the coverage of Issue 1, the constitutional amendment on abortion.
Hope Springs from Field PAC has been knocking on doors since March in a grassroots effort to prepare the 2024 Electoral Battleground in what has been called the First and Second Rounds of a traditional Five Round Canvass. We are canvassing Democrats and unaffiliated voters with a systematic approach that reminds them not only that Democrats care, but Democrats are determined to deliver the best government possible to all Americans.
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/hope4ohio
Hope Springs from Field understands that volunteer to voter personal interactions are critical. Knocking on doors has repeatedly been found to be the most successful tactic to get voters to cast a ballot and that is the goal of what we do.
Joe Biden’s Approval numbers among the Ohioans we talked to was 54% last Saturday; his Disapproval number fell to 6%. Remember, narrowly targeted walk universe so we expect these numbers to be less reflective of the overall electorate during GOTV. Senator Brown’s Job Approval was 69% with only 5% of the voters we talked to on Saturday expressing Disapproval. Approval of Governor DeWine, meanwhile, was 21%; Disapproval was 40% last Saturday. These spikes (or dips) are a direct result of people’s attitudes towards Issue 1. Issue 1 has been really clarifying for the voters we talk to and so their attitudes towards the Democrats we asked them about served to represent their opposition to changing the state constitution to benefit conservative positions.
Hope Springs from Field volunteers registered 2 new voters. Voter registration has ended in order to vote in the November election, and i would surmise that these two new voters just turned 18 (or moved to Ohio). We also helped 52 more voters update their voter registration to comply with federal law. We differentiate between new voters registered and existing voters re-registering because we plan to continue our New Voter Postcard effort for newly registered voters, and even add Voter Video Chains this cycle.
361 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms. We send completed CSRs 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 have even had candidates walk with Hope Springs volunteers because they had received one of these requests and wanted to understand how we collect them.
In Ohio, we have gotten a really good, really positive response to the CSRs (i probably need to write a separate diary about that) from voters who have commented about how it influences their attitudes about Democrats. In the end, though, voter attitudes about offering this opportunity really depends on elected officials and whether or not they take them seriously.
We knock on the doors of Democratic and Independent voters. At every door, we leave a piece of “show the flag” lit, something that tells them we were there and hopefully reinforces the Democratic brand. The lit focuses on the things voters told us were important to them last fall, aiming to appeal to every voter.
But the main focus of our canvassing right now is the Issues Survey, asking voters for their input and concerns. Voter responses to the questionnaire are entered into VAN and made available to all Democratic candidates who use VAN in the state after the primary. Creating this kind of data isn’t done with a specific goal in mind but has the purpose of engaging voters and creating a dataset that any Democratic candidate can use in opposition to a Republican.
Hope Springs has targeted states that have competitive Senate races and/or the Electoral College in 2024, as well as Congressional Districts that are remapped in ways that offer opportunities or vulnerabilities for Democrats next year (specifically those where a Republican won a Congressional District that voted for Biden in 2022). There is a lot of work to be done!
By starting early, and aiming towards super-compliance with these really, really onerous provisions, Hope Springs from Field seeks to undermine that strategy, while informing voters about the new laws and regulations aimed at them.
We are definitely asking for help. If you are able to donate to our efforts to fight against Issue 1, identify abortion rights supporters, protect our voters, especially in minority communities, expand the electorate, please help:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hope4ohio
You can follow that link for our mailing address, as well. Thank you for your support. This work depends upon you!