What I did in Pennsylvania.

[rivka]

I spent twelve hours yesterday driving to Harrisburg PA, getting out the vote for Obama, and driving home. It was a much better use of those twelve hours than the fretting which I would have inevitably done if I'd had time.

My staging location was an SEIU (service employees' union) headquarters. When I walked in at a little after 9am, they were very glad to see me because most of their local volunteers were held up waiting in line to vote. They sent me out to canvass a nearby housing development. I was given a clipboard with directions, a map, a brief script, and the names, addresses, and basic demographics (age/sex/party ID) of 143 voters who had all been previously identified as Obama supporters. My job was to make sure they got to the polls and had all the information they needed to vote (polling place location, hours, ID requirements for first time voters, etc.).

If they weren't home, I left a doorhanger flyer. On one side the flyer just said "Vote Obama-Biden, polls are open from 7am to 8pm." The other side had specific information to counter potential vote suppression, including "Don't leave without voting: If you are in line when the polls close stay in line! You have the right to vote" and "You have the right to vote even if you have debts, unpaid bills, parking tickets, or overdue taxes." There was also a sticker with my precinct's polling location.

I knocked on 90 doors and only talked to about 15 live people. When I got a real person, I was supposed to record whether they weren't voting ("if they say they're not going to vote, talk them into it"), had already voted, or weren't supporting Obama. That's because there were plans for a second canvass later in the day, and all three categories could be skipped on the second go-round. I felt bad about not making it all the way through my packet - but then again, I was alone. I'm pretty sure that people usually canvass in pairs. I could've easily gotten through the whole list if I'd had someone else to do the opposite sides of the streets.

They'd asked me to come back to the office by 12:30, which was a relief because by 12:15 I was very, very tired. I turned in my tallies, ate a quick lunch, and asked for a sitting-down job. By that point, the office had filled up - every time I walked through the conference room for the rest of the day, there were people leaving on canvass or arriving from canvass, and all the phones were occupied. The office breakroom was full of ridiculous amounts of food. (Unfortunately, I didn't feel like I could take advantage of most of it because no one seemed to be keeping an eye on out-of-refrigerator times.)

They had me making phone calls for the rest of the day. Once again, I was calling firm supporters to get out the vote. Apparently they had called "lean Obama" voters in the morning, were making reminder calls to firm supporters in the afternoon, and planned to get to undecided voters if they still had time later in the day. The lists were not great. Lots of disconnected numbers, and at least two McCain voters on my list. I made 200 calls, connecting with a live person on about 1 in 5 and leaving a lot of voicemails that went exactly like this:

"Hi, my name is Rebecca and I'm calling from Barack Obama's Campaign for Change here in Harrisburg. We are expecting a record turnout for both candidates today, and so we really need your vote. The main reason I'm calling is to make sure you have all the information you need to vote. The polls are open until 8pm tonight. If you're in line by 8pm, you do have the right to vote. Your polling location is at the Susquehanna Township Middle School on Wood Street. If you have any questions about how to vote, identification, or anything like that, please visit voteforchange.com or call our office at [number]. Thank you so much."

Especially as the day went on, most of the live people I spoke to had already voted. I was supposed to ask them if they minded telling me who they voted for. Most common response: "Who do you think?!" I got a couple of people who sounded like recent immigrants (heavy accents) who told me nervously that they didn't think they were supposed to tell me who they voted for. (Of course I reassured them that they didn't have to.) A grand total of one person, all day, out of all the door knocking and phone calling, needed a ride to the polls. It was nice to be able to set that up for her. I fielded, and passed on, one complaint about a polling place not giving proper instructions about the voting machines.

I hit just enough pleasant phone calls with people who were excited to tell me about their vote to make the whole thing bearable; really it was all pretty grueling. But it kept me too busy to fret. And maybe it did some good.

Comments

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

oh, excellent! Thank you.