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Reaching Out in Ohio: Knocking on Doors Where We Need to Win [1]
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Date: 2022-07-13
Knocking on Doors, Voter Registration & Election Protection are the key focus of Hope Springs from Field PAC
We are late in the game in Ohio. We didn’t start knocking on doors in Ohio until June and we have been far more Congressional District focused than elsewhere. Even though our aim is to elect Democrats to the Senate, Ohio’s remap offered a roadmap to organizing, despite our purpose. It was like a blinking sign that said, start here first. So even though we are knocking to mobilize for the Senate, we are canvassing in Ohio’s northwest Erie/Michigan border (Ohio’s 9th (Marcy Kaptur, inc)) and the grey swing districts, OH-01 (R, Steve Chabot, inc; D: Greg Landsman) which has a partisan lean of +3D and the Open seat, OH-13 (D: Emilia Sykes) outside of Cleveland.
152 volunteers came out to knock on doors with Hope Springs from Field PAC last Saturday in Lucas, Wood, Erie, Portage and Summit counties, as well as the Cincinnati suburbs, for our sixth canvass in Ohio.
We asked voters who opened their doors if they were registered to vote at their current address and if they have the necessary identification to cast a vote. We remind voters that they have to be registered at their current address to conform with HAVA *and* having their current address in the Poll Book allows them more options for identification purposes.
Our major focus is the Issues Survey. Using the Issues Survey as the means for directing conversation at the door makes it easier for volunteers to engage voters. Normally, around 65% of the voters we talk to at their doors answer some or all of these questions. On Saturday, we had 521 voters respond. We ask voters about what issue they think is the most urgent facing America right now. Concerns about the Economy was the top Issue mentioned by voters we talked to on Saturday. Health Care Costs or Insurance Premiums was second, mostly over concern that premiums will jump significantly next year. Gun Violence was the third most mentioned issue. We also heard a lot additional comments about Reproductive Rights and Gun Violence in the “Anything to add” or message to Congress query.
We knock on the doors of Democratic and Independent voters, which means we aren’t seeing responses from anyone (yet) who identifies as Republican. 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. By our work and our presence we are trying to convey that Democrats care and we listen.
But the main focus in our canvassing right now is the Issues Survey, asking voters for their input and concerns. We find that most voters who aren’t in a hurry or in the middle of something are willing to answer at least a couple of these questions, especially their top issue or concern and their views of President Biden. 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.
Collecting data about the Issues that voters actually think and talk about, though, is extraordinarily useful for Democratic campaigns, and the data we collect will be available to all Democrats who use VAN after the primaries. This may be even more important than ever before.
Support (measured as job approval) for President Biden rose to 50% from the voters we talked to on Saturday. Disapproval was at 15%. Approval for Tim Ryan was 71% this week. Approval for Governor DeWine dropped to 38%.
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 ask people who open their doors about local concerns, and specifically whether they need services delivered to their neighborhood. This week, we collected 18 CSRs in Ohio. 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. Comments from Observation Forms are entered into VAN, as well.
We registered (or corrected Voter Addresses, aka re-registered) 37 voters last Saturday.
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 and election protection, please help:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/2022senateswing
Thank you for your support. This work depends on you!
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