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Deep Organizing in Sen Swing States: Answers about Canvassing in AZ, FL, GA, NV, NC, OH, PA & WI [1]
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Date: 2022-08-01
Since March 5 of this year (and following our Summer and Fall canvassing last year), Hope Springs from Field PAC has been knocking on doors (as weather and primaries permitted) in Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin — all critical states that will determine the Senate majority for the next two years. One of the most common questions I hear/see is some variation of ‘how are you organized?’ Or comments about how well organized these canvasses have been. Or even, how did you think of this?
In this diary I am going to attempt to answer some of these.
First of all, it is important to note that Hope Springs from Field was initially conceived of as a “pop-up” political action committee, a one-off. One and Done in Georgia was what *I* agreed to. So when I get asked, “where’s the website?” I am stumped because who has had the time? (We have registered a web url but no site.) It’s on the list. It’s a long list. But since this has been a grassroots volunteer operation (even as we have relied on former Obama staff for leadership), the website remains on the list until someone volunteers their time to design one.
We continued on past the the Georgia Senate Runoffs for a couple of reasons. Most importantly, we won! And not only did we win, but in the areas of Georgia where we organized (primarily southwest Georgia), we increased turnout beyond all expectations. At least 5% in some counties, and as much as 11% in others. After Georgia, we got involved in Congressional Special Elections. Because of the smaller than expected majority in Congress, every special election needed to be contested. But perhaps the most important reason the PAC lived beyond it’s expected lifespan was the students we had mobilized in Albany State and Ft. Valley State wanted to continue on. They took up the mantle of leadership (and became field organizers) to insure that Rev Warnock was re-elected in the face of mounting speculation that he would be One and Done. Surprisingly, they haven’t burned out (yet).
Secondly, it is equally important to note that we have recruited volunteers to canvass in these 8 Senate Swing States (9, if you include last year’s canvasses in Texas) by relying on our organizers’ lists they kept from when they were field organizers for the Obama or Hillary campaigns. But relying on experienced volunteers connected to experienced organizers has definitely had an impact. Even though we aren’t averaging as high a number of doors per volunteer that I expected, it’s still pretty high. And I know that more than a few of those volunteers will go knock for their local operations and ask for multiple lists before they walk out the door because they cut the turf too small (ie, 45 doors a shift). Our walk lists can include up to ~85 doors, and average in the upper 70s. But good canvassers can easily do 30 doors an hour — even with the amount of material we ask them to cover.
We train volunteers to walk with intent. In between doors, their observations are just as important. We ask canvassers to “predict” whether or not there is anyone home when they approach a door in order to determine how long they wait at the door for an answer. This is definitely the biggest time saver. We aren’t wasting volunteers’ time and they do appreciate it. Every volunteer I have talked to wants to talk to as many voters as possible and wasting time at doors that don’t answer is a buzzkill.
We arm volunteers with Observation Forms, and ask they make observational notes on them about voters they talk to, homes of voters they didn’t talk to, even homes not on our lists. The presence of children is our most common observation, and one reason this is important is that children is one of those triggers that turn young people into habitual voters.
We also supply our volunteers with paper maps of their route, even if they are using miniVAN (their smart phones) and we train them how to map out their route in advance.
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 also arm volunteers with Q(uestion)-slips so that any questions or requests they get at the door doesn’t require a response. We actually ask they not try to provide one. Instead, we ask volunteers to write it down and allow the candidate or campaign to provide one. Q-slips not only make it easier for volunteers who are canvassing, but it also allows the voter to receive a (much) more authoritative response from the campaign (hopefully) or responsible elected official. Even if the volunteer knows the answer to the question, we ask that they record the voter’s question for this purpose. Volunteers have told us that this takes a little discipline to get used to because many of our volunteers are fairly knowledgeable about the kinds of policy questions they hear at the door. But we know that voters tend to find authoritative responses from campaigns or elected officials more believable than that from someone they don’t know who knocked on their door.
Sometimes a question is really a request for Public Services. In such cases, we don’t record that on a Q-slip but ask voters to fill out what we call a Constituent Service Request Form.
Here’s why this is important. Neighbors gripe about “they ought to do something” about things like downed stop signs all the time — but not that many complain to the right office. And some towns and cities, in eras of tighter budgets, even have quotas for how many complaints they have to receive in order to consider the matter. It doesn’t hurt to complain at just the right time in the budget cycle.
But voters don’t care about all that. They care about something like a downed stop sign that “allows” cars to not stop at an intersection where children play or cross the street. That kind of thing.
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.
All three of these devices (Constituent Service Requests, Q-Slips and Observation Forms) were used in southeastern Iowa by the 2007 Obama campaign to differentiate our efforts from the (then) dominate Clinton campaign. And we assumed that these techniques would survive the Obama era because they worked. They helped our candidate and they helped build up the Democratic party. Especially by 2012, when the use of VAN was normalized, we were creating a voter database so extensive that we didn’t think Republicans would ever catch up.
And, now, we do need to catch up, to reinvigorate our field efforts, reinforce our connection with voters, and demonstrate that not only are Democrats the party of government but the party that can deliver public services to the electorate.
Hope Springs from Field PAC knocks on doors in eight Senate Swing States every weekend with Constituent Service Requests, Q-Slips and Observation Forms in swingy areas like suburbs and oft-neglected inner cities. We use a generic CSR, because we are knocking on doors in Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin, which we will pass along to the specific, responsible elected official responsible for the request. We hope, of course, that it will be a Democrat, and — if it is — we advise the elected official to reach out to the voter who made the request and take credit for addressing it and when it is resolved.
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 donate:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/2022senateswing
Thank you for your support. This work depends on you!
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