I've just received the nth message in several days from the Organizing For America mailing list, urging me to call prospective voters using the DNC's virtual phone-bank tool.
I'd totally love to do that, I really would. But aside from my social phobia, I know I would probably just be hung up on anyway.
First, a bit of background: I signed up for the mailing list in the first place for completely non-volunteering-related reasons. This was back during the Obama campaign, when I was actually wanting to read news on what the campaign was up to, including their selection of a running mate. And once the campaign ended, the list continued to be used for things related to the new presidency.
But this year? Things changed a bit. What was once mostly an informational list with occasional fund-raising drives turned into a barrage of messages suggesting readers should use some of their free time to volunteer. A friend receiving text messages from the campaign reports that those messages underwent a similar change.
And the way they'd most prefer that we volunteer? Phone calls to prospective voters.
This may very well be an easy thing for some recipients to do-- but that's not the case for everyone, myself included.
First thing-- I can't hear well on the phone, and constantly asking people to repeat themselves probably wouldn't be very helpful in getting out the vote. Granted, there is the relay service, but knowing how many times I've called businesses to be told "sorry, we don't accept that sort of call," I really doubt I'd make much influence on voters that way. More recently, I've discovered CapTel, which is like relay but more transparent (while reading what the other person says, you can actually speak your part rather than typing something to be read by the operator), but even it's not perfect; there are often awkward pauses while I wait for the transcription to catch up to decipher those words that were unintelligible.
But that's only half the issue. The other half is social anxiety. Even with the ability to see a transcript of what the other person's saying... to be honest, I often just lock up, stammer, or say the wrong things on the phone, none of which are very convincing for a prospective voter. And granted, the campaign gives you a script to follow... but doesn't give much advice on what to do when people deviate drastically from the script. Did I mention that, because my IP address places me firmly in Georgia, that's where the roll of voters I'd be calling comes from-- and they're likely not going to be on my side politically, in a state with a sizable Tea Party contingent?
If I did have all the downtime I wanted-- which I don't, because I'm also trying to take care of other things, like my dissertation-- I could probably make at least a few calls, though they probably wouldn't be the most convincing. But even then, I have privileges that may not be shared by other people receiving Organizing for America's e-mails.
I have the ability to be on the phone and the internet at the same time-- something that's required in order to report the results of the call on their phone-bank system. This, of course, will be significantly more challenging for, say, someone who has only dial-up access, one phone line, and no cell phone service. Or someone whose only internet access is in a library, where it's not exactly easy to make a call on one's cell phone.
I have free long distance via my cell phone and via Google Voice. Not all of the numbers that pop up are in my local calling area, and not everyone will be able to make those calls if all they've got is a land line.
I have enough free time that I could make a few calls if it weren't so anxiety-inducing. Not everyone has that luxury.
And although I do have the typically odd affect of an Aspie, and do have the aforementioned social anxiety issues, I don't have any sort of speech impediment. That's one way to make it so you won't be taken seriously from the get-go, since all you've got to convince people is your voice.
That, of course, is not even getting into the massive privacy issues with the Organizing for America phone-bank tool, as discussed in this Mother Jones article by Stephanie Mencimer. Simply put... not only are you given full access to the phone number of the voter you're calling, but because you're making the call yourself, your caller ID is exposed to the voter. Not the Democrats' caller ID. Your caller ID. As in, the actual person making the call. As if it weren't bad enough for my social phobia as it already was. And of course, the number shown on caller ID can easily be traced back to identify the caller— thus creating a potential physical threat in an increasingly violent election season.
So yes, OFA, I would totally love to volunteer for the campaign. It's just a shame that the options you offer are so limited.