I just got back from an organizing meeting in Charlotte, NC, that was so mobbed it pretty much thwarted all of the advance team's carefully laid plans for getting the crowd organized into teams.
Inside the meeting as things were heating up
I got there pretty early, anticipating that parking in the Elizabeth Ave. area would be a problem. The event was being held in an unused space that had previously been a fancy restaurant. I arrived to find about 50 people already there. I met up with Kossack DJShay (who will probably have better pictures than I do) and she gave me what was apparently the only available Obama yard sign in the Mecklenburg County area (THANKS!)
We watched as the organizers put up signs with numbers on them on the outside walls. No one knew what they were for. Precincts? Not nearly enough numbers.
We estimated that maybe 500 people were in the room, when it started to seem full (I guesstimated 100 people sitting down in chairs, and about 15 people across by 30 people deep in the large room. This was probably conservative.)
The audience is mesmerized by Malcolm Graham
The meeting didn't start. People kept coming, and coming, and coming. It got pretty warm and pretty tightly packed, and we could see that there were plenty of people still outside the doors and on the street. Finally we were welcomed by State Sen. Malcolm Graham, who gave us a rousing welcome and told us we could make a world-changing difference with the power of our vote (he's pretty good at working a crowd). Then the organizers introduced themselves and laid out the plan.
- From now to April 11, we register voters like our lives depended on it. After April 11, no one who is not already registered as a Democrat, Independent, or Unaffiliated, will be able to vote.
- From April 17 to May 3, we hit the streets and drag people in for one-stop voting. Anyone can register at an early voting location and must vote that same day.
- On May 6, we have the election.
They had divided the city up into 10 areas and wanted to identify a team leader for each area, plus students for college and high school campuses. The only problem was that the crowd was so large that there was no way all the people in the room could see the map and sort themselves into areas to discuss strategy, as planned. And the lead organizer was mobbed by probably ten times as many volunteer team leaders as he actually expected.
I waited in line to try to figure out from the map which of the team areas I should end up in. A gentleman behind me was irritated that there seemed to be no number assigned to the entire southeast quadrant of Charlotte, and seized the initiative to declare himself in charge. The lead organizer disappeared from the press of people waiting for him and went outside, leading us all to wonder where we should go next.
Milling around outside
Half the crowd had been shunted outside to organize in the parking lot. It was pandemonium. Everyone was excited to volunteer and grabbing stacks of signup sheets. People were organizing and taking names from whoever happened to be standing next to them. I filled out a form, wrote on it what my area and precinct are, and figured I'd wait for the dust to settle and see whether someone who grabbed the area leader job would call me. If not, I'll go over to HQ this weekend and get some voter registration forms and start freelancing.
Outside after the meeting, everyone was still getting organized
I'm sure that within 24 hours, all of the pandemonium will be sorted out and we'll be organized in a way that works. Until then, just count on North Carolina. We're so enthusiastic and there are so many of us that we completely overwhelmed the campaign's well-planned meeting strategy. Go us!