Last week, I spent four days (campaign hours, which I suppose translates into all day) working on Voter Identification, Motivation and Mobilization at Albany State College in preparation for the Georgia Senate Runoffs.
Albany State College is the largest Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Georgia, located in the old Black Belt of Georgia in the southwest corner of the state (very close to Alabama). For the Doug Jones special election, I had worked with local civil rights organizations in the Black Belt there and from that (and my family's historical connection to Bethune-Cookman College), as well as my work on the Obama campaigns, I knew of the importance that the HBCUs (and Divine Nines) had in increasing voter turnout.
from the NYTimes
You can see the importance of Albany State College in the graphic depiction of voter turnout of Dougherty County from the NYTimes Upshot, Detailed Turnout Data Shows How Georgia Turned Blue, on Georgia's Biden results. It is the dark blue area of the county. Doughterty has the largest number of voters in Georgia's Black Belt, and it is key to victory in the 2021 Senate Runoffs. Albany State College is the key to turning out vast numbers in Dougherty County.
Hope Springs from Field PAC is focused on the ground, face to face conversations that have proven effective in turning out voters year in and year out. What I learned last week is that this is still true, even though people are legitimately concerned about the Coronavirus Pandemic.
But they were also responding to the message of Hope that victory in Georgia will make Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris a much more influential Vice-President and much more relevant voice in the Biden Administration. One of the students I talked to called it, “Make Kamala Great!”
In the last Georgia runoff election, turnout in Dougherty County dipped more than half, and in the Albany State College precinct, it fell even more. Part of the reason that I spent my week on Albany State College is that their finals begin on Monday, and it was almost the last opportunity to reach the students their before Winter break.
Hope Springs from Field PAC wants to send an experienced campaign field organizer to each of the 7 HBCUs in Georgia, to duplicate the outreach I made at Albany State College last week. The Biden and the Senate campaigns around Georgia have shed their field organizers and voter contact specialists and employing them in Georgia will greatly enhance our chances of success.
Obviously, we need your help. To send field organizers to Georgia costs between $12-15k per organizer (salary, taxes, benefits & expenses).
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hope-springs-hbcu
Hope Springs from Field PAC was started by former Obama Alums because field organizing was the cornerstone of our success, especially in Iowa. Face to face interactions, even masked and socially distanced, are critical. They are so critical that the RNC sent 600 experienced campaign staffers to Georgia at the request of Mitch McConnell. Karl Rove is leading the fund-raising.
I can think of no better way to honor John Lewis than to mobilize voters in and around the HBCUs. Lewis first made his mark with the Nashville Student Movement at a HBCU (Kamala Harris also attended a HBCU). Please support this effort to increase voter turnout at Albany State and the other HBCUs in Georgia. Electing Rev. Warnock and youthful Jon Ossoff seems like a fitting tribute to Lewis’ leadership in the history of our country.
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hope-springs-hbcu