This weekend, Hope Springs from Field PAC organized Voter Suppression mitigation canvasses in four states where Republicans are seeking to suppress Democrats and like-minded voters from participating in 2022. We expect to continue these efforts through Labor Day, 2022.
Democrats need an all-in, all-encompassing approach in dealing with Republican attempts to suppress the vote over the next two cycles. Attorney General Garland has promised to examine the new voting laws, and take them to court, if they violate federal laws. Marc Elias is pursuing overturning these laws in the courts, on broader grounds. And Congress tries to negate them with HR1. And we support those actions. But those efforts are largely unknown by the voters they affect. These voters are much more likely to be aware of state efforts to affect their ability to vote.
Hope Springs from Field PAC has been involved in the efforts to Hack the Vote(r Suppression Laws), responding to these new laws and expanded practices by thinking how to mitigate them, get around them and make sure we have "super compliance" with them in 2022, helping our voters meet the requirements and get out and vote. We are taking those efforts to the doors of the communities most effected (the intended targets) of these new voter suppression laws. Some of our actions are very simple (asking voters if they are registered at their current address instead of just asking if they are registered to vote) and some are more complex (such as helping voters in these communities meet the ID requirements). So we are returning to the basics old school: repeated contacts, repeated efforts to remind them of the protocols, meeting them were they are.
We fielded canvasses in four states on Saturday (and, to a lesser extent, Sunday): Texas, Florida, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Each state has different current laws, and different laws that will impact 2022 coming down the pike. So while the local approach is different, the grand strategy is still the same. Make up for our absence in the 2020 ground game. Show the Dem flag (Democrats care!). Expose voters to the fact that Republicans are trying to keep them from voting. Demonstrate that Democrats want to help them vote, in the fashion they feel most comfortable — and to help them make their communities better. Ensure our voters that we are actively working to ensure their right to vote, and to protect their vote afterward.
In Texas, we walked three minority majority precincts in Houston, largely African-American, where there had been repeated reports that Republicans were trying to intimidate, challenge or suppress their right to vote. Most of our pre-canvass training was devoted to demonstrating mobile printing.
Many states already require a copy of identification for VBM ballots from first time voters, but recent efforts attempt to expand that universe in ways that affect minority voters far more than the Republican base. Canvassing with mobile printers allow us to take away that attempt to suppress absentee voting by minority communities by allowing voters to scan and print a copy of the necessary identification for free. This is what we mean when we talk about "super-compliance." Attempts to make VBM more onerous are negated by making the means for compliance available during canvassing.
Obviously, we cannot do this alone. All too often, efforts to mitigate voter suppression are done in the last month before the general election, generally by campaigns. But it doesn’t have to be. As Republicans have taken their efforts to shape the electorate into the outset of election cycles, so should we. And we need your help to make voter suppression mitigation and super-compliance a year(s) round activity, as well. If you support field/grassroots organizing, we would certainly appreciate your support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hackthevote
Hope Springs from Field PAC was started by former Obama Field Organizers because field was the cornerstone of our success. The approach we adopted was focused on listening, on connecting voters and their story to the candidate. 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. In areas like Texas, it is even more crucial, since many Democratic voters feel isolated, even surrounded, and are often unaware of the fact that their neighbors and colleagues are Democrats, too!
Mobile printers will allow voters to bring their acceptably identification to the car, scan the ID themselves and take the copy back to their home for inclusion with their absentee ballot. They will do the scanning and printer so that they know that their "numbers" are secure. It will also strengthen their confidence in the VBM process, if they choose to take that route.
But, as the commercials say, there's more! We are building confidence among Democratic voters that their vote and the electoral process is more secure from their perspective. Many VBM ballots didn’t count in 2020 because voters didn’t always follow instructions meticulously. Building confidence starts by reminding voters first that federal law requires that people be registered to vote at their current address. Making voting easier requires that we make sure the ballots from Democrats and like-thinking Independents counts.
This is especially important in Houston because Texas is the state where Republicans first starting matching voter addresses (of voters they suspected are not conservative Republicans) with Change of Address data. And they have used that data to challenge voters' right to vote in Harris County. In demonstrating mobile printing capabilities, we are talking to local activists about not only our efforts to mitigate, out-think and super-comply with Republican voter suppression efforts, but to challenge those activists to think of other ways to do so.
Super-compliance grew straight out of the 2008 Obama campaign's efforts to register and mobilize college students in the Iowa caucuses. Without question, it was easier back then. They did not require the same kind of resources, but that is true of many things. The setup we demonstrated on Saturday costs a little under $90 (shipping being free to prime members). Outfitting future canvasses in all the precincts being specifically targeted by Republicans will costs thousands, if not tens of thousands.
Saturday was the beginning of our efforts to fight back Republican voter suppression efforts on the ground, in the areas where they seek to intimidate, deny and otherwise suppress Democratic voters from casting their ballot in 2022. One of the reasons we went through the use of mobile printers-scanners in training on Saturday was because we want to impress upon Democratic activists that there are things we can do to mitigate GOP efforts to suppress Democratic voters. We must continue to expand the electorate. We must ensure that they have the right to vote and be counted, even under the worst of conditions (and Texas is proud of being “the worst). We have to continue to motivate and mobilize our supporters.
This does not mean we have abandoned our Special Elections Task Force. But there are no special elections in the near future that effect our Democratic majorities in Congress. And as we await the results of re-districting, we can continue outreach to voters who are mostly likely effected by Republican voter suppression efforts.
So we have homework to do! Not only do we need to make up for the lack of outreach on the ground from 2020, especially with regards to registering voters and re-registering voters who have moved, but we also need to begin voter protection efforts (much) earlier to help those who are most likely effected by the Republican voter suppression laws. Harris County was specifically targeted in the Texas state legislature. It is very likely that elections administrators in Houston and Harris County will be much more cautious, given pending legislation aimed squarely in their direction. We have to take some of the heat off of them.
If you would like to support our efforts to protect Democratic voters, especially in minority communities, please do:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hackthevote