Every Saturday, i try to visit on of the 12 states where Hope Springs from Field PAC [website] volunteers are knocking on doors. There are many reasons for this, but among the reasons are conversations like i had last Saturday in Las Vegas. By the time we finished canvassing, it was already close to 100° and i asked 3 volunteers who had sweated out the experience with me. Why do you come? Even though we started Saturday’s canvass an hour early, we ended with the temperature still above where we want to stop. But these three stuck around and wanted to talk.
We quickly dispensed with the easy answers — this is the most important election in our lifetime, one woman (Cindy) said. We can’t lose Nevada (even though he conceded that seemed possible), another added. All tried and true responses.
“Because we are chasing down Pro-choice voters,” Isabella added.
But there was more to it, because they kept adding reasons. “I feel like I am helping my community.” “You’ve made it easy for us.” “But, yeah, community. This is our community.” What do you mean, i asked. “On lots of levels, but, yeah, this is my community.”
“But, yeah, I think we all really accept the Justice motive.” “Agreed.” “We are out here knocking because we believe in Justice. We know we have a long way to advance.”
Georgia Benediction
None of the people in this group were African-Americans. I can’t be totally sure, but one was Hispanic and the other two were Caucasians. This group (at least last Saturday) didn’t end training with the Georgia benediction but everyone knew about it. Last year, it was a subject of discussion among volunteers about whether to end their trainings with it. But it seems that many of us have made the commitment — the grassroots commitment — to “stay with it until justice is real.”
Then Cindy asked about the polls. She said she was following the polls closely for Nevada, and she wondered what they mean. And we talk a little, but i asked them what they are seeing at the doors. Finding anyone depicted as a Democrat talking (positively) about Trump? No. Come across Trump signage? No. MAGA signs? No. Biden signs? Some.
Now this is Las Vegas, and unions are fairly strong here. So, “Biden has a ‘worm hole’ into people’s homes,” i was told. “We don’t know if people are supporting Biden or supporting their union.” Which i thought was an interesting observation. But what i asked was, does it matter?
To me, these two separate tangents are the same conversation. Are volunteers showing up for Biden or are they committed to “stay with it until justice is real?” Are voters posting Biden signs because they love Biden or love their union? Does it matter?
Hope Springs from Field PAC has been knocking on doors again since March 2nd. We target Democrats and unaffiliated voters with a systematic approach that reminds them not only that Democrats care, but Democrats are determined to deliver the best government possible to all Americans.
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/hopemobilization2024
Hope Springs from Field understands that volunteer to voter personal interactions are critical. Knocking on doors has repeatedly been found to be the most successful tactic to get voters to cast a ballot and that is the goal of what we do.
“But how do we know they will vote for Biden/Rosen?” We don’t. That’s not the point of what we are doing. Swing voters can’t be locked in so early in the campaign. What we are doing, i remind them, is building a favorable “battle space” that gives Biden the best chance to win here. People who commit to Biden in June aren’t Swing Voters, they are the base.
This is why we “walk with so much paper.” And when it is hot, we probably get even more credit for knocking on voter’s doors with our paperwork. Remember, this conversation took place after canvassing. We had sweated, cooled down, sweated some more. Spent time in an air-conditioned vehicle and then knocked on more doors. Rinse and Repeat.
But one of the benefits of using cooling vehicles is that you don’t need to take all the “paperwork” — literature, Issues Survey, Observation forms, Q-slips, Voter Registration forms, Incident Reports & Constituent Service Requests — with them. They have a place to store extra copies, especially of the lit! That can be slippery, unwieldy, especially when your hands start sweating.
We ask drivers to freeze the bottles of water they have in their vehicle but not everyone agrees with that approach. One of the characteristics of a grassroots-driven effort is that not everyone agrees with the “best practices” the group chooses. And some volunteers have mentioned that frozen (it is never frozen when volunteers get it) water sweats and can leave their palms wet. Remember “all that paperwork?”
Now, here’s the thing. Someone is going to think i buried the lede again. But i’ve tried to convey this conversation back as it occurred. At this point, we started to talk about Turning Point Action and the Libre Institute, and Concerned Women of America, the three groups that we had witnessed, or found evidence of, canvassing in the areas where we four had been. Hopefully i will remember everything i learned in this regard.
I have always suggested that, if volunteers are approached by the other side, to be friendly, recognize you are sharing the same experience and try to learn as much as you can without being nosey. Not all organizers talk about that and i think it has a lot to do with their personal experience in the area. I personally like to approach other canvassers i meet, just to ask who they are canvassing for. And that means i can meet up and talk to GOP and conservative group door knockers. My attitude is that, look, let’s just be honest, we are taking back lit we find from the otherside, so let’s just exchange it. But not everyone is curious, and one of the women admitted that she had come across some TPA canvassers (“in a group”) recently and she just kept to “her side of the road.” Everyone is different.
But the male volunteer in this conversation told us about his experience. He had also met up with a TPA canvasser and offered to exchange literature. But he said this solitary canvasser didn’t want to exchange lit for lit, he was asked to exchange his literature for our generic Constituent Service Request form. “I thought it was odd,” he said, and refused. Most people only walk with 3-4 of these, whereas they are usually taking out 75-80 pieces of lit. And, he said, that was the factor in his decision.
Isabella talked about running into Libre Institute canvassers this year in a more predominately Hispanic neighborhood (not on the Northside). They were drumming up interest in one of their driving school clinics, “my Spanish isn’t that good.” But they were friendly, asked her why she was supporting Biden and told her she would like it more “on our side.” We’ve known for awhile that Libre canvassers (and programs) are trying to do the same thing that Hope Springs from Field is, building goodwill and identifying potential supporters before voters really start paying attention (although specifically among the Spanish-speaking electorate).
But running into another group of canvassers is pretty rare. We have different target or walk lists. When we find evidence that we are knocking on the same doors, we always note that because that is the very definitely of a swing voter. Some of the evidence that volunteers bring back to organizers is not actually Saturday evidence but from the weekdays. It is one of the differences between MAGA canvassers and our Hope Springs volunteers: the MAGA canvassers we have encountered have all been paid canvassers. Now there are Democratic orgs that pay canvassers (Fair Fight, for example). That’s just not we do at this time.
Hope Springs has targeted states that have competitive Senate races and/or the Electoral College in 2024, as well as districts that are remapped in ways that offer opportunities or vulnerabilities for Democrats next year (specifically those where a Republican won a Congressional District that voted for Biden in 2022). There is a lot of work to be done!
By starting early, and aiming towards super-compliance with these really, really onerous provisions, Hope Springs from Field seeks to undermine Republican efforts to throw Democrats off the voter rolls, informing voters about the new laws and regulations aimed at them.
2023 Hope Springs expenses
Our biggest expense is the Voter File. But it is also a fixed cost. That won’t change as we raise and spend more money. Printing literature is our second largest cost. Printing and mailing our our Post Cards to New Voters is our third cost and paying the fees for ActBlue is the smallest of our monthly costs.
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 help:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopemobilization2024
If you would rather send a check, you can follow that link for our mailing address at the bottom of the ActBlue page. Thank you for your support. This work depends upon you!