Getting Out The Vote

That's how I've spent my time the past few days; encouraging people to vote Democrat. Has it worked? Well I guess we won't really know that until November 2nd, but we secured victories in the primary elections, in the sense that only one incumbant was defeated. More on that later.

We kicked things off right away when I arrived Monday afternoon, helping a candidate already in the legislature see off a rival. We walked streets in a nice little neighbourhood just outside of Milwaukee, dropping off flyers proclaiming how excellent our candidate was, and why re-election was a good thing. It was great exercise, running up and down the street, negotiating gates and pathways to get up to the house. Now lots of houses in the US have mailboxes at the end of their drive, so you would think it'd make things a lot easier when out distributing literature. Not so; though as a home owner you have to buy your own mailbox, they actually remain property of the state, belonging to the US postal service. Therefore, it is illegal to drop election propaganda into them. And so, we get to play the fun game of finding a place to put the leaflet where it won't fly away- in the screen door, in the door handle, or behind the numbers on the house, being some of my favourite places. Maybe my flyering skills worked- this candidate won 83% of the vote.

After a quick home-cooked Italian meal, we hit the road again, helping another candidate facing a challenge. Instead of walking the streets, this time we trekked around complexes- good places to target the senior population. At this thought, I had images of us heading to old folks style homes, with lots of different rooms in one building... oh how wrong I was. Instead I found myself wandering around dozens of condos, some linked together, others not. And these condos were huge! I wouldn't mind retiring there. Some of these complexes took 3 of us 45 minutes to hit every door.

The flyers for this candidate talked about "an independent track record." Under challenge from the left, this candidate was forced to defend their voting record in the capitol, and show voters in the democratic party that s/he didn't do what s/he was told. As I said earlier, incumbants do not have a given right to stand for election again. In the UK of course, there are no such thing as primaries. Candidates for election are simply chosen by party leaders. Here however, grassroots members choose, and they are not afraid to stand up and run themselves if they don't like what's going on. Democracy in action. At times however, this simply creates a divide in the party, generating animosity between people who supposedly share the same views. This is the case with the Tea Party; tired of Obama's change, and feeling established Republicans aren't doing enough, they have created a right wing faction of candidates to challenge traditional Republicans... and have been successful in some cases. Of course this simply amuses me, for while moderate Republicans may stand a good chance of winning the votes of independents and some disgruntled Democrats, Tea Party candidates are likely to be too extreme for many voters, thus ensuring a Democratic victory. I hope. While Republicans may be shooting themselves in the feet, one could argue that purity of ideology over power is a good thing.

On with the story. Election day dawned clear and bright. With barely a cloud in the sky, this looked promising for voter turnout. Sadly, this was not the case. Because of a closely contested gubernatorial race, lots of challenges to incumbants and various other local factors, turnout was predicted to be record breaking. In actuality, turnout was disappointing, at around 20%. Why was this the case? I think the current political climate is in large part to blame, which I will talk about in another post. But in the area I was campaigning in, I felt that education was a major factor. As I sat outside a really cool diner, built around an old trailer (the kind where you see Obama behind the counter, with a line of avid fans sat on stools stretching out before him), I was talking to a very nice man who was just waiting patiently to shake hands with the candidates. He seemed interested in politics, a lifelong Democrat, who was keen to put up yard signs; he just couldn't afford them. And yet he was unaware that today was the primary, unaware who is Representative was, unaware of the looming elections in November. I found the same was true later in the afternoon, when we were out delivering more flyers and talking to potential voters in a minority neighbourhood. It's easy to argue that these people were simply disinterested in politics, and couldn't be bothered to vote, but when I spoke to them, I found so many to be genuinely interested in what I had to say. When I explained why we were voting, and what we were voting for, most wanted to be involved. It seems to me that more education about the voting system would benefit everyone. Perhaps compulsory voting is the way to go... at least a system like that forces more awareness.

After the diner, where my boss was meeting with the Democratic candidate for Governor, me and the governor's staff followed the two of them as they drove to the next vote grabbing location. Barrett, candidate for governor, was heading on a whirlwind one day tour of the state, so it was a fast stop. So fast in fact, that my boss pulled up outside the cafe, jumped out, and shouted to me to park the car. At least now I know what it's like to be a Valet.

As election day continued, we drove north to help out yet another candidate. This time our service was needed to get a voter to the polls. Off we drove to her house, picked her up, and chauffeured her to and from the polling station. A nice touch by political campaigns to get as many votes as they can. After that, it was back to the streets for one last time, this time hitting up specific houses to ensure that those who said they would vote, had voted. Every vote counts after all. With the deadline approaching, we walked up to front doors, asking people whether they had voted, and who they voted for, if they would tell us. We weren't trying to disturb everyone, we were just trying to encourage you to vote. We'd had a long day, just as you had. So next time an election rolls around, and you have volunteers knocking on your door trying to sway your vote, spare a thought for us. We do it for free, we care about our cause. Be nice, have a chat with us, don't shoo us away.

8pm arrived, polls closed. The waiting begins. We drove to one election party, but they were too busy with organising volunteers and finding out poll numbers to make it like a party. We were waiting for results too, so we heading off to another campaign. Though this promised to be entertaining, the candidate having hired out a yacht club, this wasn't to be the case. This incumbant was defeated by another Democrat, so the mood was rather sombre. Onwards we continued to a final party. This one might have been good, taking place in a bar which had a bucking bull right in the centre, but by the time we arrived, the results had long since rolled in, and the celebrations passed. We ended the night watching more results come in, and discussing the implications, again reminding me of the closing scene of a West Wing episode. Deeper analysis would come tomorrow.

All this excitement and intensity for the primaries... roll on the mid-terms!

Sorry for the epically long post!