Organizing for America | Piece of Mine 2: Getting out the Obama Vote

Getting out the Obama Vote

By E. Musing - Nov 28th, 2008 at 7:40 am EST

Also listed in: NC Women for Obama | Women for Obama | Obama Prayer Team

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Tags: canvassing, getting out the vote, GOTV, voter registration

One (1) New Voter Registered
September 21 - K&W Cafeteria (Middle America Dining Haven)-Chapel Hill, NC.

Sitting outside of the K&W cafeteria I greeted diners as they entered and exited. Though I was wearing nothing to indicate my support for Barack Obama, most people assumed I was an Obama supporter. The black Obama supporters gave me a thumbs up and "atta girl" for doing the registration. The white Obama supporters would mention something about hoping that Barack wins. Those who I assumed to be McCainiacs and Palinistas would either give me a rude look, avoid eye contact, roll their eyes or just ignore me. But, in this politically aware community, nearly everyone said they had already registered. I only registered one person, a black female who is a Freshman at NCCU and will vote for the very first time. Two convicted felons stopped by and politely told me they could not vote because "they had a record". Both were young black men clearly sorry that they will miss out on the historic event. I checked to see if they were eligible by asking about parole and probation status explaining that once they had served their time and finished these things they could vote. They were not aware that their voting privileges would be restored and excited to learn this, but unfortunately were still on probation. I urged them to stay out of trouble so they could vote in future elections.

Two (2) Voters Registered
September 28, 2008 - Knock for Barack in rural Durham, NC w ith Daphne and the kids

Boy was it shocking to learn that just a couple of miles away from our house was true rural life...we were deep in the country in no time. We took my sons along who wanted to sell boy scout popcorn. They looked great in their uniforms and we thought they would be a good ice breaker so we let them do their popcorn pitch first at each house. When they were done with their pitch, they returned to the car and Daphne and I completed our canvassing/registration visit. Daphne and I felt very "official" as we were on assignment from the Orange County Democratic Party office, had "official" questions, "official" forms and were taking "official" notes that would be used by the campaign to determine how well Barack was doing and to better target voters

The first person we met was kind to the kids, but a little hostile to us. She didn't want to talk politics at all, she wanted no literature, no conversation, didn't want the office calling her any more...nothing. We asked our questions and thought we could quickly be on our way, but when we got to the issue of "healthcare" she unloaded...healthcare was clearly her hot button issue. Turns out she had been in a fight for health insurance trying to buy it on her own when she was unemployed. She was quoted a premium exceeding $3,000 per month! Her husband was luckily a veteran who was being successfully serviced through the VA, but when she was laid off she no longer had employer funded health benefits and found herself in a world of hurt. After first dismissing us, she spent at least 30 minutes telling us all about her fights with the insurance company, multiple quotes that kept getting higher and much more about the situation before she would let us leave. In the end we could tell she was pleased that we took the time to listen as she was much warmer when we departed. We hope she votes for Barack.

The next interesting person was a 72 year old caucasion female living in a trailer park who had not voted in years. She was welcoming and unregistered. She wants Barack to win. We registered her and she even bought a small amount of popcorn from the boys. She will need a ride to the polls. It was really nice meeting her.

Several other people in this trailer park did not answer their doors. We then went to another trailer park out in this rural area and found that people not answering their doors was a trailer park trend. We could see that many were at home. We got an answer at the unit in the trailer park. There was a big American pick-up truck parked out front. The boys went first and a man answered the door. Daphne and I could not see him, but the boys looked at him shocked as they asked if he wanted to buy popcorn. He said no and started to close the door. Daphne and I were behind the door, which was windowless and could not see him. Based on the expression on the boys' faces we decided not to ask this person about their voter registration or support for Barack. When the door closed the boys told us that the man was wearing only his underwear.

We registered one other voter. She was a Republican who had not voted in years. Her house was on the list because her husband and daughter were registered Democrats. She ordered popcorn, but I don't think she'll vote for Barack. In fact she said that she probably wouldn't vote at all...at least we did our part and registered her taking away a convenient excuse.

At the end of 15 houses we had registered 2 voters. 45 volunteers had come out this day to canvass in Orange and Durham County --a great turnout. Our coordinator shared a great story about Vance County where a team struck gold finding a pocket of over 100 unregistered democrats!

Two (2) Voters Registered One (1)Hostile Confrontation
October 4, 2008 - Knock for Barack with Daphne in Goldsboro, NC

Daphne and I had planned to canvass in Orange County again, but our friend Holly told us that the Durham Obama office was heading down to Eastern NC to try and register a good portion of approximately 500,000 blacks and many others in NC who were not registered. So, Daphne and I decided to join them and took off for Goldsboro. For the journey, Daphne prepared a delicious lunch of homemade meat patties, sandwiches, chocolate chip cookies and bottled water...yummy. (Cooking is one of the amazing talents she has.)

We registered our first voter before we even got to the Obama office. A middle aged black man was walking down the sidewalk and when we asked if he was registered to vote he eagerly came forth to sign up. The Obama Goldsboro headquarters was bustling with activity and high energy. They were clearly pleasantly overwhelmed with the outpouring of support that came from the Durham office. After some confusion, we got our assignments and packet of information and headed out the door. The first houses we stopped at indicated that we were either part of a "shock and awe" canvassing plan to attack Goldsboro with overwhelming force, or part of a confused territory assignment process as they had been visited by Obama canvassers just an hour or so before us. But, like good troopers, we soldiered on. At our third or fourth stop we encountered a hostile Palinista. First we visited his wife who was next door taking care of her mother. Our sheet said they were registered Democrats that we should "convince".

Mrs. "Palinista" was very gracious as she explained that whe was still undecided, but leaning towards McCain and was sure that her elderly mother was too. She said that her husband was also likely going to support McCain, but pointed him out to us if we wanted to talk to him. Mr. "Palinista" and his elderly mother were outside in the street in front of the house next door talking. We approached them and introduced ourselves. Immediately Mr "Palinista" attacked. He yelled that he would in no way vote for Obama and that he had already had us come by and at this moment we were harassing him and he would be calling the cops on us if we did not leave. He stood tall and stuck out his chest. His mother nodded as he yelled. My friend Daphne was ready to thank him and leave, but I wanted to understand why he was so hostile to us. I started by asking, "Sir are you a Christian?". When he said yes. I told him that I was too and asked if we could speak about this for a few minutes as Christians. He calmed and said; "sure." At this point we had a civil conversation where he revealed that he did not think Barack was a strong supporter of veterans and veteran rights. He was a Vietnam vet with a ad and grandfather had also been vets. His mother then chimed in to say that Obama would take away the veteran's pension that she was receiving from her dead husband if he were elected. Mr. Palinista agreed. I was able to share my cousin's Vietnam vet story and he could relate to it and softened, acknowledging that I had some understanding of how tough it was to come back to rejection and ridicule after serving and sacrificing for God and country. He then said that he had seen on TV where Barack refuled to put his hand on the bible take the oath of office. He had a real problem with someone wanting to be president who says he's a Christian, but won't swear on the bible. I told him I'd not heard that and doubted that it was trud. He sahred his feelings that Barack would not be protecting Israel and discussed the biblical significance of Israel and the Middle East. At one point Daphne asked if he thought Barack Obama was the anti-Christ and he said "No that is ridiculous" and then added that according to the bible the anti-Christ will be coming from the east...most likely the Middle East. Mr. Palinista's mother nodded the entire time.

During this conversation I was able to explain Barack's Christianity, position on veterans, Israel, healthcare and more. Finally, I asked Mr. Palinista why he was supporting McCain and pointed out that not all Vietnam vets supported McCain referencing the group Viet Nam Vets Against McCain. H said he didn't like McCain either and was voting for Palin because he felt she was the only one on the two tickets who would actually get something done in Washington. I asked if he ever voted for a Democrat and he admitted that he had not voted for a Democrat in recent years, so I asked why he was still a registered Democrat and suggested that he might want to change his party affiliation and offered to re-register him as a Republican. He explained that he will always be a registered Democrat as it is a family tradition where all through the generations his family members are Democrats and will remain so. I suggested that as Christians we should pray over the outcome of the election and thanked him for his time. We shook hands and he was a whole lot calmer when we left. My friend Daphne was in shock at his change in behavior. Proof that God changes things. We were off to the next street.

On the next street we again encountered people who had already been visited by Obama canvassers. The encounters were interesting underscoring just how private peoples homes are. We had no more introductions to men in underwear, but at one house a male Obama supporter answered and appeared to be in the midst removing heavy facial make-up including eyeshadow, liner and mascara. At another house a white McCain supporting female would only answer our questions through a crack in the door.

Our second voter registration came from an older black female. She was very friendly and acknowledged that she had not voted in years. She was registered as an independent and seemed to be very distrustful of "the system" having too much information about her. (She reminded me of my mother who, when we were growing up in the 60s and 70s, was afraid of people, particular government, knowing too much about her and her preferences for fear that she would be persecuted or targeted by the Klan or other groups for her position on the issues or support of a particular candidate.) This charming woman loved Barack Obama and really wanted him to win, but did not want to go to the polls to vote. She was very lively, independent and a self-proclaimed Christian. She thought that her children voting would be good enough. We conversed about how even one vote can make a difference as we expected the election to be close in NC and I asked her to pray about her decision before deciding not to vote. Daphne and I decided tell her about early voting, where few people would be and she would not have to fight crowds. I then started to complete the voter registration form for her and told her that we would give it to her to mail in. She watched as I completed the form from information obtained from the Democratic party office. I asked her if it was correct as I went along. She was completely shocked that we had so much information about her, including her Independent status. It was at this point that I saw an opening and explained that this information was readily available and not voting would not change that or keep it "secret". I then explained that all we needed was her driver's license to complete her registration and then I could turn in the form for her, she would not have to worry about mailing it in and could go vote any time she wanted, including early. For some reason this persuaded her and she eagerly got her driver's license and we completed the voter registration form.

We finished up our canvassing encountering more houses where people had already been registered by canvassers and returned to the Goldsboro Obama Office. When we got there we looked through all the materials and realized why we had so much overlap...it was not a shock and awe take Goldsboro by overwhelming force strategy afterall. It turns out that the Durham office had prepared packets of canvassing forms for their volunteers and had divided up Goldsboro differently from how the Obama Campaign office had, so our Goldsboro Office territory assignment overlapped some parts of the Durham territory assigned to other canvassers.

Too Many GOTV Volunteers for a Rainy Day
November 4, 2008 Daphne,the boys and me

The big historical day was here. A day to have my sons not just witness history, but participate in making history. It was time to make the last big push to get Barack Obama elected. But, it was raining...not just raining it was pouring and I was fasting and praying which meant I would be irritable and hungry and stressed. Yet, we had a plan and now was not the time to change course we had to get Barack elected. So, Joe and I got the boys up at 4:45 in the morning to go to Sunrise Service at Church...start the day with God, with prayer, with celebration. After church we went back home to recuperate, watch CNN and MSNBC before heading out at Get Out The Vote (GOTV) in Orange County.

Khari, Iyin and I picked up Daphne and we arrived at the Orange County location to receive our assignment only to have a conversation like this... " It seems that everyone has either voted or we have enough volunteers." Great so off to Durham? "Not so fast...Durham also has enough or too many volunteers. Great news! What about Roxboro aren't they usually short staffed? Shouldn't we just go there. "Well....no. You see, all the overflow from Durham and Orange County went to Roxboro so they really don't need more volunteers either" Hmmmm...well where can we go that is within a reasonable driving distance? "We're sending everyone to Vance County...about an hour North." Alright crew let's get our umbrellas together and get going to Henderson.

We drove an hour through pouring rain and arrived at the Vance County Obama office in Henderson, NC, along with plenty of other rain soaked volunteers from Durham and Orange counties, eager to get drenched as we get out the vote. My 11 and 13 year old are not so excited about this little venture, but, they are intrigued by all the other people who were just as crazey as their mom and Ms. Daphne. They were also fascinated by all of the door hangers and other cool literature we have to take with us. We got our assigned territory and instructions for how to get people a ride to the polls and headed out to the rural. The first two houses we stopped found no one home, or not answering the door. The next place we stopped at was some sort of school which had a ton of voters listed...we spoke to the administrator to learn that the Obama office had pick ed up all the voters and they had voted. (We speculated that this was the place where they found the 100 unregistered Democrats on September, 28th.) We had trouble finding a few houses and stopped by the fire station where people are voting to ask for directions. Daphne got out and spoke to a middle aged black man hanging out in the rain to direct voters. Turns out he knew just about everyone in the community by name, but not address, and directed us where we needed to go. A car was leaving the house as we arrived. The house was in extreme disrepair and there were at least 10 cats roaming around. I got out of the car and tramped through the wet to the protective porch awning, without an umbrella, for a quick chat. A white boy of about 14 years old answers the door. He informed me that he was babysitting and that the registered voters had just left to go vote. I then ran over to the house next to his. A black boy of about 11 or 12 yearas answered that door when I said that I am from the Obama office. He was home alone and his parents were working some weird shift. He expected that they would be home any minute and that they would vote when they got home. I left him with the cool door hangers and Vote for Change slate of Democratic candidates. We got lost again and returned to the fire station. Daphne braved the rain to get info. We talked to Mr. Knowlegeable again and learn that the people we are looking for are his relatives and have already voted. Cool. We turn in our list at Obama Headquarters and arrived back in Chapel Hill by 5:15 pm. The boys and I headed to the pediatrician so Khari could get his flu mist (Iyin already had his).

Then we waited...

E. Musing

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