I got an email today from the Hillary Clinton campaign promoting Tim Kaine’s appearance at my alma mater, George Mason University, Monday night — it enticed me to attend, gave me the times and specifics. But I won’t be there — and I won’t be there because of what happened on Election Eve 2008.
Many of us — so many — worked our assess off in 2008 here in Virginia. We started early that year — January — with serious, organized efforts to get out there and do the hard work of voter identification. We leveraged successful voter ID into registrations where a likely Obama voter wasn’t registered. We worked them, visited them, registered them, talked to them, talked to them again, talked about having a plan for voting, requested and received signed pledges to vote, and then we turned them out. Classic groundwork, and one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my lifetime.
I did most of my canvass activities in Arlington County and Alexandria City. In those areas, I did primarily lower-income, high density neighborhoods and communities. Most of these were engaged early on in the process, as lower-income areas tended to have a lower voter registration percentage as compared to higher-income areas. We got to know these communities. We got to know many of the voters there. We got to see their excitement as the election approached. We got to listen to them tell us — in detail, proudly — their plan to vote in what was likely to be a very highly attended election almost brought me to tears at times. They believed. They were going to do what it took.
On Election Eve 2008, I was wrapping up in Alexandria VA after one of the most impressive volunteer efforts I’d ever witnessed: Monday night was door-hanger night. We’d done the work of identifying, registering, and contacting voters directly — countless hours of shoe-leather slogging. Monday night was to be the night we put a door-hanger on every single one of our voters’ doors that would have information on their polling location, and numbers to contact if they encountered trouble while trying to vote or if they just needed a ride to the polls or any other assistance. It had the date, the times, everything particularly a new voter would need. Those of us involved in canvassing budgeted the whole night to get those hangers on the doors. We planned to stay with it into the overnight, whatever it took.
And, amazingly, so many people showed up that we were done with the precinct where I was working by 7pm. It was hands-down one of the most beautiful and gratifying things I ever witnessed.
So Obama was coming to Manassass VA that night — it was to be his final rally before election day. His grandmother had just passed away. He was exhausted — WE were exhausted — but many volunteers still planned to go out there and see him in the flesh. I was finishing up at the office, turning in my tallies/contact sheets and whatnot — when the call came to the office. I knew by watching the face of the call’s recipient that something was amiss. When he hung up, he told us this (paraphrased):
Him: You guys know the big apartment community over by King Street Station near Duke Street?
Us: Yeah — lots of new voters registered there.
Him: Well, someone just called because the apartments there have been flyer-d with sheets telling the residents that because of the unprecedented expected turnout and potential overwhelming numbers turning out to vote, they would extend voting and, therefore, these people would be voting on Wednesday November 5th.
Us: [Silence]
Yep. That’s right. Some complete douchebags had gone into this lower-income complex — very high density — many new registrations that year as a result of Democratic efforts — and told these relatively inexperienced voters that because of the anticipated turnout, they would vote on Wednesday. And the projections about unprecedented turnout had been all over the news for weeks by that point.
Because of the Obama rally, there weren’t a ton of volunteers left in the office. But four of us were, and the office manager quickly printed out and copied a flyer of our own to let people know that election day was — and would remain — Tuesday November 4th. Once the copies were printed, off we went.
I saw the bad flyers on the ground in places when we got there. It was infuriating. All I could think was — they think these people are so stupid.
But we did what we do: we got to work. We paired off and started at opposite ends of the complex and started knocking on doors. Where people were home and answered their doors, we were rewarded: they knew this was a ploy. Many of them stopped us to tell us about their specific plans for voting. Mothers with children had decided to get in line in two groups: group one would go at 6:30am, group two would get in line at 7:30am. One person from group two would watch all the children between the mothers, and when group one got through voting, they would go and watch the children and the mother from group two would go and join her group. One resident told us about their plan to accommodate the older people when faced with long lines and nowhere to sit. They were going to bring out chairs for the older people and the teenagers were going to hold their place in line. They were going to bring out water and snacks to offer to people waiting in line. They had a plan because they did, because they knew it was going to matter.
We got to watch the end of Obama’s last rally in downtown Alexandria. I believe it was Jim Moran and VA Democrats who had brought in a big screen in a public area in Old Town Alexandria. I’ve never regretted missing seeming him live — not really — and certainly not in light of what needed to be done that night.
So tomorrow night, my door-hanger shift starts at 6pm. And when I’m done — whenever that is — I’ll see if there’s any last-minute things that need doing. Because this is what we do. This is the hard work of winning an election.
For those of you uncomfortable with direct voter engagement — I feel you. It’s hard to knock on doors and talk to voters, and I’m not going to lie — it’s been unpredictable this election. But tomorrow night — particularly in any contested state — door-hangering is going to be crucial. And you don’t have to knock. You just have to put the right hanger on the right door, and your local organizing office/household is going to have that all ready for you. Grab a friend and go out and help. Outwork these fuckers.