(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Wisconsin GOTV Wrapup: This is How Hope Springs Does Relational Organizing [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-03 Tomorrow is election day in Wisconsin. Hope Springs from Field PAC volunteers have focused on GOTV with those voters with whom we had contact had developed meaningful data in the last election cycle. Hope Springs saw 6,772 volunteers come out and knock on 541,207 doors over the last two summers, have meaningful conversations with 25,830 voters, and register 2,495 voters (including 598 new voters) in Milwaukee, Dane and the WOW counties. From the data developed via voter history, volunteer conversations with, as well as observations of, voters and voter registrations from Hope Springs volunteers and its grassroots partners, as well as everyone targeted through our Post Cards to New Voters Project, we developed a GOTV universe of 371,939 voters in Wisconsin. With that GOTV universe, organizers consulted with our regular volunteers about how they wanted to proceed. We encouraged all volunteers who wanted to canvass in sub-65° weather to work with the Wisconsin Democratic Party, but our volunteers agreed they wanted to text and/or call voters whose doors they had previously knocked on for GOTV. Some (many) did both. But volunteers felt connected to the doors they had previously knocked over the last two summers. So they were comfortable reaching out and saying, basically, “I’m your neighbor; I’ve knocked on your door recently, let’s chat.” Each one of these 371,939 voters received two separate and distinct personalized GOTV messages, based upon volunteer conversations with voters or observations of voters or their household over the last three weeks through texts or phone calls. Less than ten percent were unable to be reach through this method. And whether through texting or phone conversation, we asserted how important tomorrow’s election is for Wisconsin. The volunteers who have expressed an opinion seem to enjoy texting (although not all volunteers can text or all voters for whom we have numbers can receive texts) because some voters did actually reply and even comment about how nice it was to not receive automated replies. And you can’t blame them. These were basically conversations continued away from the door. Out of these 371,939 voters targeted through Hope Springs’ personalized GOTV, 58,381 were not part of the WisDems target universe. Volunteers followed those voters up with two more texts or calls this past weekend. Remember, these were volunteers who had basically already knocked on their doors and had some knowledge of their home, their neighborhood and the election itself. One organizer called this weekend “Canvassers Gone Wild.” Supervolunteers or those who were already canvassing with the coordinated campaign choose to include their targets in their own canvass universe (and i doubt any of them fit neatly into the canvassing lists provided to them by the WisDems). Hope Springs from Field PAC has been knocking on doors since month month in a grassroots-led effort to prepare the Electoral Battleground in what has been called the First and Second Rounds of a traditional Five Round Canvass. We are taking those efforts to the doors of 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/fistfulofsteel Hope Springs from Field PAC understands that 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 — and we didn’t register new voters (while Republicans did). We are returning to the old school basics: repeated contacts, repeated efforts to remind them of protocols, meeting them were they are. Mentoring those who need it (like first time and newly registered voters). Reminding, reminding, reminding, and then chasing down those voters whose ballots need to be (and can be) cured. Not every volunteer liked the way we had sorted voters (by phone number, thinking it would be easier to text a rolling set of similar phone numbers). More than a few wanted their phone lists to resemble their walk lists, because they hoped if they were organized that way they would remember more about individual voters or households. This isn’t really possible since voters determine their own starting point and arrange their walk lists accordingly, but we could certainly provide them with the walk lists how we ran them through VAN. What i found so interesting about that kind of feedback was that we did have more than a few volunteers ask for the lists arranged that way. Blank Observations Sheet But the data they received wasn’t like the walk lists they had used canvassing. Instead, they saw a little voter history, the responses they received to the Issues Questionnaire and the Observations volunteers made with regards to the voter or household. But organizers did hear back from their volunteers about seeing all the data they had collected and at least one volunteer told organizers it made them feel proud about the work they had done in the last cycle. The feedback we got back from our volunteers make us feel really hopeful about tomorrow. Understand, we don’t knock on the doors of Republicans, and when we knock on the doors of mixed households, we ask for specific voters. So we have no idea about the motivations or enthusiasm of a whole class of Wisconsinites. But this kind of Relational Organizing has worked in the past and, of course, that makes up hopeful. It has certainly made our Wisconsin volunteers ready to start knocking on doors when the weather is better! Please join us in this effort to organize early and extend voter contact to an almost year-round degree. Our biggest expenses before getting started at paying for access to VAN and literature. We can’t do this without help. Hope Springs from Field PAC is trying to reinstitute best field practices, such as canvassing with people who look like the voters we are talking to and targeting former voters thrown off the rolls. A lot of these got forgotten because of the Covid restrictions in the last cycle, and we have an entire cycle of campaign staffers who were trained without the benefit of actually getting to do field. That’s why it is so important to start knocking on doors now, and not wait until a month or so before the primaries. We have a lot of make-up work to do. Can you help? If you are able to support our efforts to mobilize Democratic voters, especially in minority communities and swing districts, expand the electorate, and believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation and election protection, please help: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fistfulofsteel Thank you for your support. This work depends on you! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/3/2161800/-Wisconsin-GOTV-Wrapup Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/