(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Kick Off Canvasses in Georgia and North Carolina; Florida Canvassing Continues (Weekly Rep w/ poll) [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: 2023-04-20 2024 Electoral College Map One thing you may not know is that i write about our Early Organizing canvasses when all the data is in. Makes sense, right? But that can mean that we are subject to the vagaries of the mail or volunteers (it doesn’t happen often, but not all volunteers submit their canvassing data on miniVAN on the day they canvass). 2024 Senate Map Last Saturday, Hope Springs from Field PAC volunteers began canvassing (again) in Georgia and North Carolina. We continued canvassing in Florida. All three were chosen not because they had competitive Senate races coming up (only Florida has a Senate election this cycle, and there is a general consensus that Rick Scott is not in danger (although i question that consensus)) but because they are currently considered Swing States in the Electoral College (+/- 5%). Georgia is the state that continues to have the most committed volunteers for this kind of Deep Organizing effort. Even before Election Day for the Senate Runoff, i had volunteers asking when we would begin canvassing this year. Those that have asked before will tell us that the work is important, that they really enjoy learning what motivates their neighbors and they feel like they have a better understanding of their community at large. They get why their states are considered swing states and they appreciate how important it is to motivate Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters to vote in every election. What is even more interesting is that all our home-grown organizers from Albany State have now graduated (or will this year), several have moved on to Atlanta and we didn’t have a presence in Dougherty County last week. But we did knock on doors in the home counties of these Albany State graduates! So proud of them. We had 93 volunteers knocking on doors in southern Georgia last week in 8 counties (mostly in the Black Belt). They knocked on 6,017 doors and talked to 649 voters. 428 of those voters answered at least some of our questions on the Issues Survey. The Top 3 Issues canvassers found in these Georgia counties were the Credit Crunch (Farm loans, car loan interest rates, credit cards etc), which barely out did rising prices (even as some people acknowledged that some prices were failing, but it is still a concern) and Mass shootings. Biden’s Approval numbers among the Georgians we talked to was at 57% last Saturday, with a Disapproval number of 10%. Remember that we were not canvassing in Dougherty County last week (home of Albany State University) and Dougherty always skewed our Biden number higher. In comparison, Approval of Governor Kemp was 33% and Disapproval was 28% last Saturday. Volunteers registered 8 new voters and re-registered 21 voters. 39 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms and 1 voter completed an Incident Report. Two other voters expressed concerns about the 2024 elections but did not fill out incident reports because they didn’t admit to witnessing voter suppression or intimidation (they just expressed concerns or worries about them). In North Carolina, 48 volunteers knocked on doors in Wake and Chatham counties. They knocked on 3,300 doors and talked to 336 voters. 230 of these voters answered at least some of our questions on the Issues Survey. The Top 3 Issues canvassers found in North Carolina were first, Crime, secondly Affordable Housing (a new entry) and third, Gun Violence. The later two reflected recent local news. Biden’s Approval number among the Democratic and unaffiliated voters we talked to was 56%; we don’t include Republican households in our walk lists (which our volunteers really, really appreciate). Disapproval was 11%. Less than 40% of the voters we talked to on Saturday knew who their senators were or had any kind of impression of them (while we are asking about voter approval of senators not on the ballot, we aren’t really tracking these numbers), which i found interesting. The question might be too ambiguous. Democratic Governor Roy Cooper does better among these voters. 59% of the voters we talked to on Saturday approved of the job Cooper is doing; 11% (same as Biden) expressed disapproval). Volunteers registered 2 new voters and re-registered 9 voters. 19 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms, and we send completed CSRs to Democratic elected officials responsible for the requested functions, but if the appropriate office is held by a Republican, we still send it along. For Democrats, though, we encourage them to reach out immediately to the voter who filled out the Constituent Service Request forms and let them know they are working on the issue. This credit-taking is enormously valuable to the Democratic office-holder. Hope Springs from Field PAC has been knocking on doors since last 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 volunteer to voter personal interactions are critical. We are returning to the old school basics: repeated contacts, repeated efforts to remind them of protocols, meeting them were they are, helping voters to understand the importance of super-compliance with these new voting restrictions that Republicans keep enacting. 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 (in states that allow it). 105 volunteers came out to knock on doors in Seminole, Volusia, Osceola and Duval counties on Saturday. They knocked on 7,537 doors and talked to 743 voters. 482 of those voters filled out at least part of the Issues Survey. Biden Approval among the Floridians we talked to was at 61% last Saturday and 8% expressed some measure of Disapproval. 8% of the voters who responded Approved of the job Sen. Rick Scott was doing (he had been the previous governor of the state) while 29% expressed Disapproval. We did have voters ask when Scott had become so extreme (many Democrats would argue that he’s always been that way), which was notable. 9% of the voters we talked to thought Gov. DeSantis was doing a good job, 44% said they disapproved of the job he was doing. A couple of voters said he should not be travelling so much and one voter said he should “move to Texas.” Not exactly sure of the context here. English side of bilingual Lit We knock on the doors of Democratic and Independent voters. At every door, we leave a piece of “show the flag” lit, something that tells them we were there and hopefully reinforces the Democratic brand. The lit focuses on the things voters told us were important to them last fall, aiming to appeal to every voter. We also ask voters if they have an problems that local, state or federal governments need to address in their neighborhoods. In Florida, we had 67 voters fill out Constituent Service Request forms. But the main focus of our canvassing right now is the Issues Survey, asking voters for their input and concerns. We find that most voters who aren’t in a hurry or in the middle of something are willing to answer at least a couple of these questions, especially their top issue or concern and their views of President Biden. Voter responses to the questionnaire are entered into VAN and made available to all Democratic candidates who use VAN in the state after the primary. Creating this kind of data isn’t done with a specific goal in mind but has the purpose of engaging voters and creating a dataset that any Democratic candidate can use in opposition to a Republican. Our very first question is whether the person we are talking to is registered to vote at their current home address. Lots of mobility in these Florida communities, but we also ask if there is anyone living there who needs to be registered as well. In Florida, given the current laws, we offer up a tablet with the Secretary of State website up so that voters can register or update their information themselves. Part of this is making sure that voters are registered in compliance to the new, confusing and frustrating Election law that is particularly onerous for people who change residences more frequently than normal. But registering new voters (and re-registering existing voters at their current address, in compliance with HAVA) at their door is also critical to our approach. Arizona has a much more friendly voter registration system, including the ability to opt in to permanent early voting. Of course, canvassing is the hard way to do voter registration, but we catch people that our voter registration campaigns can miss because of their emphasis on larger-scale or mass voter registration. In Florida, though, the new law requires voters to provide, in addition to their date of birth, the last four digits of their Social Security number OR their driver license OR state ID card number to make an address change. Which is par for the course this year, but here’s the part that is likely to stump people who move around. You have to remember which one you provided, because you have to provide the same one every single time you interact with your local Supervisor of Elections, or your request won’t be granted. Supervisors of Elections won’t have access to other databases, so they can only "verify” a request by the information the voter has provided. But this is something we have learned to track so that if the voter registration was not successful, we can go back. We registered 9 new voters in Florida on Saturday, 34 voters who updated their addresses. Hope Springs has targeted states that have competitive Senate races and/or the Electoral College in 2024, as well as Congressional 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! Especially since we have had to expand the map this year. By starting early, and aiming towards super-compliance with these really, really onerous provisions, Hope Springs from Field PAC seeks to undermine that strategy, while informing voters about the new laws and regulations aimed at them. That includes making sure that out-of-state workers at Disney know to, and how to, obtain a State ID card if they don’t want to give up their out-of-state DL but still want to vote in Florida. There’s a lot of work to be done, but fortunately, the three states that are making it most difficult are also states in which you can knock on doors at least 10 months out of the year. And, with your help, we will be there, getting our people to super-comply with these restrictive provisions. 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/fistfulofsteel Thank you for your support. This work depends upon you! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/20/2164923/-FL-GA-NC 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/