(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Holiday Weekend Report for Florida & Georgia: Yes, We Did! [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-06-01 Just like the weekend before Easter weekend, we asked our canvass volunteers whether they wanted to knock on doors over Memorial Day weekend. When we say Hope Springs from Field PAC is grassroots driven, this is part of what we mean. It’s an off election year (except for Virginia, where there are critical state legislative to be decided in November, but we have stopped canvassing in Virginia until after this month’s primary). The urgency of doing voter contact is much lower. Still, we had a reasonable turnout Saturday where volunteers had voted to do so on the prior weekend. 2024 Senate Battleground Map We asked volunteers why they wanted to knock on doors over Memorial Day weekend. We got a lot of people saying they came because they wanted to Defend Democracy, but (in Arizona especially) we also heard about how important it was to retain these Senate seats. I will note that in the 8 areas where they held local Memorial Day parades Saturday, all opted out. And while we only had about half the number of canvasses and volunteers, the commitment of those people who didn’t already have plans was apparent. Hard not to be taken aback by it. Generic Constituent Service Request form “I didn’t want to lose the momentum,” one volunteer told us. Several volunteers told us how important they thought walking with the Constituent Service Request forms was and we do know that they are really proud when voters thank them for walking with those. A simple demonstration that Democrats deliver and believe in good governance. It takes a little bit of follow-up (always helps when one of your volunteers has worked in local or county government), but well worth the minimal effort involved. Had several volunteers wear their service caps (ships, service or unit) last Saturday. And a couple of others wore military-related t-shirts. The last volunteer i talked to before canvassing had a blue and yellow “Navy” shirt on. I asked her if she served, and she told me her father did. 78 volunteers canvassed came out to knock on doors in Osceola and Volusia counties on Saturday. They knocked on 5,522 doors and talked to 495 voters. 320 of those voters filled out at least part of the Issues Survey. . Florida Approval Ratings found at the door The Top 3 concerns of the voters we talked to last Saturday in the metro Orlando area were the Housing, the Debt Ceiling negotiations and the Local Economy. We continue to see these in the Orlando area! Biden Approval among the Central Floridians we talked to was at 51% last Saturday and 17% expressed some measure of Disapproval. 11% of the voters who responded Approved of the job Sen. Rick Scott was doing while 49% expressed Disapproval. There is good reason to think that Gov. DeSantis is influencing some of that. 4% of the voters we talked to thought Gov. DeSantis was doing a good job, 48% said they disapproved of the job he was doing. Democrats continue to voice concerns about the governor “getting a free pass” from the media because he is running for president. His War on Disney is especially irritating to voters in Central Florida And we are not finding a lot of support for DeSantis among Hispanics in Central Florida (where they have been called Mickey Ricans). 36 Florida voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms. These remain especially popular in Osceola, where voters tell us they don’t feel comfortable approaching their local elected officials but have complaints about public works anyway. 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). We continue to knock on doors in the Black Belt in Georgia and the suburbs of Atlanta. 92 volunteers came up to knock on doors in Georgia last week. They knocked on 6,504 doors and talked to 572 voters. 364 of those voters answered at least some of our questions on the Issues Survey. The Top Issues volunteers found in Georgia was concerns over efforts to raise the Debt Ceiling. The second most frequent concern was Schools and Property Taxes and third were Jobs. More than 48% of our responses were from the northern suburbs, as we have expanding the number of canvasses and volunteers in the metro region. Biden’s Approval numbers among the Georgians we talked to was at 55% last Saturday, with a Disapproval number of 7%. In comparison, Approval of Governor Kemp was 32% and Disapproval was 18% last Saturday. There is no senate race in Georgia this cycle (and a number of Georgia voters have told us “Thank God” there isn’t because they are exhausted!) and while we ask if voters approve of the job their senators are doing, we are not tracking that. Volunteers registered 3 new voters and re-registered 17 voters. 41 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms and 1 voter completed an Incident Report. Four other voters expressed concerns about the 2024 elections but did not fill out incident reports because they didn’t say they witnessed voter suppression or intimidation (they just expressed concerns or worries about them). We continue to find voters who say they need a photo id (which is surprising since that was required to vote in the 2022 elections) — even in the Atlanta suburbs — and are already arranging Voter ID Days with Registrars offices in both southern Georgia and the metro Atlanta area to help voters in need to obtain the required document to vote in November 2024. This is a joint effort of Hope Springs and the Black Churches we have been working with since the Georgia Senate Runoffs in 2021. Three canvasses in North Carolina agreed to canvass last Saturday, but projected rain meant that we cancelled them. One volunteer contacted me last weekend to report she didn’t have rain and wondered why we had done so. front of Florida Walk Lit Our very first question on the Issues Surveys is whether the person we are talking to is registered to vote at their current home address. 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. Back of Walk Lit We registered 1 new voter in Florida on Saturday, 19 voters who updated their addresses. 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. 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. 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/2023/6/1/2172414/-FL-GA-Holiday-Canvass 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/