(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . More Tales from the Streets (or Doors as it were): Ohio, Pennsylvania & Virginia! Oh, My... [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-29 It’s not common, but also not unheard of, that i’ll get a call or text from a volunteer or organizer during Saturday canvassing asking for advice on a situation. Sometimes it is more critical than others. And then there was yesterday. All while i was out knocking on doors for Russet Perry (which was a story in itself!), running for an open state senate seat in Northern Virginia. Hope Springs from Field volunteers continue to knock on doors in suburban Ohio for GOTV for Issue 1 and Pennsylvania for Dan McCaffery. But we are not alone; the Republican Parties in both states (Virginia, too) are making an all-out effort to thwart Democrats, as well as their conservative allies. One of the ways that Republicans have been known to try to stop us is by flat out calling the police. Calling the police?!? I know, i know, how can this be? In Alleghany County, one resident of a “gated community” called the cops because one of our volunteers knocked on her door. Now, for Hope Springs, Pennsylvania is “staffed” (volunteers all) by Obama alums who still reside, in this case, in the county and know all the rules we need to go by in these situations. In this specific case, we needed to have a resident “who let us in” — which we did — but that fact (or those facts) wasn’t something that was known to the volunteer who was facing the irritated resident. It was known to the organizer. But that’s not all. As a practice, Hope Springs organizers will inform local law enforcement when we plan on canvassing in more “combative” areas that we intend to be knocking on doors in certain areas that upcoming Saturday. It’s just a smart practice for things such as gated communities. We are exercising our First Amendment rights, but, still, no volunteer wants to be stopped by a law enforcement officer. This particular complainant was not even the resident of the home we knocked on, but a neighbor who was visiting. She was a local “GOP elected official” (her words) and she was “well-known to the local police.” (Those were their words, not her’s.) “You have no right to be knocking on doors here, and I want all your volunteers removed from our community.” Needless to say, the young (younger than me) woman was rattled and that’s why i was notified. “If you can talk to her, I can talk to the cops.” Now it is not unheard of for residents — especially people who have posted at their doors a sign saying “No Solicitors” — to threaten to call the cops on canvassers. It is very uncommon, though, for them actually to do so. And the entire reason we inform local law enforcement when we plan on canvassing in “private” communities is to warn them in advance and remind them of the legal distinction between soliciting and canvassing. That doesn’t mean there aren’t “private” communities (or even individual law enforcement officers) that don’t want to accept that distinction, it just means the constitution is on our side. But the case here was that this local Republican didn’t want Democrats campaigning in her neighborhood. We couldn’t even get the “local official” to tell us what office she held (and we have speculated that she was something like a precinct captain), but she was very insistent that “all your volunteers [are] removed.” She annoyed the hell out of the cops, which made that fact clear to the organizer. She kept telling the cops (ended up being three) that “They have no right to be here; they don’t live here.” But no one was worried about our rights (in which we were secure); ultimately, her problem was with the cops. She wanted to make the cops our problem. As i was talking to her, explained all the reasons she need not worry, i kept asking her, “do you want to go home?” No, she told me over and over, i want to keep going. “I just need to wait for the police.” Why, i asked. It took a few times for her to understand why i kept asking why. “I have to clear things up.” No, you don’t. That is not your responsibility. “Should i go back to that house?” she asked. Finally, she accepted that she had no responsibility to explain herself to anyone there. She was protected. I kept using that term, hoping she would understand. She was not in peril. She had rights. But protecting our volunteers, from harassment, or extreme weather or whatever, is our job. She was safe. She just had to get over the shock before she could realize that. “I can just go?” Yes. We will take care of everything. “But they don’t even have my name!” Good. Believe me, they have our’s! In Ohio, we have been tracking canvassing teams from conservative orgs. Yesterday, some of our volunteers ran into a couple of AFP workers out knocking on doors. Now we had multiple reports of conservative org staffers shouting out things to female volunteers, but they seemed to ignore our male volunteers. Nothing really threatening, per se (“lots of lies”), but the fact that we had multiple sightings but only women volunteers prompted comment is, well, note-worthy. And not just from young men, but commentary from your women, as well. For some reason, i hear this taunt in the vein of “A League of Their Own:” “No Matter What You Do, You’re Gonna Lose!” Ohio Northern University Poll You got a lot of ground to make up, young lady! But the anti-abortion forces are doing everything they can to confuse the issue. We have yet to see, though, their attempts to reverse the tide we have been seeing at the doors all Summer and Fall. But the one thing that all these reports have in common is that these anti-abortion opponents of Issue 1 are seen in packs. Volunteers, who have been canvassing as individuals, report seeing 4 or 5 anti-abortion canvassing teams knocking on doors. We discourage “teams” because voters tell us they can be intimidated by groups of people at their doors. But no one has ever asked to be sent out in a team of 4 or 5 before! In the suburbs? smh. “They’re not even friendly!” one volunteer reported. It has always been my experience, when coming upon another person out canvassing, that they were polite and recognized we faced the same quandaries as people out knocking on doors of people we probably didn’t know and who weren’t always pleasant to us at their doors. Obviously, we can’t speak to their motivation but it does seem like they (Issue 1 opponents) are running scared. Or at least trying to be scary. Yesterday, i stopped by a house where the voter was out mowing his lawn, and he was chatting with a neighbor (the mower was not running). “I’m talking to our neighbors about Russet Perry.” I always use the term neighbors or neighborhood, even though i am never in my neighborhood. It’s more friendly. The visitor groaned as the voter took the lit. “Have you seen the commercials,” the visitor asked (to no one specifically). “She’s terrible!” The voter cocked his head and said, “MAGA” in reference to his visitor. “Damn right! What they are doing to President Trump is just awful.” And then they both looked at me. Like they had had this conversation before. “No one should be above the law,” i replied, trying to be, well, friendly. “What laws,” Mr. MAGA asked. I am just trying to get out of there, but still want to ask, “Can Russert Perry count on your support?” and whether he had a voting plan. “No, tell me, what laws did Trump break?” “Have you read the indictments,” i asked, still just trying to move on, and wishing i had gone to the door instead. “I’m asking you!” he asserted. “But, see, that’s the thing. You may not believe me, but you can read what laws were broken just by reading the indictments. They are all spelled out in detail. And anyone can find them and read them for themselves,” i replied. “HA!” the voter exclaimed, “wish I had thought of that.” Not exactly sure what part of that he wishes he had thought of, but. He didn’t want to reply to my questions, ”I’ll look this over,” is all he said. And i start to leave. And Mr MAGA visitor starts to follow me. Now i grew up in Florida, and have a pretty casual gait. But it’s not an invitation to tag along. “How can you think that any president would break the laws?” he asked. Too easy, but still i ignored him. “Do you think Trump is that stupid?” Again, too easy. “I’m out here to talk to people on this list.” “But why shouldn’t you talk to me?” he asked. “Because i don’t think you are on my list!” “President Trump is a great man...” I don’t know how long it took before i just stopped. “I’m not going to engage with you right now. I have a job to do, and talking to you won’t help me complete my task.” “We’re just trying to save our Country!” he replied. So much to say, but still not the right time or place. I wasn’t really familiar with the neighborhood and i needed to focus my attention on the streets and my next address on the map. As he stopped following me, Mr MAGA looked completely lost. Was that my good deed for the day? Beware of scary visitors, though! ------ Hope Springs from Field PAC continues to knock on doors in suburban Ohio for GOTV for Issue 1 and Pennsylvania for Dan McCaffery. We relinquished the field here in Virginia because there is a organized campaign infrastructure targeted towards the key (or swing) senate and general assembly districts. Hope Springs relies 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/hope4ohio Hope Springs from Field understands that volunteer to voter personal interactions are critical. Knocking on doors has repeatedly been found to be the most successful tactic to get voters to cast a ballot and that is the goal of what we do. If you would rather send a check, you can follow that link for our mailing address, as well. Thank you for your support. This work depends on you! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/10/29/2202301/-More-Tales-from-the-Streets-or-Doors-as-it-were-Ohio-Pennsylvania-Virginia-Oh-My 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/