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/hopemobilization2024
Hope Springs from Field 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 dud). 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.
We began knocking on doors again in Arizona (and Florida) on March 2nd, talking to voters, collecting signatures for the Abortion Ballot Initiative, raising the Democratic banner and collecting data that will help Democratic candidates get voters to the polls in 2024. Hope Springs volunteers have collected 43,007 verified petitions from valid voters who lived at the address from which they were registered (we match voters with their address to petitions on an ongoing basis).
In Arizona, 278 volunteers came out to knock on doors last Saturday in the western and southern suburbs of Phoenix and Tucson. We knocked on 20,210 doors in Arizona and talked to 1,594 voters. 1,031 of those voters answered at least some of our questions on our Issues Survey. We registered 8 new voters and re-registered 39 voters. 88 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms and 4 voters completed Incident Reports as witnesses to Voter Intimidation in prior elections.
(Rising or High) Prices was the Top Issue in Arizona. Housing and Home Insurance concerns were second. Border Security was third this week.
Biden Approval among the Arizonans we talked to was 42% last Saturday. Remember that we are knocking on doors of Democrats or unaffiliated voters; we endeavor not to knock on any doors where all voters in the household are Republicans (and will ask for a specific voter when it is a mixed household). We only rarely talk to Republicans given how we cut turf. 9% of the voters we talked to disapproved of the president. 14% approved of Sinema, while 34% disapproved. We’ve been asking about the likely Democratic Senate nominee, Ruben Gallego, since Sinema left the Democratic Party; 52% of the voters we talked to on Saturday approved of Gallego. 54% approved of the Governor, Katie Hobbs. 7% disapproved.
In Florida, we are knocking on doors in Clay, Dade, Osceola, Seminole, Volusia and Duval counties. 418 volunteers came out last Saturday, knocked on 30,681 doors and talked to 2,316 voters. 1,538 Issues Surveys were completed, with 11 new voters registered and 49 voters re-registered (all using the Secretary of State website). 138 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms and two voters completed Incident Reports.
Hope Springs volunteers have collected 43,133 verified petitions from valid voters who lived at the address from which they were registered. I think this is the first week where we’ve surpassed the Arizona numbers.
The Top Issue in Florida last Saturday was Economic Uncertainty. Housing and Insurance Issues was second and Reproductive Rights was cited third most often.
46% of the voters we talked to approved of the job President Biden is doing in Florida. 10% disapproved. 9% approved of the job Rick Scott was doing; 39% disapproved. 4% approved of the job Ron DeSantis is doing; 42% disapproved.
Florida saw the most volunteers come out last Saturday.
277 volunteers came out to knock on doors last Saturday in the Atlanta suburbs and in southern Georgia Blackbelt counties. We knocked on 20,304 doors and talked to 1,451 voters. 949 of those voters answered at least some of our questions on our Issues Survey. We registered 5 new voters and re-registered 22 voters. 52 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms and 1 voter completed an Incident Report.
(Rising or Sticky) Prices was the Top Issue in Georgia on Saturday. Not exactly sure why, but the mention of sticky prices — when prices have rarely fallen — remains a curiosity. Education concerns was second, some of which has something to do with fears of property tax increases, but also the costs of Higher Education, and comments about Biden’s efforts to forgive College Loans. Elections/ Electoral Security was third (Trump’s Trial in Atlanta being the foremost reason).
Biden Approval among the Georgians we talked to was 47% last Saturday. 10% of the voters we talked to disapproved of the president. 24% approved of the Governor, Brian Kemp. 25% disapproved. Kemp support is falling in the eyes of Democrats and unaffiliated voters in Georgia. At least from the voters we are talking to.
In Nevada, 126 volunteers came out to canvass in the Las Vegas area (NV-01 & NV-03). We knocked on 9,034 doors and talked to 638 voters. 426 answered questions on our Issues Survey. We registered 2 new voters and re-registered 11 voters, updating their current address. 44 voters completed Constituent Service Request forms.
The Economy was the Top Issue in Nevada on Saturday. Immigration was second. Crime was third.
Biden Approval among the voters we talked to was 46% last Saturday. 8% disapproved of the president. 53% approved of their Senator, Jacky Rosen. 6% disapproved. 23% approved of the Governor, Joe Lombard. 32% disapproved.
228 volunteers came out to knock on doors last Saturday in North Carolina. We are focusing on the new (NC Republicans gerrymandered the state again this year) North Carolina Congressional District map, and, specifically, NC-01, NC-07, NC-09 and NC-13, this year. We knocked on 16,575 doors and talked to 1,271 voters. 831 of those voters answered at least some of our questions on our Issues Survey. We registered 4 new voters and re-registered 21 voters, mostly updated their address. 88 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms and one voter filled out an Incident Report.
Rising Prices was the Top Issue in North Carolina on Saturday. Weather Concerns (Flash Flood Warnings, Excessive Weather Conditions) was second. Reproductive Healthcare was third.
Biden Approval among the voters we talked to was 47% last Saturday. 9% disapproved of the president. 52% approved of the Governor, Roy Cooper. 8% disapproved.
337 volunteers came out to knock on doors last Saturday in Texas. We knocked on 24,061 doors and talked to 1,869 voters. 1,201 of those voters answered at least some of our questions on our Issues Survey. We registered 17 new voters and re-registered 47 voters. 118 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms and 2 voters completed an Incident Report.
We are canvassing in Texas because of the Senate race. We didn’t canvass there last year but our absence was meant that data that we collect didn’t make it into VAN last year; volunteers wanted to give Democrats the best possible chance to defeat Ted Cruz — who can argue with that. Democratic candidates need this data, Democratic voters need to get that kind of voter contact. So it’s an experiment.
Housing Issues were the Top Issue in Texas. Plenty of complaints about Mortgage Costs and, especially, about Balloon Payments approaching(!). (Rising) Prices was second and Border Security was third.
Biden Approval among the Texans we talked to was 41% last Saturday. 11% of the voters we talked to disapproved of the president. 9% of the voters voiced approval of Ted Cruz; 38% disapproved. 14% approved of the Governor, Greg Abbot. 47% disapproved. At least one voter voiced her opinion about the Governor’s “charade” at the border. “I want to know when their father is coming home.” Things voters say. “He’s frustrated down there, too.”
But these are the kinds of notes that volunteers take and get fed into VAN. Democratic candidates will be able to use this information in the Fall. This is the benefit of using voter-led voter contact.
If you are able to support this kind of intensive grassroots organizing and voter contact, we would certainly appreciate your support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopemobilization2024
We canvass with an Issues Survey that is our jumping off point of conversations with voters. We find this is an easy way to begin the canvass season. All the data we collect will be entered into VAN, the Democratic database.
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 from Field has a hybrid approach. We aren’t interested in competing with regular campaign field organizing. We are in the field before they get there and then move on when the Democratic campaigns start their own intensive field work. Indeed, when we wind up the typical field work by Labor Day, we will encourage all the volunteers working with us to move over to the Senate campaigns in their states (and hope that our field organizers will be hired on by those campaigns). After Labor Day, we will begin organizing our Election Protection Project.
As you can see from the very first question in the Issues Questionnaire, making sure that voters are registered from their current address is a major function of early canvassing. 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 also ask voters if they have any concerns about the upcoming elections. Last year, we walked with lit about the changes in voting laws, but we also asked voters about their fears and experience in prior elections. So far there haven’t been significant changes in the laws but we still ask about fears and experience vis-a-vis elections. Voters who say they have experience voter intimidation or other problems with voting are asked to fill out Incident Reports.
Hope Springs has targeted states that have competitive Senate races and/or the Electoral College in 2024, as well as 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 seeks to undermine Republican efforts to throw Democrats off the voter rolls, informing voters about the new laws and regulations aimed at them. 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.
We are also — this being an election year — adding the Post Cards to New Voters component back into our Voter Outreach, both New Voters we find at their doors as well as New Voters we target in the Voter File.
Our biggest expense is the Voter File. But it is also a fixed cost. That won’t change as we raise and spend more money. Printing literature is our second largest cost. Printing and mailing our our Post Cards to New Voters is our third cost and paying the fees for ActBlue is the smallest of our monthly costs.
So, getting back to the question by the volunteer who scolded me: are we still on our path to meet this month’s (750,000 doors knocked) goal? 120,865 doors is nothing to sneeze at, but it returns us to the exponential growth curve. And we really have to stay on that curve to meet the 10 Millions doors knocked by Labor Day. Time will tell (we are really waiting for the weather to be better in Reno, Maryland and Pennsylvania to see our next uptick).
But here’s the reality: Identifying Single Issue Voters and Constitutional Amendment supporters and doing GOTV (Get-Out-the-Vote) costs us more money than our regular canvassing because this issue drives volunteer turnout higher and higher. Which means we have to buy more lit to distribute and other minor expenses (like water for volunteers). We just paid off the printers for last year’s Ohio lit that we distributed. So please:
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/hopemobilization2024
If you would rather send a check, you can follow that link for our mailing address at the bottom of the page. Thank you for your support. This work depends upon you!
Alice J. Roden started working for Trending Insurance News at the end of 2021. Alice grew up in Salt Lake City, UT. A writer with a vast insurance industry background Alice has help with several of the biggest insurance companies. Before joining Trending Insurance News, Alice briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers home, renters and other property insurance stories.