ELECTION DAY

(pic taken in charlotte. from amy: since 2004, my neighborhood has this pumpkin wall. the first read KERRY, then TRUTH, then last year 1-20-09 and now OBAMA). check out the words spelled out in the second line of pumpkins. gave me goosebumps even though i've heard it a thousand times)

--from Kos. good ideas here, especially for those of you who can't take the day off.

What To Do On Election Day

Fri Oct 31, 2008 at 11:45:04 AM PDT

About a week ago, I received a great email from Northside DFA here in Chicago explaining what you can do on election day. Remember, if you're a student or if you're working, ask to take the day off. I'm taking a couple days off next week, because this election is too important to not leave it all on the road. So make whatever plans you need to make, and let's jump right in:

1. Even with early voting, the vast majority of votes will be cast on election day.

2. Elections are often decided by two or three votes per polling place.

Volunteers can play a HUGE role in helping a campaign get those last two or three votes that could be the difference between winning or loosing. But how exactly do volunteers do that? Though it varies a bit from campaign to campaign, some of the basic jobs that voluteers can do on election day are:

Poll Watching
If you are a poll watcher you will get credentials (basically an official permission slip) from the campaign that allows you to be in the polling place to observe what is going on. You will watch to see that things are running smoothly and report any problems you notice to the election judges or to the campaign. You may also be asked to mark down on a list who has voted. When someone comes to vote the election judges will call out their name, and you will then mark it down on a list of registered voters provided to you by the campaign. This is then given to the campaign so that later they can remind supporters who haven't voted to vote.

Passing
Passers will stand in front of the polling place and hand out a flyer promoting the candidate. In Illinois this must be done at least 100 feet from the entrance to the polling place; the election judges will post cones or some other marker to indicate where that boundary is. In this election many people will be coming primarily to vote for a presidential candidate; your last minute reminder of a congressional, state rep or state senate candidate could inspire them to take an extra minute to vote for that "down-ballot" race.

Phone Banks
Throughout the day the campaign will make phone calls to supporters reminding them to go out and vote. Though it seems hard to believe, there are people who forget that it is election day or who just don't get around to voting. You might also find people who need a ride, or need information about their polling location or need to know the hours of voting. Phone banking is critical!

Runners
Runners are doing the same thing that phone bankers are except they are doing it in person. In other words, they are going door to door to supporters and reminding them to vote and if needed they can provide information on the location and hours of the polling place, or can call the campaign office if someone needs a ride to the polls.

Drivers
In addition to giving rides to voters, drivers are needed to do various errands throughout the day. One important one you might do is deliver lunch to volunteers! You might also be asked to bring signs to a polling place where they have "dissappeared", or to give a volunteer a ride to the campaign office when they are done with their shift, or deliver more flyers to a volunteer who has run out.

Door Hanger Distribution
Prior to the election campaigns will often put a door hanger or flyer on the doors of supporters reminding them to vote. Often this piece will have their name and the location of their polling place on it. Sometimes this is done the weekend before, sometimes it is done the night before or even early in the morning on election day.

Pre-election GOTV (Get Out The Vote)
The weekend before the election campaigns will also be reminding their supporters to vote either door to door or by phone, and will need phone bankers and runners to do that. If you can help with this the weekend before your help will be greatly appreciated.

Don't think you have time to spare on election day?

• Can you stand at a polling place and pass out flyers for a couple of hours before work?
• Can you leave work early and knock on doors of voters reminding them to vote?
• Can you spend an hour after work making last-minute phone calls to voters?

No excuses, folks. If you can't take off of work, squeeze an hour before or after the workday because in an election this close, every minute and every vote counts. Oh, and if you haven't voted early, don't forget to actually, you know, vote on election day as well!