Email No. 1, Columbus, Ohio

Greetings from the Buckeye* State!
Our journey by car here from New York was highlighted by gorgeous clear skies and brilliant fall foliage covering the hills/mountains all the way through Pennsylvania.

My lawyer husband, Craig, is pulling together all the details that are necessary for the volunteer "out of state" cadre of lawyers who will be arriving in Cleveland and Akron the weekend before Election Day for their training so they can work on the electoral process on November 8th.

I am assigned to a campaign office in North East Columbus. I am reporting to a lovely young woman, who graduated from college in June, and started here shortly after that. The communities we are focused on in our area are primarily made up of immigrants (U S citizens), middle class families and lower/middle class homes. Many of these people are infrequent voters, but many are also glad to be reminded to vote. Early voting began on October 12th. Obama won Ohio by banking a huge number of early votes. The effort right now is to knock on as many doors as possible to get people out to vote BEFORE Election Day.

Hillary campaigning in Ohio

People I am talking to are, for the most part, supporting Hillary and the Democratic Ticket. They do not know much about early voting..where to go, what times they can go, etc. It feels good to be able to give them that information AND a sample Franklin County ballot that they can take to the polls with them. One young man thanked me and got in his car right then and there and went to vote!!!!

This weekend will be the first "dry run" GOTV weekend where the organizers get to see in real time how their systems are working, what needs to be tweaked, what is working well, etc. I have been asked to be a Staging Location Director (the place where volunteers come to get their instructions before going out and knocking on doors) for the next three weekends. I am not quite clear what that will entail yet. I will let you know when I know.
The race here is very close. Hillary can win Ohio IF we can turn out the infrequent less motivated voters as well as the engaged, motivated ones.
I have met a few Trump supporters at the doors. They are have been very polite. Columbus is a Democratic city, but there are a smattering of Trump signs around.
I will do my best to send another report soon, but time is not a something I have a lot of these days.
hugs to all...let's win this one!
xxxxx

* A Buckeye is the nut off the Horse Chestnut treeGreetings from Ohio. 14 days until Election Day!

Email No. 2

I spent the weekend "in charge" of a staging location for Get Out The Vote (GOTV).
Yesterday another volunteer (from Seattle) and I went out to knock on doors that were part of a packet that got partially done over the weekend.
We ended up at an assisted living residence and talked to the residents on our list.
The first woman's daughter was there and came out into the hall and proudly told us that she and her mother had already voted the straight democratic ticket and mailed in their ballots!
The second woman, age 95, knew her daughter had helped her fill out her ballot. The woman who was assisting her proudly stated that she had already voted, had a lawn sign in her yard and hoped that Hillary was going to win Ohio.
Then we spoke with a gentleman who had his absentee ballot and was prepared to send it in this week. He was disgusted and troubled by the messages that the Trump campaign has been broadcasting and wanted to make sure that Trump had no chance of becoming President.

13 days until Election Day!

Email No. 3

I spent yesterday afternoon knocking on doors in a predominantly African American neighborhood just north of downtown Columbus. There is a mixture of lovely homes and houses that are abandoned. Here are a few snap shots of encounters I had:

The first door bell I rang set off a cacophony of barking/yapping from 4 small dogs. Mr. G fought his way through them and came out onto his porch. He asked about getting an absentee ballot so I helped him fill out a request form, that I have with me. His situation was slightly complicated...his cell phone was out of minutes (the form asks for a contact phone number or email in case they need to contact the applicant with follow up questions) so he wanted to list his neighbor's number (who lives 2 doors down the block)...and then asked me to go ask her if it was okay to list her as the contact. He also wanted me to ask her if she would be willing to help him fill out the ballot when it arrived. To make a long story shorter...I stopped by his neighbor's house (there was a Clinton/Kaine lawn sign in the yard so I knew it was friendly territory) and explained what Mr. G needed. She agreed to be listed as the contact for him and help him with his ballot, as best she could. I then went back to Mr. G's house, rang the bell again which set off the posse of puppies again...Mr. G battled his way through the mob at the door and was very appreciative that hear that his neighbor was willing to help him vote this year!

Further down the block a woman came to the door and said the she was supporting Hillary in this election. Another woman who lived there joined us on the porch. She said she could not vote because she was a felon. The first woman explained that she was also had a felony conviction but had cleared up her voting status and proudly said that she had been able to vote in the last two elections. Her friend regretted not having taken the responsibility to do the same as she recognized that this year's election was really an important one. She asked her friend to help her straighten out her voting status, and they agreed to sort it out next week.

The last report involves a profoundly deaf man and an older woman. The man came to the door and went to get the woman to help navigate the conversation. His name was on my list so she insisted he speak with me. He was enthusiastic about voting for Hillary and had no kind words for the republican nominee. He told me he was going to go vote early and that I should not waste my time talking to the woman in the house as she was a republican. Before I left she came closer to the door and asked if I was really driving around the neighborhood talking to voters... she seemed amazed because she said she had never seen anyone ever do that before. That makes this effort feel worth while.

Onward!

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