Everyday Election Activism

An Insider's Guide (#13) - January 31, 2025

If the daily news tells us anything, it is that MAGA Republicans need to go. MAGA be gone! We need to send them packing. That means building electoral power, and building electoral power means starting now. No matter how unsavory (outrageous, scary, unlawful) the Republicans get, we can not take for granted that the next elections will go our way. We can not count on enough people voting for Democrats even if they are soured on Republicans.

I am confident that there are more than enough potential votes out there to drum the Republicans out of power. Sentiment is on our side, surely enough to flip the House of Representatives in 2026. Regaining Democratic control of the Senate will probably not happen in the midterms unless people in some of the red states get REALLY mad. It could happen. A special election in Iowa this week flipped a State Senate seat from red to blue in a district where Trump won by 21 percentage points in November. The Republican winner in the previous election carried the district by 22 percentage points. In another Iowa race on the ballot on Tuesday, Black Hawk County voted in a Democratic County Supervisor, flipping the position from red to blue as well.

Our best hope is to weaken the Republicans over the next two years, making it difficult for them to pass damaging legislation, and setting ourselves up for 2026. To get to 2026, we have to use 2025 to build momentum. There are local, state, and special elections to win, and eleven more months to reach out to voters. Where I live in Durham, NC, phone banks to recruit volunteers and canvassing have begun. We will not sit idle, and we certainly will not give up!

Voter Suppression, Voter Suppression, Voter Suppression!

Low voter turnout is the only thing that stands between us and decisive wins at the ballot box. The largest voting bloc in 2024 was made up of non-voters. It is not hard to connect the dots between not voting and voter suppression. Voters do not participate when anti-voting laws make it hard to cast a vote. Voters are disenfranchised when they are unfairly purged from the voter rolls or when their ballots are not accepted. Voters stop voting when their states are gerrymandered. Republicans know this and have been doing their best to throw up every roadblock to casting a ballot they can think of.

This is bigger than you might think. I thought I understood voter suppression, but reading One Person, No Vote was eye-opening for me. The Republican Party has been on a mission for years to undo all progress from the Civil Rights movement in order to disenfranchise their Democratic opposition. According to investigative reporter Greg Palast’s assessment, they have succeeded. He concludes that, if it were not for voter roll purges, vigilante voter challenges, and rejection of provisional and mail-in ballots in 2024, Kamala Harris would have won Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.

The Republicans are not slowing down. This month the Department of Justice pulled back from ongoing voting rights cases, leaving private plaintiffs to their own devices, and the Supreme Court has turned down four cases. Now the Republican Congress has introduced the SAVE Act, which purportedly increases election integrity but instead will disenfranchise millions of Americans, especially young people, women, and people of color. (More on how we can try to prevent passage of the SAVE Act at the end of this post!)

Voter suppression also happens when people pull back from participating in democracy. We know that distrust towards government and doubts about election integrity are rampant, in large part due to disinformation campaigns from Republican allies. We know that voters of color and immigrant communities are more likely than White voters to face harassment and intimidation at the polls. Many potential voters decide that voting is not worth the effort. That attitude, combined with doubts that Democrats will fight for them, wears them down and keeps them home come election time.

You could say this is apathy, you could say this is ignorance, but I say it is more than that. I say that high levels of disengagement are the direct result of a calculated Republican strategy to disenfranchise people who otherwise would vote for Democrats. So I call it voter suppression. Not always overt, but just as effective.

To my mind voter suppression is the biggest obstacle to winning. Voter suppression should be at the top of our minds when we think about building electoral power. To counteract the causes of disenfranchisement, we need to reach voters online and through direct voter engagement. We need to educate and persuade. The 64 million dollar question I am focused on is, how best to talk with voters? The good news is that all of us are asking this question, and that organizations and activists across the country are not waiting for the perfect answer to begin trying.

Overcoming Voter Suppression

I say we need to give reluctant voters a reason to vote. If they would be willing to give government another chance, and if we commit to keeping the pressure on our elected officials, we could succeed in saving democracy and put it on more sure footing.

I believe it is going to take both - the willingness of potential voters to hope again and a collective, ongoing movement to keep pressure on our elected officials - to make democracy work.

Maybe that is what we should promise voters: that we will stick by them not just at election time but AFTERWARDS as well. That we will help hold government accountable. I think we are doing a great job now of putting Republicans on notice. We are doing an equally good job at calling out Democrats when they cave. Senators are getting tired of our daily calls and Letters to The Editor about the Trump nominees, about unconstitutional immigration detention, and about program cuts. That is good! Let us be sure voters know we will stand behind them and alongside them, that we will continue to hold the feet to the fire of all elected officials.

Maybe there is something else that we should promise voters - that we are each working as hard as we can for Democrats to win the next election, and that we need a coalition of LOTS of people to help us vote out MAGA Republicans. A coalition of millions. We need to let them know that people in the coalition are not going to agree on everything and that we may not even like some of our allies. We need to say that only if everyone comes together now will we have an opportunity to make a fresh start.

Of course I can not promise that all Democrats will make the same commitment as I do. In the end, however, one of the purposes of talking with voters is to energize them and give them hope that voting can make a difference. Perhaps taking a stance in solidarity with reluctant voters could be a core part of our message. It’s personal and it’s neighborly. It doesn’t replace friendliness and creating a two-way conversation, it doesn’t replace listening to the concerns of voters, but it adds a layer of personal conviction and a vision for working together towards a shared future.

The Social Fabric of Democracy

I also like the idea of letting voters know they are not alone. When I am on a phone bank or canvassing and come across someone who is not in a hurry, I will talk about all the people fighting for our cause. I will mention how many people are out canvassing with me or how many volunteers are on the phone bank, how many organizations I know about that are reaching out to voters. I may talk about why I am choosing to do this in my retirement, why it’s important to me to talk to strangers about politics, why I enjoy having the opportunity to get to know my community (or country) better. I try to convey how many volunteers have been stepping up, and how the movement has grown since the November election, and includes many people who have never taken action before.

I don’t say all of this to any one person, but you will find that most people are unaware of activism and activists, and they feel alone in their worries. They feel powerless. Maybe solidarity is an important part of the messaging we need. It is a part of community-building. It is part of what we have to offer to voters. We are not talking to them because we want something from them. We want to rebuild the social fabric of democracy.

Deep Canvassing

The phrase ‘deep canvassing’ has become fashionable in the voter outreach world. It invokes real person-to-person connection. It is meant as an antidote to conversations that are transactional, where voters are asked whether they support a specific Democratic candidate, or Democrats in general, or if, when and where they are going to vote. Granted that many ‘transactional’ conversations also provide information that people need, but too many scripts are voter surveys disguised as voter engagement. Deep canvassing promises something different.

Organizers often use the concept of deep canvassing as part of their advice to volunteers: be friendly and empathic, show that you care about what voters think and feel, find out the voters’ top concerns. In the service of more meaningful engagement, volunteers are advised to ask open-ended questions: “Tell me more about that.” “I’m interested to know more.” “How does that affect you personally?” The imperative is to listen, listen, listen.

Teaching these skills and instilling the value of showing interest in voters are energizing to volunteers. When I approach voters with curiosity and a readiness to get to know them, I feel better about my efforts. In fact, I have stopped participating in voter outreach that feels overly transactional or where I see no benefit to the voter.

You can tell that voters appreciate the opportunity to be seen and heard. Who wouldn’t? We all know that political conversations are difficult, even with people you agree with. On numerous occasions people have told me they are surrounded by Republicans and are afraid to speak up. As volunteers, we offer affirmation. The fact that someone cares enough to show up empowers people. We don’t know the downstream effects, but I like to imagine that my conversations impact voters’ interactions with other people. I try to give people a bit more agency to bring the political into their personal lives. I want to help build, or re-build, the social fabric of democracy.

The Task In Front Of Us - Persuasion

While encouraging volunteers to have real conversations is important, this is only one component of deep canvassing. Here is the definition from the folks at the Deep Canvass Institute who developed and teach this approach: ‘Deep canvassing is the only scientifically proven method to influence constituents by using empathy and understanding to bridge gaps across differences.’ Their goal is to change hearts and minds through open-hearted and personal conversations.

The focus of deep canvassing is persuasion, and persuasion is what we need to do if we expect more people to turn up at the polls. We need to help voters overcome the internal and external obstacles, and make them want to vote. Any good conversations can help with this, but we can do more if we start thinking of our goal as changing hearts and minds whenever we come across someone not committed to voting.

• You can receive training in deep canvassing. The technique is to focus on a specific issue and structure the conversation for mutual sharing. The voter is asked to rate their stance towards the issue and explain their rating. The volunteer reciprocates by revealing why the issue is personal to them. Further questions aim to uncover the voter’s complex and often ambivalent feelings and gently challenge the person to reconsider their position. If you want free training with the Deep Canvass Institute, the next introductory session is 2/11 at 6 pm. The next full training starts 2/25.

• What else? When we come across voters who feel like their vote does not make a difference, we can try some of the approaches I already proposed. We can pledge our commitment to stand up for them and we can paint a picture for them of a large movement of people all on their side. I would insert this into a larger conversation. I do not have any evidence that my ideas are effective, but they feel appropriate to the moment, and I’m willing to experiment. This approach also captures my mood and my determination to stay with my activism for the long-term, and it allows me to be authentic with voters.

• There are plenty of other ways we can show that we as Democrats care about voters. I am hearing a lot about community service projects aimed at increasing the visibility and credibility of the Democratic Party. One initiative in Durham plans to enroll Democratic volunteers to connect non-voters to community resources.

• We need to be creative. That’s why we’re all forming and joining pro-democracy groups at record numbers - to build for ourselves a strong base of community support and strength, and to use that base to launch actions.

Oppose Voter Suppression and Prevent Passage of the SAVE Act

The SAVE Act (H.R. 22), the so-called Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, is expected to come up for a vote in two weeks in Congress. If it passes, voters will be required to show a passport or birth certificate to vote in federal elections. Think about the cost of getting these documents. Sound like a poll tax to you? Workers Circle says “this could be one of the most destructive voter suppression bills in modern history.” They provide these numbers:

• Up to 150 million people do not have a passport. More do not have access to a birth certificate.

• 69 million women lack a birth certificate that matches their current legal name.

• Elderly Americans are the least likely to have a passport or immediate access to their birth certificate.

• In seven states, less than one-third of citizens have a valid passport.

How to take action: Call all your Members of Congress about H.R. 22, the SAVE Act. Workers Circle will guide you through how to send an email, but calls are more effective, so please use the telephone if you can. You will find good talking points on the Workers Circle website. If you can not get through to a real person when you call, call back, try the official’s other office numbers, or leave a message.

I’ll end there. There is always more we can do, and there will be more ahead of us. We know what to do. Let’s do it!