My Vote for Change experience
So, so tired. But so very happy! Today I was one of several hundred people who showed up bright and early to the Los Angeles site for the first day of the Vote for Change voter registration drive. I've done a little solo calling, but this is the first time I've been able to turn up for a volunteer event and it was a whole lot of fun. I really wanted to share it with you all.
There was a very good turnout - they said they were expecting around 500 people, and there had to be at least 3 or 400 of us, so not bad at all. I got to meet some very nice Obama supporters, of course, and, considering I gush to my less-enthusiastic friends and family all the time, it was really nice to be able to talk and share in person with people as enthusiastic as me. it was nice and cool, and we got to listen to a bunch of people speak, including Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas, Harper Hill, and a number of other actors, activists and politicians. Also, I finally got myself an Obama bumper sticker! (Which a lady bought off me later and I re-purchased another one when we went back to the location. Spreading the love! XD)
Finally we were released to go to our different areas. I headed to Union Station in Downtown LA with two ladies I'd struck up a conversation with when everyone was signing in. Today was National Train Day, plus there was a multicultural festival in the park/walking mall across the street from the station. I carpooled with one of them, since we had to return anyways. On the way there, we listened to the May 6th victory speech, since she didn't get to hear it and I had it on my iPod. When we finally arrived, there were so many people, it was tough to find parking! At Union Station, even on a busy day, that's an impressive feat.
Unfortunately, we couldn't find our third pal - I hope that it went well for her! We stood out front of the station for a while and got a number of people registered in the first hour. I had actually brought a poster board with campaign signs attached that I'd been given at the rally, and I turned it over and made a sign out of it. It was really, really useful, because it really helped draw people out without making them feel confronted. We got quite a number of people who just had questions about registering, and several people took registration materials because they had a family member who needed to sign up.
After we had a little lunch, we walked around a little, then went back to our original post, and after a while of not really getting more than a few questions, we decided to go over to the park. In retrospect, I wish we'd done that a lot sooner, because we ended up having a lot more success there, once we'd found a good spot to stand in. It was also fun to flip the sign back and forth between the Obama side and the Register to Vote side. We actually had several people take pictures of us holding up the Obama sign, and quite a few times we had people giving up thumbs up and even a few "Go Obama!" and "Yes, We Can!"s! There were a few who jeered or negative things as they passed as well, but none of them ever actually stopped to chat ... Which is sad, really, because I would rather someone discuss or debate their opinions with me - not just about their choice of candidate, but also on whether or not voting and being registered is worthwhile - as opposed to basically running away after shouting it at me. Ah well.
The most positive thing about the whole experience was the people we did register. The two of us working together registered 9 people to vote, as well as sending home 3 registration cards that people will hopefully fill out, even if you can never know, so one can't really count it. It only sounds like a couple people, but we were in the field for not quite three hours - that's three people an hour, not counting the ones we sent home.
We registered a retiree who's never registered or voted in his entire life, but this election has made him want to take that step. We registered a lady who just gained her citizenship three months ago, and, if she hadn't come across us in the park, would probably still be mystified about how to register to vote in the country that's now officially her country. We registered a young man newly turned 18 who was out with his whole family to enjoy the day and, when his mom saw our signs, she dragged him over to us and made him sit down and fill everything out. They even took a picture of him filling out his card with our Obama signs next to him while he gave them a thumbs up.
2/3 of everyone we registered were new Democrats, with a new true Independant (the retired gentleman), a new member of the Peace Party, and even a new Republican also joining our folders. The Republican, a Latino gentleman who ran up calling 'McCain! McCain!' in a loud voice, was very sweet and had us both chuckling. My fellow worker asked him politely as she was assisting him with his form why he liked McCain, and he told her that he acted like a very kind man. Obama is very kind, too, she replied. He then looked around for a moment and said, almost apologetically, that Obama was a black man. My co-volunteer, too kind for words, said with very gentle reproach, that that was not at all a very good reason to dislike a candidate. They left it at that and continued to fill out the form. We got him registered, and he was very proud of it, and I can only hope that there was a bit of gentle persuasion mixed with a quiet attempt to understand him and reach out that he might've seen or felt and it might later persuade him to think better about his choice. Actually, one of my hopes is that, no matter what party each person chose, they remember that it was our campaign offering, no matter what affiliation, to get people ready to vote for the candidate of their choice.
We finally left - it was getting later than we should've been out, and we wanted to get back and turn our things in. We both felt that our number seemed low, considering so many people had been out for the two events. But we'd seen a number of other volunteers at the location as well, and hopefully they also got a number of the people we weren't able to catch. When we did return to the rally point, we found out that we'd done very well between us! Although it wasn't by any means the highest number of cards turned in, considering that some people turned in only one or none at all, 9 was a decent gathering!
I feel very proud, not just to have done work finally on the ground for the campaign, but also to have really done a service for other citizens. I really hope that anyone faced with us today enjoyed our spirit and the pride that not just the pair of us but everyone who was out working in LA and across the nation displayed getting out there and doing a real public service. Congratulations, anyone else who got out there today and rallied for Vote for Change. This is only the first day of months of work, but it was a spectacular one.
There was a very good turnout - they said they were expecting around 500 people, and there had to be at least 3 or 400 of us, so not bad at all. I got to meet some very nice Obama supporters, of course, and, considering I gush to my less-enthusiastic friends and family all the time, it was really nice to be able to talk and share in person with people as enthusiastic as me. it was nice and cool, and we got to listen to a bunch of people speak, including Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas, Harper Hill, and a number of other actors, activists and politicians. Also, I finally got myself an Obama bumper sticker! (Which a lady bought off me later and I re-purchased another one when we went back to the location. Spreading the love! XD)
Finally we were released to go to our different areas. I headed to Union Station in Downtown LA with two ladies I'd struck up a conversation with when everyone was signing in. Today was National Train Day, plus there was a multicultural festival in the park/walking mall across the street from the station. I carpooled with one of them, since we had to return anyways. On the way there, we listened to the May 6th victory speech, since she didn't get to hear it and I had it on my iPod. When we finally arrived, there were so many people, it was tough to find parking! At Union Station, even on a busy day, that's an impressive feat.
Unfortunately, we couldn't find our third pal - I hope that it went well for her! We stood out front of the station for a while and got a number of people registered in the first hour. I had actually brought a poster board with campaign signs attached that I'd been given at the rally, and I turned it over and made a sign out of it. It was really, really useful, because it really helped draw people out without making them feel confronted. We got quite a number of people who just had questions about registering, and several people took registration materials because they had a family member who needed to sign up.
After we had a little lunch, we walked around a little, then went back to our original post, and after a while of not really getting more than a few questions, we decided to go over to the park. In retrospect, I wish we'd done that a lot sooner, because we ended up having a lot more success there, once we'd found a good spot to stand in. It was also fun to flip the sign back and forth between the Obama side and the Register to Vote side. We actually had several people take pictures of us holding up the Obama sign, and quite a few times we had people giving up thumbs up and even a few "Go Obama!" and "Yes, We Can!"s! There were a few who jeered or negative things as they passed as well, but none of them ever actually stopped to chat ... Which is sad, really, because I would rather someone discuss or debate their opinions with me - not just about their choice of candidate, but also on whether or not voting and being registered is worthwhile - as opposed to basically running away after shouting it at me. Ah well.
The most positive thing about the whole experience was the people we did register. The two of us working together registered 9 people to vote, as well as sending home 3 registration cards that people will hopefully fill out, even if you can never know, so one can't really count it. It only sounds like a couple people, but we were in the field for not quite three hours - that's three people an hour, not counting the ones we sent home.
We registered a retiree who's never registered or voted in his entire life, but this election has made him want to take that step. We registered a lady who just gained her citizenship three months ago, and, if she hadn't come across us in the park, would probably still be mystified about how to register to vote in the country that's now officially her country. We registered a young man newly turned 18 who was out with his whole family to enjoy the day and, when his mom saw our signs, she dragged him over to us and made him sit down and fill everything out. They even took a picture of him filling out his card with our Obama signs next to him while he gave them a thumbs up.
2/3 of everyone we registered were new Democrats, with a new true Independant (the retired gentleman), a new member of the Peace Party, and even a new Republican also joining our folders. The Republican, a Latino gentleman who ran up calling 'McCain! McCain!' in a loud voice, was very sweet and had us both chuckling. My fellow worker asked him politely as she was assisting him with his form why he liked McCain, and he told her that he acted like a very kind man. Obama is very kind, too, she replied. He then looked around for a moment and said, almost apologetically, that Obama was a black man. My co-volunteer, too kind for words, said with very gentle reproach, that that was not at all a very good reason to dislike a candidate. They left it at that and continued to fill out the form. We got him registered, and he was very proud of it, and I can only hope that there was a bit of gentle persuasion mixed with a quiet attempt to understand him and reach out that he might've seen or felt and it might later persuade him to think better about his choice. Actually, one of my hopes is that, no matter what party each person chose, they remember that it was our campaign offering, no matter what affiliation, to get people ready to vote for the candidate of their choice.
We finally left - it was getting later than we should've been out, and we wanted to get back and turn our things in. We both felt that our number seemed low, considering so many people had been out for the two events. But we'd seen a number of other volunteers at the location as well, and hopefully they also got a number of the people we weren't able to catch. When we did return to the rally point, we found out that we'd done very well between us! Although it wasn't by any means the highest number of cards turned in, considering that some people turned in only one or none at all, 9 was a decent gathering!
I feel very proud, not just to have done work finally on the ground for the campaign, but also to have really done a service for other citizens. I really hope that anyone faced with us today enjoyed our spirit and the pride that not just the pair of us but everyone who was out working in LA and across the nation displayed getting out there and doing a real public service. Congratulations, anyone else who got out there today and rallied for Vote for Change. This is only the first day of months of work, but it was a spectacular one.