i survived election phone banking in pennsylvania
here's how I did it + you can too!
I live in Pennsylvania, so according to almost every major rollerpollster and real and fake news channel (they all agree on something!), my state will bring the (nearly) deciding electoral votes to Congress in determining the outcome of the upcoming presidential election. There are ways for each candidate to win without Pennsylvania, but those are hard paths to victory. So, in a world where we all have to do our part - democracy takes work to protect, and entropy breeds chaos without energy to maintain stability - shouldn't I do something?!
I contemplated a lot of options. When I heard about the non-partisan work of the Environmental Voter Project on the
podcast, it felt like the right fit. In short, EVP uses deep data analytic mining to identify registered voters who prioritize climate but rarely vote, and volunteers work to turn them into regular voters, with no questions about voting choices or encouragement to vote for a particular candidate.
Given what we know about the disingenuous climate denial spewing from the Red Wave that Tampon Tim is trying to stop and all the Big Oil juggernauts funding that flow 🙄 environmental voters are very likely to be Democrats. You know where I stand if you've spent a hot minute with any of my work. However, I like that EVP takes a non-partisan approach to communicating with prospective voters.
Yesterday, I spent an hour and a half calling registered voters in Pennsylvania. I sat on my bed with a laptop and my phone, using an auto-dialing system that does not share my personal information to connect with some prospective voters. I sought to inform them about mail-in ballot voting and offered to share more information about how to apply if they were interested. That's it! If they weren't interested, I thanked them for their time and moved on.
It's a little bit of climate action, a little bit of democracy advocacy, a little bit of community building, and a lot about getting the word out that mail-in ballots are 'a thing' (because surveys indicate that 46% of the target group was unaware of the option). Honestly, it was very simple. I was nervous, but the tasks were not hard.
EVP offered brief training, simple scripts, an easy-to-use system, and plenty of people in a database to call. The auto-dialing software system did most of the heavy lifting.
Some people who picked up the phone were interested in more information. Some people hung up on me. Some already had plans to vote. Some people didn't want to vote. One person told me he wouldn't be voting because "both candidates are shit."
One man spoke to me for a few minutes about his family, who he was voting for, why it mattered, and how he hoped that this candidate would follow through on promises because most candidates in the past weren't doing much for anyone except the elites. He mentioned he hoped this election was 'for the people'. 💛
And then he thanked me for listening to him and letting him vent. So many people just want to feel heard! I kindly thanked him for voting and hoped he had a good day. Calling someone to be a listening ear and letting them feel heard isn't a bad gig.
If you feel compelled to support democracy in our country, getting out the vote is one of the most essential ways to get that done. If you’re skeptical about elections in our country, doing the work to help make them happen fairly, transparently, and inclusively might be the key to rebuilding trust in one of the most integral institutions in our country. Consider volunteering for the Environmental Voting Project (or a similar organization that aligns with your values) to help more people in our country feel informed and empowered about the easiest ways to vote fairly and freely.
Democracy is precious and worth the effort. Are you in?
