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What it’s like Campaigning in Reno, NV

IMG_3870By Alan Hirsch 

I am one of the hundreds of Davis volunteers from Indivisible Yolo and Sister District called to get involved in this election. I share this as in a few days the experience of this moment will be forgotten in the joy or anguish of Tuesday’s election results. 

We drove from Davis to Reno to canvass homes for Harris the last week of October. Our group of five is door knocking on a prescreened list of likely Democratic voters. The Nevada Democratic Party assigns us neighborhoods, and we use an app on our cell phones. On our first day we ran into other groups canvasing the same turfs. Many homes already had Harris literature under their door mats. Our first day of canvassing was Monday, not a weekend. 

We look at the canvassing history of voters in the app. This history shows 10 or even 25 knocks, texts, and call attempts since beginning in July.  Almost all contacts indicate "not home."  A few are marked as voted so we don’t knock. Less than ¼ of the people answer the door (curse the ring doorbells) and of those who answer about ½ have voted already. We make sure everyone has a plan to vote, a where and when and know the hours the early polling places are open. 

Washoe County NV, which is 1/25 the population of Bay Area, is attracting many volunteers.   

We wonder what our efforts will mean. Will our hours here make a difference? 

I see just one piece of Trump literature, a door hanger, cut out in shape of the state of California. It reads "Don't let Harris turn the US into California.” “California” is now a GOP shorthand meme for lawless dystopian hell hole. Socialist, even Communist.

We knock on doors alone to cover more ground but share our stories when we gather for meals.

In 6 person-hours of canvasing on our first day I surfaced a young Hispanic man not registered to vote and I explained how he could still register and vote. Another young man was convinced Trump will win so why bother to vote. I shared that Trump’s derogatory remarks had offended a key demographic of Pennsylvania voters. I stressed that his vote would matter.

This is the work.

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Comments

5 responses to “What it’s like Campaigning in Reno, NV”

  1. Nancy Price

    Alan, thanks for your campaigning in NV!
    Nancy Price

    Reply
  2. Alan C. Miller

    “We wonder what our efforts will mean.”
    So do I
    Will our hours here make a difference?
    I don’t know, but it never fails to amaze me how freaked out people get over the national election that some are even willing to travel to other (swing) states to try to make a difference. Imagine if that same energy/time were put into local politics, where one actually might make a difference? Now I don’t mean A.H. as such as he clearly puts time into local politics (even if I disagree with him often, I can’t criticize his not doing so), but I know others who travel out of state who are just obsessed only with the national outcome.
    “California” is now a GOP shorthand meme for lawless dystopian hell hole.”
    And . . . ?

    Reply
  3. Ron O

    I don’t know, but it never fails to amaze me how freaked out people get over the national election that some are even willing to travel to other (swing) states to try to make a difference.
    It might in a swing state. What I don’t understand are the people who get worked up in states where the outcome is already determined, and then limit their activity/comments within that state. Arguing with people in those non-swing states where it won’t make any difference whatsoever.
    Imagine if that same energy/time were put into local politics, where one actually might make a difference?
    They do get involved in places like Davis. (Not sure how much difference it makes there, either.)
    But what I’ve noticed is that there are almost always “local” or “state” issues which will (usually) have a far greater impact within those locales compared to whomever wins the presidency. With some notable exceptions (e.g., trying to get an abortion in a state where it’s now highly restricted).
    There’s several examples of “impactful” measures in California on this year’s ballot. (However, I’m still not entirely convinced that the proposed sales tax increase rises to a level of importance in Davis.)

    Reply
  4. South of Davis

    I’m wondering if Alan can share “Trump’s derogatory remarks had offended a key demographic of Pennsylvania voters.”
    I don’t have any problem with “name calling” (since you can’t really say anything negative about someone without some people calling it “name calling”).
    I do smile every time I hear my left of center friends call Trump a “racist, misogynistic, homophobe” seconds before they say that they are “offended” by his derogatory remarks and name calling.
    P.S. I’m not saying that Trump would make a difference but that door hang tag is dead on and CA has higher overall inflation, higher gas prices, higher overall taxes, more crime and more sanctuary cities than NV.
    P.P.S. The quality of life in CA has been trending down for years, but I have to give a shout out to the city of Davis that after letting the homeless camp under the Olive bike ramp for close to two years kicked out the new group that moved in earlier this month…

    Reply
  5. Luanna Villanueva

    Thank you, Alan Hirsch, for canvassing in Nevada. You rock! Too bad swing states carry so much weight.

    Reply

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