These are more energizing scenes from my long weekend of canvassing in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania with Senator Cory Booker, Sue Altman, Mondaire Jones, and for Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz.
Now election day is here! My heart is full of hope. The great Congressman John Lewis said so beautifully, “Freedom isn’t a state; it’s an act.” So is democracy. So is joy.
Voting is how we reaffirm and recommit to our well-being, to each other, to the world, and for our collective future. It is how we evolve this grand experiment of a country. It is, like our favorite characters in novels and throughout history, deeply flawed and deeply loved. Today is the day we exercise our right to make it better for all of us. Please vote.
Early voting starts in New York and New Jersey today, October 26, 2024. In New York City, we have a number of races and proposals on our ballot. Here are informational links about them. Thank you for being a voter, encouraging your friends, family members, and neighbors to vote, and participating in our democracy.
Early voting days, times, and location
Saturday, October 26, 2024 — Sunday, November 3, 2024. Hours vary by day
The location of your early voting polling station may be different than your election day polling station.
November 5th is the last day to postmark your early mail ballot and absentee ballot return envelope. It is also the last day to deliver a ballot in person at the Board of Elections or drop it off at a poll site. Find your poll site at https://findmypollsite.vote.nyc/
Candidates on the New York City ballot this year
We will be voting for candidates for the following offices: President and Vice President U.S. Senate Congressional district State Assembly State Senate
Here is the name and direct link to each proposal that explains what it means as well as arguments for and against it. Proposal 1 aims to prevent discrimination and enhance civil rights. Proposals 2 — 6 grant increased power to the mayor and the mayor’s appointees.
On Sunday, I hopped on a bus in New York and made my way to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to canvas for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz with the organization Swing Left. This is the first time I’ve ever gone door-to-door for a candidate and I wanted to tell you about my positive experience. With only 3 weeks left before Election Day on Tuesday, November 5th , and early voting and vote by mail already in full swing in many states, now is the time to do everything we can to get out the vote.
Structure of the day: At 9:30am, our bus left from 34th Street and 11th Avenue in Manhattan near the Jacob Javits Center.
We received training on the bus with a sample script that we were encouraged to make our own. We used an app called Minivan that had our voter lists and the script (more on that below). We pair up with another volunteer on the bus to canvass together.
At 11:15am, we arrived at campaign headquarters in Northeast Philadelphia. We had one more quick training with the campaign team, downloaded our voter lists into the Minivan app, and someone drove us to the area where we were going to canvas.
At 12 noon, we started working down our voter lists, knocking on each door. We had a lot of wonderful conversations with voters about the issues that mattered to them. We encouraged them to vote and explained that Pennsylvania is one of the swing states in this election that would likely decide the final outcome. A lot of voters didn’t know how much their vote matters!
There were a few people who weren’t interested in talking to us. That’s okay. We thanked them, wished them a good Sunday, and left. With limited time, we have to focus on those who want to engage. If people weren’t home, we left literature for them at their door.
We kept track of our conversations and if someone was home or not in the Minivan app so that the campaign got all of this information. Once we were comfortable, we split our lists — I took one side of the street and my buddy took the other. We visited 205 homes with 322 voters. (Collectively, our bus visited 4,000 homes!)
At 4pm, we finished our lists. Someone from the campaign picked us up and brought us back to headquarters. We gave feedback to the campaign. Once everyone returned, we got on the bus, debriefed with the Swing Left bus captains, and were back in New York by 8pm.
Messaging: We were not there to be policy experts. The basic script is to knock on the door, smile, state our name, and explain we’re with the Harris Walz campaign. Then we hit the 3 main points: thank them for being a voter, explain we’re talking to their neighbors who support Kamala and Tim, and ask them about the details of their plan to vote (where, when, and how they plan to vote). We could also ask who they support and why, and which issues matter most to them. What matters most in this work is listening to these voters, and sharing our stories about why we support Kamala and Tim. Before leaving, we thanked them for their time.
Research shows door-to-door canvassing is the single best way to engage voters and turn them out at the polls, increasing voter turnout for a candidate by as much as 10%. Phone banking as well as writing letters and postcards to voters are also effective ways to reach voters, increasing turnout between 1% and 3%. While that might sound small, remember that this is a tight election and every single vote matters. With 21 days left, the race is on. Do everything you can to turn out the vote!
Christa Avampato 