How to lose a guy in 60 days

July 16, 2024 12:37 PM

I have a couple months of paid time off coming up. I will probably spend the time watching netflix and eating cheetos, but I might spend the time trying to help save American democracy. If you had two months oppose Trump and Trumpism, how, where, and when would you spend it?

If I commit a big block of time to a campaign can I get a role that's more interesting than door-knocking? I'm a cloud engineer -- do campaigns maintain technical volunteer corps, or is the tech work all done by full-time pros? If I'm willing to relocate are there more critical races or causes than the Biden campaign?

Bonus points: Convince me that volunteering for a political campaign actually helps. I've done a little bit of door-knocking and get-out-the-vote work in the past, and am somewhat conflicted about the experience. The thing is, political campaigns are annoying! All those junk flyers, and spam email, and doorbells ringing in the middle of the afternoon, everyone hates that and it's hard for me to imagine that it actually helps. And yet... I guess it must help, somehow? Maybe?

posted by eraserbones to Law & Government (18 answers total)

Bonus points: Convince me that volunteering for a political campaign actually helps.:
“I don’t want everybody to vote,” Paul Weyrich, an influential conservative activist, said in 1980. “As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”
~ The Guardian: ...Republicans would ‘never’ be elected again if it was easier to vote
posted by HearHere at 12:48 PM on July 16 [10 favorites]

Do you have any senators or representatives in your state or district or nearby who are in competitive districts? I think that would be a great way to nudge the needle.
posted by bluedaisy at 12:49 PM on July 16 [4 favorites]

Before the 2016 election I helped people get registered to vote. I was living in a low income and predominantly Mexican neighborhood--with a lot of neighbors who may be scared to touch any paperwork at all because they or someone in their family is undocumented, or may not have a computer at home, or may have low literacy in English. I am just a hair above entirely useless in Spanish but I can use Google translate and I did have a computer, and I wanted to be a little useful.

I sat on my stoop in the evenings and just asked folks walking by if they were registered to vote, and if they weren't but were eligible I sat with them while they used my computer to get registered and explained vote by mail the best I could. My downstairs neighbor at the time was also the local tamale lady and I (maybe unconvincingly, but I tried at least) asked her to tell people to come back and see me in the evenings after work if they bought tamales during the day.

I think I only got 4 or 5 people registered and who knows if they actually went and voted, and I'm in Chicago so it's pointless for most of the major races anyway, but the point was it made me feel better, made me feel more connected to my community, and hopefully will make an impact by accretion, as those folks go home and talk to their friends.

With more time and not having to fit around a work schedule I might try to do something similar but better planned in an area with historically low turnout.
posted by phunniemee at 12:51 PM on July 16 [14 favorites]

I'd focus on registering voters and fighting voter suppression. Not sure where you live but in NC there's a great nonpartisan group called You Can Vote. I'd guess that other states have similar groups. For example, there's Fair Fight in GA. You could contact the Democratic party as well and ask if they need cloud engineer volunteers.

There are also local races in lots of states that you can get involved with. For example, the NC candidate for governor for the Republicans is absolutely awful and Josh Stein is a gem.

Don't give in to apathy! Even if the outcome many of us fears happens at the top of the ticket, there are thousands of other important races across the country. These are the people that are going to be on the frontlines of protecting democracy the next four years if Trump is elected.
posted by JuliaKM at 12:52 PM on July 16 [11 favorites]

Bonus points: Convince me that volunteering for a political campaign actually helps.

My cousin is based in Pittsburgh and was a very active political volunteer in 2020 for the Dem side. Pennsylvania was considered to be a key win for Biden.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:05 PM on July 16 [5 favorites]

Cheetos vs. volunteering is not a binary! If you did 5 2-hour canvassing shifts over the next 2 months, you would have done more than your duty. If you did 10 you would be an absolute all-star. 20 hours of volunteering over 2 months leaves a lot of hours for Netflix.

Yes, canvassing really does matter. This election will probably be decided by a few thousand voters in a couple of states. If you are able to knock doors in one of them, you should. My part of Wisconsin is very blue and very high-turnout, and yet every single time I canvass, I encounter someone who didn't know they could register at the polls, or whose kid is in college and needs an absentee ballot, or who moved here recently and isn't sure if they have an ID they can use to vote.

If you can't get to a swing state, do one of these two things:

1. Figure out a state or local candidate vaguely near you who you feel excited about. They absolutely need your help and sometimes its easier to talk to people at doors about someone they might not have been aware of.

2. Talk to actual people you know who might be low-propensity voters, especially if they are young or have never voted before. Be authentic and open and a good listener. Figure out what their barriers are and try to help address them. The impact you can have on someone you know is orders of magnitude higher than what you can achieve with strangers.
posted by juliapangolin at 1:10 PM on July 16 [9 favorites]

Best answer: Possibly you would be a fit with Tech for Campaigns, which matches tech volunteers with campaigns.
posted by NotLost at 1:12 PM on July 16 [13 favorites]

I live in Philadelphia and voter turnout here is a key to winning PA's electoral votes and the entire election. If I were you, I'd spend two months in Philly, volunteering with Indivisible Philadelphia helping them get out the vote. That could mean everything from helping them with tech stuff to organizing canvassing events to getting out and knocking on doors yourself. The good thing about knocking on doors here, especially as we get closer to election day and your address list will be made up of Dem voters, is that you aren't trying to convince people to pick one candidate over the other, you are just nudging people to vote.
posted by mcduff at 1:13 PM on July 16 [3 favorites]

As far as which race(s) to put your time into, consider this:
Regardless of cause, the possibility of both major party nominees falling short of the 270 electoral votes needed to win makes holding control of U.S. House delegations in the states critical for both parties. This is because the party controlling the majority of delegations across the 50 states could effectively elect the president in a contingent election — regardless of whether their preferred candidate won the popular vote or even a plurality of electoral votes.
posted by NotLost at 1:20 PM on July 16 [3 favorites]

I teach at a public regional commuter college in Georgia. I always appreciate so much the people who show up to our campus and stand around outside to sign our students up to vote. Our mostly Black, Latino, and Asian students, many both first generation Americans and college students, are among those groups that are absolutely key in increasing turnout in a place like Georgia.

Otherwise, I would say target your efforts somewhere they'll be effective. Millions of dollars from outside Georgia were wasted on Marjorie Taylor Green's opponent in 2022 when he never, ever had a chance of beating her. Meanwhile, George Santos somehow got elected on Long Island because the Democrats just ignored that race. If you travel somewhere to help, make sure it's in an actually competitive race where your work can really make a difference.
posted by hydropsyche at 2:03 PM on July 16 [2 favorites]

I think Tech for Campaigns is an excellent idea for you. You could also do some canvassing along with it.
posted by jgirl at 2:05 PM on July 16 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Ooh, Tech for Campaigns even says '6-8 week project' on the front page. Very on the mark!
posted by eraserbones at 2:09 PM on July 16 [4 favorites]

Bonus points: Convince me that volunteering for a political campaign actually helps.

A thought experiment: how will you feel if in November, Trump would have lost but for a single battleground state that he won by 100 votes?

If you are looking back on time spent eating Cheetos instead of time spent defeating the Cheeto, how will you feel about that?

If you are willing to relocate to a battleground state, and work on what the campaign there thinks that they most need from someone with your skill set, you'll be able to look back without regrets.

Or if nothing else, pretty much anything is going to give you more personal growth and better health than sitting on your couch eating snack food for two months. If this is the thing most motivating you to not just watch netflix -- why not try? What's the downside of trying your best to help? Maybe you will miss a netflix series that becomes unavailable but that's probably not going to be something you regret 4 years from now.
posted by yohko at 2:15 PM on July 16

Agree with hydropsyche that registering first time voters, commuter school/community college etc, is GREAT. Volunteering for local campaigns is also a fantastic way to move the needle, increase the pipeline of potential candidates for higher offices, and motivate people to actually vote (since even in a so-called blue state, a vote for city council can be crucial).

It sounds like since you have a tech background, going to tech route will be easiest for you, but I would suggest adding a teeny bit extra of in-person interaction like voter registration.
posted by spamandkimchi at 2:20 PM on July 16 [1 favorite]

There are local and state candidates you can help; that's where future candidates get experience. You can drive while the candidate knocks on doors, chats w/ voters. It allows them to visit more voters. You can write postcards to voters in contested races, to voters who are not reliable about voting. Make phone calls, send texts.

I got active again in 2020 because, Trump. Made a couple close friends, have stayed active, making a small difference, I hope.

Project 2025 is very bad for people. There are groups publicizing it and talking to voters; this is important.

On social media, re-post quality content. No one know how much this helps, but good memes are like ads, and ads do make a difference.

Talk to people you know who are non-Trumpy. Help them be sure they're registered, make sure they vote.

2 years ago I worked with a great candidate against a genuinely awful Extreme religious Right hater. Our excellent candidate was a replacement candidate for a guy who dropped out of the race. Our guy lost by 23 votes and it was heartbreaking. In local politics, it matters so much. I hope you give it a try.

Work for a polling place on election day. It's democracy in action, people are fun, you get paid, you get to keep it honest.
posted by theora55 at 5:53 PM on July 16 [3 favorites]

You've gotten some great answers above, including a Best Answer, but if you don't mind some more info:

I have a friend who, for years, has taken her vacation time around election time and used it to go work for campaigns.

I asked her if she had any suggestions for you, and here's what she said:

YES, canvassing and phone banking DO make a difference. The science says so! Here's a good summary of the studies, with links to more: Get Out The Vote With These Research-Backed Strategies (callhub.io)

I would point folks to this: Volunteer Opportunities, Events, and Petitions Near Me · Mobilize

Mobilize began as an app that was touted as the Tindr of politics. It's a way to match people who want to volunteer to opportunities either geographically near them or remote opportunities. I do all my phone banking from home, with my computer and laptop.

And tech skills are very needed in these spaces. Most volunteers are (cough) old Luddite ladies like me who need a lot of hand-holding about Zoom, the various calling platforms, etc. Also, canvassing involves using an app called PDI, which is pretty awesome. Anyone who is comfortable with that, and can show other people how to use it, are worth their weight in GOLD.

She said she would have even more thoughts later, but I wanted to share this with you now.

I can tell you that when I did phone banking in 2016 and 2020, I, too, worried about annoying people, but I also had some great conversations with people (especially in Georgia), and I ended up SO MUCH MORE enthusiastic about the candidates I was promoting, and just knowing how many other people were out there trying to get out the vote and promote candidates who really wanted to make a difference made me feel a lot more optimistic about the country.

Thank you so much for asking this. I hope you do get to do some tech volunteering, and I hope you ALSO get some vacation time in!
posted by kristi at 7:18 PM on July 16 [4 favorites]

You could volunteer for a textbank and do that while lounging around at home. It's all scripted so you're basically just skimming responses and selecting the appropriate follow-up script. Occasionally you might need to type something if they ask a question not covered by the script.

Campaigns still have human volunteers doing this work because legally a human needs to be pushing the send button. (There's a zillion more regulations for full automated texting.)
posted by Jacqueline at 11:17 PM on July 16 [1 favorite]

Watching Netflix and eating cheetos sounds great! Can you do that AND write postcards to get out the vote? I also find flyers and phone calls annoying but a hand-written postcard at least gets a second look in our house.

Here's the pitch: "Postcards to Swing States adds up to 1.3% to Democratic turnout. The program this year will add more than 140,000 votes, which is three times the amount President Biden won by in 2020. You pick the state and how many postcards you think you can write by October. Sign up at turnoutpac.org/postcards."

I've asked for several batches and fill them out while waiting in restaurants, at bus stops, on a plane ride. Bonus: people ask what you are doing and you can talk about voting in an organic way.
posted by olopua at 8:34 AM on July 17 [3 favorites]