Post-election Report

TAKE OFF
One week before the election my husband and I boarded a Jet Blue flight to Tampa International Airport for our assignment to the Obama office in St. Petersburg, Florida. At Camp Obama we requested St. Petersburg because my brother (to my dismay, a Republican) has a home on Tampa Bay and thus we had a place to stay. Even at 6:30 a.m. the CNN broadcast on my Jet Blue screen showed the challenge – Florida is undecided.



OBAMA HQ ST. PETERSBURG
The Obama offices are lined up in 5 storefronts and identified as the Campaign for Change, one of 40+ offices in Florida. It was located several blocks from downtown St. Pete between a homeless shelter and a soup kitchen. The store arrangement was like a Moliere comedy – in one door for phones, in another for data input, in another to speak with field organizers, in another for storage. There was a lot of in and out all the time, and several local ‘characters’ seemed to enjoy the excitement. Overall the atmosphere was busy, industrious, and serious.

Volunteers and visitors had free access to all the offices. One morning a very large man with a purse entered and demanded “to see the person in charge.” He was there to hassle a young female volunteer about a potential ride to the polls, but his words and agitation brought to mind those of the man who entered the Little Rock, Arkansas office during the primaries, demanding to see the person in charge, and then shooting and killing the head of the Arkansas Democratic Party. I admit, I looked around nervously for the exits and later pondered the risks that come with an open democracy.

ST. PETE AND PINELLAS COUNTY
St Petersburg is a city on Tampa Bay that is valiantly trying to resurrect it’s boarded up downtown, but the improvements are only blocks deep from the Bay. After that it is empty storefronts, used furniture shops, and tattoo parlors. [Note to urban planners: the Tampa Bay Rays stadium is downtown. Our visit was just after the Tampa-losing World Series and the only sign of activity around the stadium was the tear down of temporary refreshment carts and souvenir stands. There was very little evidence that the stadium, had improved the decaying downtown.]

The population of St Pete is 250,000. The average salary is $35,000. Voter registration for all of Pinellas county is 238,469 Republicans, 251,628 Democrats, 157,050 other, for a voter total of 647,138.

WE SET OUT
Our flight landed at 8:30 a.m. and by 11 a.m. we were at HQ getting our assignment – CANVASS. There were whole neighborhoods that had yet to be contacted and Pinellas County was one that could go either way. Voters particularly the independents leaning toward Obama and the seldom voters, needed a reminder.

The Google maps were ready, the voter lists waiting. Those to be canvassed
were Obama or Obama leaners, pre-sifted by phone banks and matched against voter registration files using Vote Builder software. Our lists indicated age, sex, party, who was a seldom voter (SV) or a super seldom voter (SSV) if a mail ballot had been requested (VBN). We also knew if the voter was military.

Using our GPS system we navigated to the assigned neighborhood – a whole swath of northern St. Pete made up of flat ‘spread finger’ spits of land with canals separating the fingers. We came up with a strategy of finding a central spot to park the car and walking together from there. My husband is an excellent map reader and space planner and we plotted the most effective route before starting out, but we got thrown off course because house number 100 on a street could be on the other side of a canal from house number 101 and backtracking through the “fingers” was the only way to get there. We walked from 5-8 miles a day. To keep our spirits up we fantasized that we were contestants in the Amazing Race.

Northern St Pete is a middle class bastion, and we found no way to generalize if Republicans or Democrats occupied the homes. (The one identifiable McCain appeal was that Obama was anti-small business.) A McCain sign in the front yard could be right next to an Obama home. The homes themselves are modest and close together, but on the water and frequently with a dock and boat. The neighborhoods are litter free, quiet, and spill out to 8 lane major roads with every conceivable franchise: McDonalds, Subway, Walgreen, Starbucks, Publix (supermarket), repeating every 4 miles or so. Put this together with the warm Florida weather and it is the American dream.

Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, that dream is shared by old settlers and those new to this country. Judging from the names on the voter lists, the neighborhoods were comprised of Croatians, Indians, South Americans and some that had lived in Florida for years. Yet, some common denominators were apparent: slippers outside the doors of Indians and Eastern Europeans, young families, a pick up in the driveway, no one home but 2 small dogs to excitedly greet doorbell ringers. It appears we are a hard working nation of many faces.

Later in the week our lists were narrowed to Obama voters only and we strictly followed a get out the vote script. Rather than meeting at Obama HQ we met at a volunteer’s home. She had turned her driveway and garage into volunteer central.

All in all we passed more than 1500 homes and knocked on 350+ doors, leaving door hangers for those not at home and reminding those at home to vote. We eliminated McCain supporters from our lists.

At the end of the day lists were tallied and returned to HQ for updating the voter data base.

One astonishing job was the ability to collect outstanding vote by mail ballots. Most early voters had already sent these ballots to the Election Clerk, but one young mother, homebound with a sick child, was grateful that we could take it. Upon returning to HQ it was handled with care, logged and placed in a safe to be hand delivered to the Election Clerk. We learned that collected ballots must be hand delivered and not stamped and mailed, as putting a stamp on the ballot amounted to buying a vote.

PEOPLE WE MET – A SAMPLE
A very polite retired SAC commander who commended us for or civic duty, but thought a transition to Obama would encourage extremists. Caveat: his wife was voting for Obama.

Undecided voter who did not like either candidate – we ran into this several times

Middle age woman who said she was undecided, but engaged us in an anti-Obama discussion insisting that his campaign was financed by the Iranians.

A curious 10 year old who needed help with a flat bicycle tire. He told us he was for McCain because “My Daddy is for him.”

Well dressed man, “I don’t vote.”

Man talking on behalf of his 20 year old daughter, “She will vote for McCain because her mother is a small business owner.”

Well dressed woman in food store with big round button, “Say no to socialism, No to Obama.”

Man in nice house, “I am a multi-millionaire and I want Obama for President.”

Man in home with 5 voters, “Everyone here voted for Obama.”

Women in spa robe Sunday morning, “I voted early and saw a man helping a challenged girl vote. All of us on line cried and clapped when she indicated to mark her ballot for Obama.


EARLY VOTING OCTOBER 20 – NOVEMBER 4

Early voting (as opposed to the Massachusetts system of absentee ballots) is encouraged in Florida and about 1/3 of the Pinellas county voters cast their ballots before Nov. 4. That was over 250,000 votes. One can vote by mail by requesting a mail ballot or go to the specially designated early voting locations. Here’s where Florida politics influenced the scene. In Pinellas, with a Republican Election Clerk, there were 3 early voting places with only one in the population center of St. Pete. In a neighboring country with a Democratic Election Clerk there were 11 early voting places. Nevertheless, the lines were 1-4 hours long throughout the State, and to Gov Crist’s credit he ordered early voting hours extended. However, again it was up to each county Election Clerk to determine when the additional hours would be scheduled, with some counties adding 12 hours on Saturday and no Sunday hours, and others adding 8 hours on Saturday and 4 hours on Sunday. It was very confusing and even the TV news stations had difficulty giving the correct information.

One of our assignments was to ‘work’ the early voting lines for more volunteers. With clipboard in hand we had a good system of signing up volunteers and leaving them with reminder slips of when and where to report the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before the election.

Surprisingly early voter exit polls were broadcast on TV and the Sunday before Election Day things were looking positive in the Tampa/St Pete region, but Obama HQ took nothing for granted.

McCain % Obama % - Early Voting Exit Polls

49 44 Men
42 52 Women


39 56 Young voters
46 46 Middle age voters
47 45 Older voters

72 21 Evangelicals
53 42 Catholics
20 75 Jews

39 47 Independent voters

GET OUT THE VOTE (GOTV) CONCERT
Along the lines of taking nothing for granted a large (22,000) Get Out the Vote for Obama rally and free Jimmy Buffet concert was planned for the Sunday before Election Day. The Wednesday preceding the concert radio stations announced tickets were available for pick up at what turned out to be a thoughtfully planned location – one block from the downtown early voting location. As you picked up tickets you were encouraged to vote.

The concert itself was rocking. Buffet was on stage for over an hour singing the favorites, some with words for the Obama campaign. There was dancing in the seats and Obama signs swaying. Jimmy Buffet is a very big deal in Florida and guests came in straw hats, parrot headdresses, and flowered shirts. There was a certain dissonance in mixing the ‘no drama’ Obama campaign with the exuberant Buffet crowd, but it was a good time.

RE-ENTRY
After all the literal leg work in Florida it was good to get back to Massachusetts to support our local and national candidates with signs at the polls and our own election eve party.

As it turned out Obama took Pinellas county with 243,994 (53.5%) to McCain’s 206, 909 (45.4%), a respectable margin, but we like to think that getting out the vote for Obama made a difference.

Joan Blair

Wayland, MA
November 17, 2008