This past weekend local Down Home chapters launched a massive voter turnout effort in the small towns and rural places that make our state.
Down Home members spent the summer interviewing candidates, sending out questionnaires, and interviewing candidates running in their home towns and counties. They have now voted on their endorsements and endorsed 34 candidates up and down the ballot across North Carolina, including 8 Down Home members.
Voting is important, but so is making sure that other people know about our candidates! That’s why our Down Home chapters launched a huge voter turnout program on Saturday.
Our chapters from the mountains to the coast launched their first Super Saturday event, bringing together staff and volunteers to canvass in rural communities. Most of these small towns are overlooked by the big political parties and large campaigns, and people answering their doors frequently say “No one has ever come to ask for my vote before.”
However, our canvassers don’t only ask people to vote– they ask local residents about what matters to them. One volunteer in the Alamance office says she spoke with a woman who was concerned over the price of her medicine and knew many others who couldn’t afford to go to the doctor. “I listened to her and then told her that there are people she could vote for who would fight for Medicaid expansion for North Carolina– she seemed surprised, and relieved.”
That’s “the power of the doors” as Down Home’s Field Director, Vicente Cortez, describes it. “Door knocking and engaging with your neighbors is the most impactful thing we can do. It’s real, it’s honest and it is what will change elections.”
On our first Super Saturday in rural North Carolina, our folks knocked on over a 1,500 doors in small towns and had nearly 370 conversations with voters. “The impact is clear, people are hungry for information and conversation,” said another volunteer in the Alamance office.
Interested in volunteering at a Super Saturday event near you? We’d love to have you. Find our events listed here.
Days until the election!
- 00Days
- 00Hours
- 00Minutes
- 00Seconds
