Want to Canvass? Three Scenes from a Canvass Outing

Every knock is different. That’s one reason I enjoy canvassing.

 It’s like a slot machine. You push the doorbell and wait a few seconds to see what turns up. You never know who you’ll meet and what reception you’ll get. Highs and lows come very quickly.

 SOMA Action’s Democracy Strikes Back campaign is organizing volunteers to knock doors in New Jersey and Pennsylvania now—and we need you to join us, even if you’ve never canvassed.  

Not on a DSB team? Sign up here.

 Door knocking is one of the most effective actions we can take to drive voter turnout in the critical upcoming elections. Research studies show canvassing boosts turnout by 2-3%. 

That means in the era of razor-thin elections, the people you meet, the doors you knock, the conversations you have, will make a genuine difference locally and nationally.

 We saw that in 2020 when Tom Malinowski won re-election by the closet margin in the country. That’s why Valyrie Laedlein and I were going door to door for him recently in Fanwood, NJ, a new part of his NJ-7th District.

It’s a cute, tree-lined town with tidy homes and very short driveways. It was mostly just a few strides from sidewalk to the front door of the 44 residences on our turf list. The air was cool. Graduation and birthday parties were underway in backyards. The hum of lawn mowers and smell of fresh cut grass filled the air.

 Scene One: Ouch!

We hit a string “no-one-home” houses. No surprise. We just marked the MiniVAN app and slipped the Malinowski brochure in the door or under the mat.

We kept pushing on, knowing from experience that our odds would turn soon, and that we’d get a series of fleeting encounters, some intense and meaningful. Others neutral or occasionally disheartening.

At one house, we were seeking an older woman, a registered Dem (like everyone on the list. We’re not visiting Republicans!). Her adult son answered the door and as we introduced ourselves his mother appeared from behind him.

She confirmed she was the voter in our file. She said she didn’t know about Malinowski and the redistricting. Valyrie asked if we could count on her support in November. 

“I’m not sure yet,” she said I handed her the brochure. “I’m not sure.” Then she quickly turned her back and headed down the darkened hallway. “I only care about one thing,” she announced, loudly. “Overturn Roe v. Wade!”

 Scene Two: Gulp

At another house, MiniVAN indicated we had three young adults registered as Dems. This could be good, we thought and knocked on the door.

A rotund guy, fiftyish, answered. He stepped out wearing a tight, faded yellow t-shirt emblazoned with, “Don’t Tread on Me—Culpeper Minutemen.” (Culpeper is in Virginia.)

None of the voters we sought, his adult kids, were at home. He chuckled and indicated he was a Republican. I think he said something about their mother or how they raised the kids. It was good natured, overall, even as I had steeled myself for something possibly hostile. But we all laughed at the mildly awkward situation, and he happily agreed to pass on the Malinowski literature.

Scene Three: Jackpot

Just about the very next house, we had four registered Dems, three of them young adults. Their mother answered the door and stepped out to chat, after moving her large dog out of the way.

She nodded positively. Yes, she knew Malinowski, understood the redistricting, and thanked us for canvassing. She said she realized the importance of this election and the need to engage voters. When we asked if she’d consider volunteering for the campaign, she said maybe. She’s always calling and emailing her representatives every week.

“Wow,” I replied, “that’s fantastic.” (I’m on a kick to understand how people develop better activist habits, so this interested me!)

“What do you do each week to maintain that habit? What’s your cue that causes you to take action?”

“I put a reminder in my Google Calendar for every Friday at 9 a.m.,” she said. “Then I call or email.” (Duh! Note to self: Don’t overthink these things!)

“And I have to say,” she continued, “I know it’s probably a form letter, but I always get a response from Cory Booker. His staff is really good about that.” 

She then added that she’d left quite a few messages for Mitch McConnell, and we commiserated over how much damage he’s inflicted on the judiciary.

As we left, she agreed she was the “precinct captain” of her home and she’d get the three adult children to vote Malinowski in November.

“We all have to contact our representatives,” she said. “That’s our basic duty as constituents, right? I mean, how do they know what we want if we don’t tell them?”

Why We Canvass

Indeed.  And how do we keep our democracy if people don't vote?

That's why we canvass: to remind people of the importance of voting.  And the best way to do that is by conversations, even with strangers, who soon become "neighbors."

You might think, how could two volunteers from SOMA visiting 44 houses change the outcome of the election? It’s the power of small numbers. When dozens of us locally, and thousands of us nationwide, are doing this every week until Nov. 8th, it will have a powerful impact. We did it in 2018. We did it in 2020. We can do it again.

Join us for a canvassing outing this summer. We’re door-knocking in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. If you’re not on a Democracy Strikes Back team, join one.