Spent the day doing voter registraion for the Clinton/Kaine campaign.

[William769]

7 hours doing voter registration and did not register one person. Is this good news? Or bad news?

Sampling of the comments give by people asked, "I'm already registered to vote", "no, thank you", f*ck off!", I'm registered to vote but am not voting this year" (not sure why they wanted to share that with us).

I live in a very heavily red county (Lee) in Florida. The people did not know we were with the Hillary/Kaine campaign because we were just registering people to vote.

So everything I have said here, would you say that's good news or bad news for Democrats?

[democrattotheend]

1. Tough to say, but thanks for your effort!

I am surprised they have you doing voter registration in a red county.

How affluent/well educated is the area? If it is a high income, high education area, I would not expect to find a lot of unregistered voters. If it's a lower income/education area you would probably find more.

I decided in 2004 that doing voter registration or canvassing in rich neighborhoods is a waste of time. Most of those people are going to turn out anyway, and the houses are far apart and often have a lot of stairs or a long driveway to get to the house, which slows canvassers down significantly.

[citood]

3. Link to City-Data

http://www.city-data.com/county/Lee_County-FL.html

Seems upper middle class...went 58% Romney/41% Obama.

[William769]

5. Lee is a very large county and we have a mixture of both.

The area we were in was North Fort Myers which is rural not college educated.

We are only doing voter registration right now & not canvassing because we are coming up on the deadline to register to vote in Florida.

We were told the reason we are in this area today (because we asked the same question) & the answer they gave us was the campaign wants to leave no one behind. I think that's pretty bold & made me feel even better about this ticket.

[brer cat]

22. That is an impressive answer.

Most of the time, effort is spent where they will get the most bang for the buck. Leaving no one behind is a huge commitment, and it's thrilling to hear they are making it.

Thank you for all your work, Bill!

[politicaljunkie41910]

2. My guess is that is good news. Hopefully they are already registered to vote. They didn't know you

were with the Clinton/Kaine campaign, so they have no reason to be nasty to you. Those who were, are just ignorant. I would not be nasty to someone who was trying to save me some time, by helping me get registered.

But thanks for your service anyway. I hope this won't discourage you from trying again. My husband works the phone banks, and sometimes it can seem ungratifying but the vast majority of the time, he enjoys his day and the people there, and those he talks to on the phone.

[William769]

7. Thanks for the encourgement.

I feel the same way.

[misterhighwasted]

9. I've had the same experience phone banking.

I guess I get more polite acceptance as well as polite "No Thanks" dismissals, but most negative responses are simply hang ups.

Sometime it depends on the time of day or the day of the week.

Nov 8th cannot happen soon enough.

[pnwmom]

4. When you see someone out in public registering people, how do you know

it's not someone from the opposition who's going to throw the registration forms away?

[bettyellen]

6. Most states you can give them the form to return themselves .... Or

Info on how to do it online.

[pnwmom]

12. Thanks. n/t

[bettyellen]

18. Of course! Forms and how to instructions are things we can all give out.

I offer to "witness" their signature (as required) and turn it in or give them info how to.

[William769]

11. I guess trust.

Also on the form where you put party affiliation is optional. This was my first time to do voter registration so I am not sure How they would actually get your party affiliation.

[asiliveandbreathe]

8. Yes, when doing voter registration face to face

you can offer the form and have them fill it out - we don't tell people what party to choose..

now - when calling we identify who we are calling for - verify the person we are speaking to - and why we are calling - to verify (from our name list in database ) registered, if yes, we always tell them thank you - review last days of registration with them as an fyi - info to check registration, if they are not sure, .. we also tell them if they are not registered how they can do that as well..

We also ask if they have the time to volunteer to make calls...

Thank you for all you have done.7 hours is a lot..

.be well..and yes, we have feet on the street..mostly at librarys, events, at grocery store - where there are a lot of people..if door to door we never go alone..

[William769]

13. Thank you for the tips.

[bettyellen]

10. Try w a friend and a card table on a busy spot during an event or commute transfer

The friend will make it less awkward. Have some lemonade or a bowl of candies or items to give away.
All of that draws people in.
You can also print out some recent relevant political articles for people to take away.
Last but not least - THANK YOU!!!

[William769]

14. & thank you.

[bettyellen]

17. Of course! The first time I registered people I was nervous and it repelled people, lol

And when you're alone people feel more guilty / on the hook of they decide not to register and want to make a quick exit out of the situation.
As soon as an aquantaince showed up and chatted me up, others approached. Loads of people wanted info to take away but did not want to discuss. If you could manage a cooler full of mini water bottles and some other treats, you could bring in more people too. You need something else on that table aside from clipboards.
Also maybe handout slips with how to register online?
Ask friends to drop in for a while if you can't get a partner. Can't stress how much harder it is when you do it solo.

Good luck!

[geek tragedy]

15. bad news, low turnout favors Trump. Thanks for doing this, it's not wasted.

Even if you don't get anyone, the campaign can use your feedback as to what's happening on the ground.

[book_worm]

26. low turnout in a heavily red area

will help Trump?

[geek tragedy]

27. it's very rare for one party to have high turnout and the other low turnout

in general, if their turnout is low, so is ours. But we gain more from elevated turnout.

[OldHippieChick]

16. My son spent 2 hours doing the same thing in NC on

Saturday and was able to register 5 people. The campaign was thrilled. He's going back next Saturday. I usually do this but have been ill, so glad he can do it.

[voteearlyvoteoften]

19. Can you push vote by mail?

Huge senior population in Lee and Collier and many may not vote if they have to stand.
And Thanks for your work!!!!!

[NCTraveler]

20. Depending where in Lee County I'm not sure how much weight I would put behind it.

Otherwise I would say it's bad news. Not necessarily for either campaign but the country as a whole.

Almost one in four are over the age of 65 there. Some places that's all you might encounter. I bet Romney took it by over 15. You touch on that in your op.

I really think places like the Ft. Myers area and the I-4 Cooridoor are going to be big for Clinton. I think turnout in those areas will be low. They clearly weren't interested in registering.

I don't think Trump will pull as many votes as Romney did in Lee County.

[liberal N proud]

21. It could be where you were registering

I have worked VR 3 different weekends and registered 9 voters.

One Friday night outside a high school football game I registered 5 in less than 2 hours.

I spent a Sunday afternoon targeting people who recently moved in to a couple of neighborhoods and got 3 more and one just canvassing this last Saturday.

That is actually considered exceptional.

[msongs]

23. never leave your completed form with somebody soliciting on the street. they can just toss it in

the trash and you will think you are registered but are not. and that happens quite a bit I suspect.

[mcar]

24. That seems positive, Bill

I'm guessing most of this electoral pie is already baked. The important thing is turnout. I know my Tea Party red central Florida county will go Trump, but I'm not seeing much enthusiasm (anecdotally speaking).

So, all are registered who want to be and let's get 'em out to vote. My 19yo first time voting son in Orlando says he'd vote HRC even if he knew she had 6 months to live. And he styles himself an independent.

[book_worm]

25. I'd say if it is heavily red it is good news especially if some of those folks say they are not

voting.

[greatauntoftriplets]

28. I had a similar experience some years ago doing volunteer registration.

Got only a handful of takers, even though I was doing this in a heavily Democratic Chicago neighborhood. Most were already registered, didn't have time, were not interested or just walked past and didn't respond.

[BobbyDrake]

29. It's no news. Sorry, but anecdotal incidents don't have national implications.

It could mean
1-Everyone you spoke to IS already registered to vote
2-Many people are not interested in the election for whatever reason
3-Some people don't want to register to vote at all
4-A combination of 1-3.

I'm going with #4