Good News from NC! Voter Registration says 48% of Dems didn't vote

[KoKo]

in 2000 Presidential Election....unbelievable...! We can now canvass these Dems on foot and by phone and if we can get 15% of those who didn't vote last time to the polls then NC could go for Kerry. This is from a "campaign insider."

Why they didn't vote...I have no idea. But, we were there for our canvassing training at the Precinct Level tonight and it looks like the "Triangle" can swing things for Kerry in NC.

We have really fired up people. The turnout was incredible. And, it's the former Dean/Kucinich folks who have cleaned up the voting records and made CD's so we have target Dems and Undecideds we can cover in our neighborhoods. They have been the energizers who got into the dusty outdated Party records and revised the training manuals and
got the party to start using e-mail to contact the activists.


Also we've got strong participation with ACT and GOTV working to register folks which is separate from the Dem Machine although there is now overlap of the folks in both organizations with the grassroots. We have our new Progressive Wing of the Party out there working with labor and that group has connections deep in the base of the Dem party here, although they were shunted to the sidelines for years.

If the Dem Party is as disorganized in many states as it was here in NC then I can understand why we are having problems at the grassroots level. The lack of computer knowledge, outdated records, and in general an "old boy, insider mentality" has hurt us against the Repug Party all over the South, I think.

We have a chance to get our 14 Electorial Vote to go for Kerry/Edwards! :dem:

[skooooo]

thank you for your work

[Lex]

1. And a compatible article to look at with this is:

.
Story in this week's paper:


Record voter turnout predicted

DURHAM, NC -- The man hadn't voted in years, but he knew he had registered -- in 1967 or 1968. How could he vote in November's election, he wanted to know.

Calls and e-mails like that have been streaming in to the Durham County Board of Elections this summer, director Mike Ashe said.

In fact, the board is getting so many queries that Ashe is predicting a record number of votes being cast in the county Nov. 2 -- as many as 110,000 or more, and perhaps as much as 75 percent of active voters who have cast ballots in recent elections.

"We are going to bust big time," he said. "The early traffic is huge, bigger than I've ever seen in my life."

"The common thing I am hearing is that people think this is the most important election ever," said Beverly Hanly, who coordinates voter registration and voter services for the League of Women Voters of Orange, Durham and Chatham Counties.

http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-519418.html

[SoCalDemocrat]

2. best thing you can do

The best thing any of us can do is to sign up for phone parties where we use our free evening and weekend minutes to call up registered Democrats in swing states and get them to the polls. If they don't have transportation, get their info and get it to regional poll workers so they can pick them up!

We can win this election if we mobilize our existing voting base. Bush only wins if Democrats stay home on November 2nd.

[KoKo]

5. I 've got phone and "foot" scripts. I've got voter registration forms,

plus the names of everyone in my huge neighborhood, their affiliation, and how many elections they vote in. Plus we have flyers with Kerry's positions and forms for those who want to volunteer to fill out. We have forms for those who need a ride to fill out, plus NC will be having "Early Voting." For those who want to vote early you have two weeks to do it at various polling places. (I'm not so sure about that idea, but we only have two counties using "touch screens" and they are not in the "Triangle.") I'm not sure I trust the counters for those first two weeks but then that's because I don't trust much anymore... It does make it convenient for many folks, though.

We are telling Poll Watchers to bring digital cameras to record any "incidents" and we have teams of volunteer lawyers who will be watching and on call for problems.

And...the flyers and records are all on a CD Rom so we can print out as much as we need ourselves and not rely on the Party Headquarters to get around to doing it for us. Computers! That's the difference in this election. There's no way we could have gotten all this information together and made it available without e-mails, computers and all those savy folks from the other campaigns.

I'm feeling good about this election, here anyway...

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

3. Thanks Koko...that is awesome!

[madmax]

4. Great report.

Every Dem candidate should be complemented on the dedication and goodness of their supporters. I'm so proud of all of them.

"The turnout was incredible. And, it's the former Dean/Kucinich folks who have cleaned up the voting records and made CD's so we have target Dems and Undecideds we can cover in our neighborhoods."

A toast to the all and great big thank you to the Dean/Kucinich folks who have proved that the Democrats are uniters and not dividers.

:toast: :grouphug: :bounce:

[countmyvote4real]

6. Cheers to koko and all NC Dems.

Very encouraging.

[K8-EEE]

7. I Thank You.

You're an inspiration! We finally have a Kerry/Edwards campaign office here in the SV Valley (CA) and now that my kids are back in school I will be working there at least 2 hours a day.

I really feel if we all channel all the angst and passion we feel into ACTION -- we can't lose.

[KoKo]

8. Hey thanks to all of you! If we can do this in NC...imagine the rest of

the country.

[upsidedown]

9. Guilty as charged.

I'm one of the NC democrats who didn't vote in the 2000 election. I wasn't very interested in politics back then and didn't think my little vote would matter anyway in this bleeding red state.

Things are much different today, though. I refuse to sit back and do nothing in this election. My boyfriend and I (both non-voters in 2000) will be at the polls adding our two small votes to what I hope is a shocking outcome for the Bush administration - a blue North Carolina.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

13. Welcome to the DU ! :)

I am from North Carolina too ! Glad to see a fellow Tarheel activated to vote :) :hi:

[cheshire]

14. Welcome to, let's kick some rethugs ass. You both rock

:kick:

[newyawker99]

19. Hi upsidedown!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Quetzal]

10. E-gads!!!

There must have been tens of thousands of Democrats that were out there in the archives! How long did it take the Dean and Kucnich people to organize all of the info?

[Norquist Nemesis]

11. Thank you KoKo for all of your hard work!!!

Just out of curiosity, are you seeing a lot of support for Kerry/Edward displayed (as in bumper stickers, yard signs, etc.)? Just wondering.

[dad]

12. ..

10 to 1 in favor of Bush. seriously.

[Norquist Nemesis]

15. *sigh* Hang in there!!!

At least I'm starting to see a few bumper stickers around here for Kerry, I'm fully aware that this is Republican central in Illinos. :( Hell, there were even a bunch of people following Keyes in the Labor Day parade!!!

You've inspired me though! I'm hoping to make it to the local Democrats meeting this month. I'll have to bite my tongue about their performance at the big event we had over Labor Day weekend. Over 150,000 people attend this event. They could (no, SHOULD) have done a much better job with it.

[KoKo]

17. I've only seen a few signs and bumper stickers, so far.

The only "Bush/Cheney" I've seen have been old ones from the last campaign that folks couldn't bring themselves to take off.

I'm in a pretty Repug area, though, where folks don't express themselves too much. Chapel Hill and Durham folks usually have lots of bumper stickers. I think we'll all see more in the next weeks.

[sandnsea]

16. Thank you, Thank you

This is the stuff that will really make the difference. Thank you Kucitizens, I know you guys are doing alot of voter registration in my area too.

[Andromeda]

18. Thank you, Koko01...

Sometimes I forget to thank great Democratic patriots for their hard work. Our country needs more people like you.

[KoKo]

20. A kick for the "day crowd." Campaign Stuff.......instead of "Memogate"

:kick:

[seabeyond]

21. we dont even have one in amarillo

almost 300k people

[KoKo]

22. ??? amarillo?

:shrug: