Notes From The Field - Charlotte North Carolina

By: Susan Storer Clark

It’s been an exhilarating, exhausting, inspiring week with Common Purpose in Charlotte, North Carolina. We partnered with You Can Vote, an organization that “trains and mobilizes volunteers  to register, educate, and empower all North Carolina citizens to successfully cast their ballot.”

We registered 310 people to vote in our time in Charlotte. We also talked to them about how to vote in the upcoming primary and general elections. Because of the work we did, We Can Vote not only reached its goal for all of February but is 160 registrations ahead on their goal for March.

That’s the kind of work I want to do. It’s the reason I joined Common Purpose. I want to do this kind of work because my religious faith impels me to do so.

My denomination has no creed, but it does have seven principles. The first one is that we believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every human being (boldface mine). The fifth one says that we believe in the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large. To me, that means that every citizen has a right to vote, regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, poverty, or previous condition of incarceration.

Because the right to vote is under threat in so many places in our country, I decided this is the work I want to do, for this election cycle and probably for many years to come.

I didn’t know anybody in our group of eighteen before I came to Charlotte. My flight got canceled, so I missed the whole first day of getting to know people. I was a little afraid that I would be out of the loop and playing catch-up the whole time.

I needn’t have worried. I got a quick orientation from our team captain Jordan Goldwarg and from Zion Lemelle, the regional director for We Can Vote. Soon I was with my team out on a sidewalk, asking people if they were registered where they currently live.

On my first day there I realized that people who will travel on their own time and their own dime to do this work are likely to be interesting, engaging people. That’s because they all were. It was a very accomplished group: teachers, doctors, nurses, former political staffers, people who had built projects and programs to benefit their community. Because we were working together on something we cared about, it was easy to build camaraderie.

There’s a lot at stake for North Carolina in the 2020 elections. Their election districts were recently redrawn, in obedience to a court order to fix obvious gerrymandering. There’s a vulnerable Democratic governor up for re-election, as well as a vulnerable Republican senator. Charlotte’s current Republican member of Congress won a narrow victory in 2018 and is considered vulnerable this year.

The citizens of North Carolina—all the citizens of North Carolina—have a right to determine the future of their state. I think that, in some small way, I have helped. Some people who should be able to vote, will be able to vote, because of what I did. And that makes me happy.

The Adventures of Team Texas

By:  Russ Daggatt & Gemma Valdez Daggatt

The Common Purpose team of Seattle volunteers spent five days (January 24-28) in Texas working on the special election campaign of Dr. Eliz Markowitz. This was the race for Texas state representative in District 28 in the Southwestern Houston suburbs (primarily Fort Bend County), to fill the seat of a Republican incumbent who resigned in September.

Why bother with a special election for state representative in Texas (besides the fact that the weather is a lot better there than Seattle in January)?

No Democrat has won statewide office in Texas since 1994, but Beto O’Rourke came within 2.6% of beating Ted Cruz in 2018. In the process, he garnered 200,000 more votes than Hillary Clinton did in 2016. Also in 2018, two long-time Republican Congressmen lost and Democrats picked up 12 seats in the 150 member State House of Representatives. The writing is on the wall - Texas is turning purple!

The stakes are high for 2020. The census and subsequent redistricting will reshape state governments and Congressional districts across the country for the next decade. In Texas, an estimated 200,000 Latinx voters will become registered every year over the next decade. Texas is already a majority minority and Latinx voters could overtake non-Hispanic whites as soon as next year. Democrats currently have 66 seats in the State House and need to flip nine to take control. (That, in turn, would help ensure a (more) fair redistricting, and more electoral gains in the future.)

Dr. Eliz (as she is known) got the most votes last November, but no candidate got a majority, requiring this runoff election. She was the sole Democrat with 39% of the vote. Her Republican opponent got 28%, and other Republicans split 30%. In other words, Republicans got roughly 60% of the vote. So we had to change the composition of the electorate to win it. This special election was the only race on the ballot, so turnout would be the key to victory. That was a big challenge – special elections have notoriously poor turnout. And this had been considered a safe Republican district. But picking it up would be seen as a harbinger for November, when the entire State House (and the state’s 38 electoral votes) will be on the ballot. 

That’s where Common Purpose’s Team Texas comes in.

We arrived on the Thursday night before the election. We awoke Friday to hear that a major, deadly chemical explosion had happened earlier that morning only a few miles away from our canvassing areas. It killed two employees, destroyed the factory and damaged dozens of surrounding homes, breaking windows and doors a half-mile away.  (This follows at least five major chemical incidents in the area in the last year. Infamous for its lack of land-use regulation, the Houston area is home to more than 2,500 chemical facilities, with a major chemical incident on average every six weeks.)

This provided a concrete example of the kinds of real world issues at stake.

We canvassed in an area called Cinco Ranch. Turns out, this was the area hardest hit during Hurricane Harvey. The hurricane dumped more than 50” of rain and was called “the most significant tropical cyclone rainfall event in United States history,” by the National Weather Service. Cinco Ranch and surrounding areas were in the Army Corps of Engineers’ “flood pool” to protect Downtown Houston and were inundated with an average of over 4’ of flood water. When the water receded, thousands of homeowners returned to ravaged houses. Only 30% of the homeowners stayed to rebuild. The rest sold their gutted homes at well below pre-storm prices. These were among the people we met canvassing.

Fort Bend County is the most diverse in the country. It comes closer than any other county to having an equal division among the nation’s four major ethnic communities — Asian, Black, Latinx and White residents. We encountered a large number of immigrants from Vietnam, India, Africa, Latin American and elsewhere around the world. (At first, it seemed that there were few native-born Whites in the area. Then we figured out that we were hitting homes that had already been screened as likely Democratic voters. It was not a random sample.)

On Friday morning, our Seattle group met up at a coffee shop with Max, our field director. Our team was given our assignments and worked to get voters out for the last day of early voting. (For some inexplicable reason, there was no early voting over the weekend – when it would be most convenient for the working people who comprised most of those we were targeting.) On Saturday and Sunday mornings, we gathered together with about 100 other volunteers at a local home to get the routes we would cover each day. There, we were greeted by our cheerleader-in-chief, Beto (at least among this group, he had attained single name status – like Prince, Sting or Madonna). He had made this race his top priority since ending his White House bid in November. He also joined the larger group for dinner at a Mexican restaurant on Saturday night.

Team Texas

With Beto

Here are a few random highlights from our experiences:

• One lady said she hadn’t had time to Early Vote since she was too busy getting ready for the Chinese/Vietnamese New Year’s celebration.  But even though she was busy, she ran back into the house to get her Voter Registration card to show us. We left her with a plan to vote on Election Day. About a half block away, we heard her calling out.  She had run back home to pack us a box of freshly-made egg rolls, offering both her vegetarian and meat options – delicious!

• A group of 5-7 year olds playing in a cul-de-sac asked us, “What’s voting?”  When told them it was how grownups decided which one of them should make the big decisions, they said, “Oh that’s what our mom does!  She’ll be happy to hear about this!”

• One middle aged African American man said, “The fact that you made the effort to come to my door to ask for my vote has persuaded me. I’ll get out and vote.” We asked, “Your wife, too?” “Absolutely,” he replied.

• Some of our group asked this gentleman for directions.  He was so excited to tell his story about meeting Beto!

• At one home, a 19-year old answered the door. He was not the person on our canvas list, but he was happy to find out there was an election, and who he should vote for, since it was his first time eligible.

• A group of teenagers resoundingly replied, “We’re IN!

• “Be Safe!” A number of our team got this advice when leaving “Likely” houses in conservative neighborhoods. After a particularly unfriendly house, one of the neighbors greeted us saying, ”Thank you, we’ve already voted. God bless you! This is a terrible neighborhood to doorbell, but you’ll be OK three doors down.”

• Even when some people had been canvassed multiple times, they told us they appreciated it, since it must be very important that we would visit them that many times!

• We canvassed the first three days in clear skies, but over Sunday night that changed to unhealthy air quality levels. (Despite progress, Houston air quality is still among the worst in the nation. Yet another reason to elect Democrats!) That took a couple members of our crew who were particularly sensitive to air quality out of commission on Monday.

On Election Day, the remaining members of the group divided up between poll greeting, flyer drops, and phone banking. One of the poll greeters had an African American woman recognize her. “You came to my door! That’s why I’m here!”

Most of the group flew back to Seattle together on Tuesday night right around the time the polls were closing. We got the results when we landed. Alas, they were not what we had hoped for. Dr. Eliz came up short, with 41% of the vote. 

Only about 20% of registered voters turned out – high for a special election, but low compared with a general election. While the outcome was disappointing, these two candidates will meet up again in November. And state Democrats note that there are another dozen seats or more in the state legislature higher on their target list for the Fall when turnout should be considerably better.  It’s all just part of a long term effort to turn Texas Blue.

And for Team Texas, it was an adventure!

Takeaways From The Iowa Caucuses

By: David Domke

Before the caucus results meltdown, before the sliver’s-difference in first and second place between Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders, a group of Common Purpose volunteers and supporters traveled to Iowa for six days to see the Democratic Party presidential candidates. From Jan 28 through caucus morning of Feb 3, we traveled around the very-flat state of Iowa, seeing and listening to and meeting candidates, interacting with Iowans, and talking to journalists from all over the world. It was an incredible experience.

Here are three main takeaways:

1. All of the Democratic candidates are terrific patriots. They are all smart, are working their butts off, and have a vision for an America that is light years better than Donald Trump. Anyone of the Democrats will be a huge improvement.

2. It’s an incredible privilege to see the candidates campaigning in person, to see them interact with voters, answer questions, joke and get serious, and make their pitches. To see the candidates in person is far more robust of an experience than anything we ever experience in Seattle or get through media coverage. It’s something all Americans should have a chance to experience.

3. Our Common Purpose community is amazing. We had so much fun and learned so much from one another. We all want a progressive world, but we nonetheless have differing perspectives on the candidates and issues and how best to move forward from the current national nightmare. Going as a team is great.
   

Here are five Iowa-focused episodes from our podcast, “With Common Purpose,” that capture some of our experiences and thoughts about Iowa, the Democratic candidates, our democracy, and the work of Common Purpose.

1. On the Road in Iowa

2. Charles Meets the VP

3. Maria Meets three American Warriors

4. Door to Door in Iowa

5. Unpacking Iowa

Florida: Final Update

7262 doors

327 voters registered

183 returning citizens registered

It’s July 1, and in the next 16 months we in Common Purpose are going to do all we can to right our capsized democracy. We will fight and push and work and work and work to register voters, mobilize voters, raise and contribute funds, educate and be educated, expand the communities being served and heard and amplified, and strengthen our ties with one another. It’s common purpose time, small C, small P.

We just completed a 21-day push to register returning citizens formerly incarcerated in Florida. Over three weeks, 30 CPers led by Amy Sommers, Maria Abando, Jordan Goldwarg, Bert Greenwood, and Dan Roach, and in partnership with Florida folks, knocked on 7262 doors and either talked with or left materials at almost all of them. In this work, we registered or updated 327 voters – of which 183 were returning citizens, and set in potential motion countless other ripples of impact. This is the essential, hard, hot, tiring, draining, exhausting work of democracy. Real change comes only with real sacrifice, real cost, and real risk. The new poll-tax law adopted by Florida Republicans was scheduled to go into effect today, but I am hopeful that it will get thrown out in the courts as in conflict with the 24th Amendment to the US Constitution. Regardless, we will be back in Florida in future months.

An Urgent Note About Florida Action: 6/10/2019 - 6/30/2019

ASK: Join the on-the-ground Florida effort taking place June 10th - June 30th as we race towards a July 1st deadline to register as many Floridians who’ve recently had their voting rights restored before a law takes effect making it much more difficult for many of them. Sign up here: https://forms.gle/3EPeUSeWyKDessdA8

We have an opportunity, a defining chance to make a difference. We are writing to ask us as a community to step forward and act.

Here’s the situation: Last year, one of our most-important outcomes was that we worked to pass Amendment 4 in Florida, which restores voting rights to people formerly incarcerated for felony offenses. Since January 1 thousands of returning citizens have been regaining the right to vote, but the Republican-controlled legislature in Florida just passed a new law that will require all formerly incarcerated folks to ALSO pay all court costs/fines before they can regain the right to vote. It’s a spot-on horrible act of voter suppression. We as an org are all-in to fight these actions. The bad news is that when the law goes into effect July 1 it will become very, very difficult for hundreds of thousands of formerly incarcerated citizens with significant court costs/fines to ever regain their right to vote.

But we have a month until the law takes effect.

Our Florida partners, working with the Florida Rights and Restoration Coalition, have sent us a red-alert bulletin asking us to come and do voter-registration work before July 1. (see a snippet of one of their emails at the end of this message.) Their lawyers believe that everyone registered to vote before July 1 will *not be subject to the new must-pay-all-fees voter suppression law.* Our partners are identifying all of these returning citizens, building a voter-registration strategy that incorporates these citizens but does not uncomfortably target them, and they tell us they need every person possible to do the work.  NOW. NOW. NOW.

On Friday we told our partners that we will do *everything possible* to mobilize Common Purpose volunteers to come to Florida from June 10 through June 30. Specifically, we will work in Pinellas County, which is the Tampa area, where there are at least 1600 returning citizens who are eligible to be registered to vote. We will have at least one Common Purpose leader there for every one of those dates who will be our point persons, so that every CP volunteer coming from Seattle will know where to go, with CP LEADERS making sure we are fully integrated with our partner organizations and working in the CP way to support them.

If there is any way you can be on the ground in Pinellas County between June 10 and June 30, this is a defining chance to make a difference. It’s as concrete of an action in the service of a just and inclusive democracy as we can offer. We can truly change people’s lives. And – although this is not the primary motivation for us to do this – we have every reason to believe that the progressive longterm effects on elections, including the 2020 presidency, will be real.

To pull this off may require changing plans, missing events, spending dollars that are un-planned and be a real stretch.  We will need to walk through ambiguity and uncertainty as we build this on the fly. But our work in 2018 and our already-happening mobilization for 2019-20 assure us that we can do this. And indeed, this is why we do this work. Our Common Purpose leadership is fully mobilized, and we are asking you to join us. If you can’t go, please consider recruiting someone you know who might be interested, and paying their costs.

As a sign of our commitment, we will provide reimbursement costs of up to $500 for any person who signs up, if you wish.

If you are open to doing this, please sign up to join our Florida team right now. Here’s the Florida team page signup:

https://forms.gle/3EPeUSeWyKDessdA8

If we can address questions, please let us know at hello@cpnow.org.

Let’s go. Democracy is a verb. We need to risk and sacrifice if we’re going to bring about real change.

The CP leadership team