35 DOORS
A new strategy to boost urban turnout
By Steve Schear
Low voter turn-out in urban Democratic strongholds can keep any battleground state from turning pure blue. Take Milwaukee and Philadelphia (but also or Detroit and Charlotte.) In the 2022 midterms, turn-out in Milwaukee was only 63 percent, way down from 79 percent in 2020 and 74 percent in 2018. The decline in Milwaukee voting likely cost the Democrats the U.S. Senate seat now held by MAGA stalwart Ron Johnson.
Philadelphia’s numbers were even worse. The city of “brotherly love” now has 776,000 registered Democrats and only 119,000 registered Republicans. But in the 2022 midterms, only 43 percent of Philadelphia voters cast ballots, down from 49 percent in 2018 and 66 percent in 2020. John Fetterman won 83 percent of the Philadelphia vote in 2022, but he still ended up with 191,000 fewer Philly votes than Joe Biden got in 2020. Youch!
BLUE-IFYING PHILADELPHIA
On the bright side, those grim numbers mean we can improve the chances of Biden and Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey this year by boosting turn-out in Philadelphia. Indivisible Philadelphia (IP) has a plan to increase Dem votes that is simple and elegant. They call it “The 35 Doors Project.”
In 2021, IP leader Vicki Miller, a retired attorney, read about an Oregon group that asked volunteers to each canvass 35 neighbors. A simple concept but one with profound implications. Get neighbors to reach out to neighbors.
Gearing up for the 2022 midterms, Indivisible Philadelphia began recruiting volunteers for its own “35 Doors Project.” By April 2022, IP had 33 volunteers signed up. This year, IP has twice as many. Each volunteer has agreed to canvass at least 35 neighbors at least two or three times before the election. IP provides volunteers with names and contact information of neighbors who are Democrats but not consistent voters, as well as the materials for canvassing – handouts, door hangers, talking points. Folks who vote sometimes and sometimes don’t who need encouragement and a follow-up contact.
35 Doors has been a hit with volunteers. “It’s a three-fer,” one volunteer told Vicki. “I get to know some of my neighbors, I get some exercise, and I get to help save democracy.” Because many of the volunteers canvass more than 35 doors, IP’s project will reach more than 4,000 voters this year.
DO YOUR OWN 35 DOORS
35 Doors can be replicated in most urban or suburban locations. It only requires four steps. First, get a list of inconsistent Democratic voters in volunteers’ neighborhoods. Such lists can come from a computerized MiniVan or PDI list compatible with smart phone data collection. Usually those lists can be obtained from a state Democratic party or a local Democratic committee (if a group is not affiliated with Indivisible, which provides access to lists through MiniVAN).
Next comes recruitment. IP recruits volunteers from people who sign up to join the organization. “Another way we recruit people is to have lunches for our members, and we ask them to bring a friend,” Vicki Miller says.
The third step is training volunteers to canvass. IP provides both online training and conversation guides with talking points designed to be effective with voters in Philadelphia. Finally there needs to be follow-up to make sure volunteers do their canvassing.
These days, almost everyone recognizes that “relational organizing” is the most effective. You can mostly easily persuade people who know you and trust you. The 35 Doors Project has the beauty of using deep canvassing to create relationships with neighbors. Since volunteers can keep building those relationships year after year, 35 Doors builds political power that can grow with each election cycle.
The 35 Doors Project also works because it provides a real benefit to the volunteers. As Philadelphia volunteer Jesse Bacon said, “It’s 35 chances to have meaningful interactions with your neighbors, which is a rare jewel in this day and age.” It’s also a great way to help us win anywhere we want to increase low Democratic turnout – so almost everywhere.
For more information on the 35 Doors Project, email Vicki Miller at vicki@indivisiblephiladelphia.com. Vicki will be happy to go on Zoom to help you get started.
What a gift to find this in my inbox today. Neighborhood Leaders is the best-kept secret of the Oregon Democratic Party. It's more than a decade old. Here in red southern Oregon (Jackson County), it's definitely given many volunteers a sense of agency. Our biggest opportunity to have an impact is in local board and council elections. Even though we're the minority party, the low turnout overall means that if we can boost our side's voting by just a few percentage points, we can win. Last year, all of our school board candidates won, and the MAGA candidates lost.
Many Oregon counties have a similar program and they're all different. There's a lot of creativity and idea sharing. I just checked out the webpage for Indivisible Philadelphia and they have some great ideas of their own. Thank you for sharing this!
Love this 35 Doors strategy to strongly supplement other ongoing election outreach! We definitely need “all hands on deck” (with smartphones, landlines and pens with love and smiles) to save our still much-imperiled ship of democracy! RELATIONAL ORGANIZING is super important, and all forms of outreach build upon each other to get the word out neighbor-to-neighbor and citizen-to-citizen.
I’m an Outreach and Inclusion Officer with my Democratic Party unit (local chapter) and also volunteer with Indivisible in various ways and help other national and local groups, too. Our power must be leveraged through our PERSISTENCE, RESILIENCE, HUMANITY, LOVE AND NUMBERS.
Never forget it as you hopefully volunteer by donating some of your much-welcomed and priceless time and any money amounts you can comfortably afford, and as you proudly (or confidentially if need be) VOTE BLUE yourselves. Thank you all. We can do this! 💙
With majorities in our state and U.S legislatures (and continued reforms and demands for protection by a public-focused Executive Branch and Supreme Court), WE THE PEOPLE CAN AND WILL RISE UP HIGHER THAN EVER with our global allies and fellow world citizens who ALSO most value democracy, equality and our environment to urgently recover and save our people, wildlife and our planet everywhere!