The Surprising Connections of Canvassing
One PA newbie discovers America door-to-door
By Susan Wiley
I spent this Saturday knocking on doors in East Norriton for the Montgomery County (Pennsylvania) Democrats. I had never canvassed before Saturday. This was my first experience, but it will not be my last, because canvassing wasn’t at all what I expected!
To my surprise there were canvassers from pretty much all over the Eastern Seaboard — Connecticut, DC, Vermont, Massachusetts. These folks drove in for the weekend, or the month. One fellow has committed the next 100 days to work in Montgomery County. These folks know that our county is one of those purple counties that may very well decide Pennsylvania and the outcome of the entire election.
Before hitting the doors, we received some detailed training from a man with a lot of experience doing this work. I downloaded an app to my phone that details the voting status of almost everyone in a particular neighborhood, all laid out on a map. And then we set out in pairs to knock on doors.
We only visited homes of registered Democrats, though some were married to Republicans or Independents. During the whole day, our team must have knocked on close to 200 doors. I thought we were there to register folks to vote, but there were only a small handful of new registrations. A larger number of people completed an application for mail-in ballots. Initially, I felt disappointed.
But this was only a small part of the story, because we TALKED to people! We asked them what they were thinking about the presidential contest. These were regular people. A lot of undecided people. Old and young. A Sunday school teacher and a millennial covered with tattoos. Latinos, black and white folks, too. These people are different than the folks I hang with. They have different backgrounds and perspectives. We asked them what they care about, and they were happy to talk about it, even to uninvited strangers! Many seemed to enjoy our visit! One lady, a registered Republican, stuffed a bag of home-baked cookies into our hands!
I was intrigued and astonished! There are a lot of good people out there who are still undecided about the issues. Some of them are not clear that their opinion matters. We asked questions and listened to their points of view. They felt seen and understood. And what I thought was impossible occurred: There was connection!
To canvass well, you need to be genuinely curious about the views of others. You also need a sense of humor. It helps to not take yourself too seriously. And then what happens is really magical! Strangers open their doors, tell you their ideas about important issues, entrust you with private information like their date of birth, and how long they have lived at this address. Many even thank you for coming! They feel connected! I don’t know if we changed anybody’s mind but the connection was made. And I can’t help but feel that this meeting of minds makes a difference. “This is democracy!”
Canvassing is an opportunity to meet other voters, talk about the issues they are concerned about and make a connection that touches you and those you meet. If this work interests you, please join me and other volunteers for canvassing by clicking this link. Then wear your sneakers, bring a hat and a bottle of water and off we go!
As Kamala Harris says, “When we fight, we WIN!”
Susan Wiley is a retired physician living in Montgomery County. She is a wife, a mother and grandmother but also “a concerned citizen who desperately wants to preserve our democracy and make our country stronger, safer, healthier and better educated.”
FaceBook will not let me share your posts!
Very inspiring!