My voter registration experience (or why we're gonna win in a walk)

[VelmaD]

The deadline to register to vote in Texas was midnight last night and I was out til then registering folks. It was amazing. We had a steady stream all evening with several little rushes, but after they mentioned the deadline on the 10 o’clock news we had a DELUGE. Every time I looked up the line had grown and I was afraid we were gonna be completely overwhelmed, but we managed...it took us a while, but we got to everyone.

What amazed me was how people acted in the line. No pushing. No shoving. No grumbling about how long it was taking. No one gave up and left without registering. Instead people were...well...amazing. They grabbed a form and a pen and got in line and filled the form out and waited patiently til we could get to them to check it over and give them a receipt. People talked to each other. And they were so nice to me and the other registrars. After waiting in line for a half hour or even more people were thanking us for registering them…no complaints...THANK YOUS. It was a stunning reminder that most people are down-right decent.

People came from other counties, including someone who drove 40 miles, because there wasn’t anyplace open that late where they lived. People brought their whole families down and registered en masse. Hell, people came down with their voter registration card just to ask and make sure it was all they needed because they wanted to be DAMN SURE they would be able to vote on election day. These people are MOTIVATED. If they’re willing to stand in line for over a half hour at 10:30 at night just to register you bet your ass they’re gonna go down and vote. And that, dear friends, is why you should ignore all the polls and listen to Velma...we are gonna win this thing.

[livetohike]

1. I hope they registered Democrat!

:-)

[MsUnderstood]

2. Yea but

Isn't texas a red state, and home (or current home) of our beloved president?

Those folks were registering to vote out a TEXAN?

[VelmaD]

6. As I have repeatedly informed people...

he is NOT a Texan. He's a wannabe cowboy who was born and educated up east. We know a carpet-bagger when we see one. :)

BTW, I'm in Austin...one of the more liberal places in the US.

[Texasgal]

18. YAYYY! For you you Velma D!!!

Thank you, Thank you for all your hard work. Austin appreciates you! We are gonna win this thing! And to all of you out there whom *still* things bushie is from Texas....WE DON'T CLAIM THAT SUMBITCH!!

Again.... Thank you Velma D!

[VelmaD]

23. You're in Austin too...will we be seeing you tonight...

at the VP debate watching party?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=180x4775

[Texasgal]

28. Damn! I guess I need to pay better attention

I had no idea that DU was hosting a watch party! I already have some friends coming over to watch the debates!

I would like to attend the next debate screening ( if there is one) where do I find out that info?

On edit: spelling due to new manicure.....nails to long!

[VelmaD]

30. Not DU hosted...local Democratic Party...

along with the Austin4Kerry folks. But several of your fellow DUers are likely to be there. I'd imagine most of us will be at the other presidential debate parties as well (assuming * shows up for them).

Will post in the Texas forum when the locations of the other watch parties is announced. :)

[Texasgal]

31. Thank you Velma!

You are awe inspiring!

[VelmaD]

32. Aww...you're too kind

I hardly feel awe inspiring...just angry enough to finally get off my ass and do a little work. :)

[Texasgal]

33. I look forward to meeting you someday

I will be checking the Texas forum regularly now. :)

[Warpy]

24. Velma, I'm a New Englander transplanted to New Mexico

and even I can tell the difference.

Bush is a TV Texan, a "Dallas" Texan, a Village People cowboy, a caricature of the real thing, with all the wrong things exaggerated so people outside Texas will buy the act.

I already know Texas is going to be close. If there's a squeaker to get Bush out of office, it will make me giddy with delight.

What greater irony than to be able to rub it in to Freeper wounds that Bush couldn't carry his "home state?"

[Gato Moteado]

35. from your mouth to god's ear......

unfortunately i don't think it will happen this year. i sure hope i'm wrong though.

what we saw yesterday could be expected for urban centers like austin and houston. i'm just not convinced that the rest of this state has awakened yet.

the good news is that the hispanic population here is growing at a rapid rate and as more and more hispanic citizens register to vote in texas, the state will start turning blue fairly quickly. when that does happen, we'll have velma and her co-registrars to thank for that.

like i said before, if the good folks in ohio and florida busted their asses like velma and the other registrars here, then we should be able to crunch chimpy in an electoral landslide.

[VelmaD]

36. Hee..."it's hard work"...

*snort*

But totally worth it.

[Gato Moteado]

37. you worked harder these last few weeks than chimpy has....

....in his entire life.

[VelmaD]

39. But I've discovered something neat...

It's so much fun that it doesn't feel like work. :)

I highly endorse doing SOMETHING. You end up feeling great. Exhausted but exhilerated.

[LondonReign2]

38. I wish it were so

Austin, much like Madison in Wisconsin, is one of the few progressive areas in the state, so taking the political temperature there unfortunately doesn't equate to the rest of the state.

In Dallas, the Bushler bumper stickers are outnumbering Kerry about 7-to-1. Lets face it, the rest of the state likes the little Fascist. (It really sucks coming into work everyday pissed off from seeing all the morons with their Bushler stickers).

BUT THE CRITICAL THINGS IS, I think VelmaD's experience translates to the rest of the country, particularly the swing states.

We ARE going to WIN!

[Gato Moteado]

40. have patience though......

texas will be a solid blue state within 5 to 10 years. the demographics are changing rapidly here thanks to our close proximity to mexico. the chimp administration has done everything it could to slow down the rate of new citizenship from latinamerica. but, have no fear, the numbers of democratic voters will surpass the number of rednecks and white trash before too long.

[LondonReign2]

43. 5 to 10 years?

There is no way I'm staying in Texas, land of Bush (even if adopted), Cheney, Dick Armey, Tom DeLay, Enron, and Halliburton, for anywhere near that long!

[Gato Moteado]

64. me neither.....

but there are plenty of texans who will stay here and help it become a solid blue state. i'm hoping it will be there by 2008 so kerry/edwards will win texas when running for their 2nd term.

[JHB]

53. He may have been born in the east...

...but he spent his formative years down yonder. And don't say got his education in the east, because as you know damn well, he doesn't HAVE ONE. Where his tail was parked while he went through the motions is irrelevant.

He may be a carpet-bagging pretend-Texan, but he ain't one of us up here either. He's from Bushworld, kind of like those comic-book alternate-dimension-prisons, like the phantom zone, or the negative zone, or what have you.

Do we agree? :toast:

[VelmaD]

54. I'd agree with you but...

I'm scared someone from a "comic-book alternate-dimension" will show up to take us both to task about how they don't want to have to take the blame for him either. :)

:toast:

[montanacowboy]

7. New voters register to

vote "out" the incumbent, not vote him in - so you can probably take it to the bank that most if not all registered Democrat - it's happening all over the country - this is what we must have, an overwhelming number of Democrats voting - so they can't steal it again

[nostamj]

11. i've read that new registrations are 25-1 Dem

MASSIVE TURNOUT is still the key. with a massive turnout, the Diebold steal will be impossible.

[fudge stripe cookays]

9. You'd be surprised, Ms.

The media does not want you to know about the thousands of people here in this state who HATE Bush. They will do just about anything to make you believe that this entire STATE is full of Bush-lovin morons.

Yes, we got em, but the Democrats are coming out of the woodwork in DROVES to register for this election. Read crispini's earlier thread about Dallas registration to get an idea.

People here who've never voted before are getting registered SPECIFICALLY to vote Bush out. Maybe not all of them, but the majority are Bush-haters.

We're turning this state a lovely sort of pink/lavender color. I've always enjoyed pastels over that garish nasty red, haven't you?

WTG Velma!

FSC

[Tamyrlin79]

12. Hey.... Gore lost Tennesee...

So, why can't Bush lose Texas?

[Skittles]

65. wrong comparison

Gore lost Tennessee, and Bush lost Connecticut

[txindy]

26. * ain't no Texan!

I'm in Texas and I can guarantee * is no Texan. He's just an imitation and a poor one at that. His 'ranch' isn't even a real ranch.

I'm predicting Texas is going to be a mighty close call for either presidential candidate. Just writing those words makes me very, very happy!
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[demnan]

3. Thank you for all your hard work

we have the truth and we have the majority. When we vote, we win!

[Wickerman]

4. Thanks Velma

for being there to do that and to report on it! You're still in Texas? That is particularly good news!

[VelmaD]

8. Yup...still in Austin

We've shattered the previous record for new registrations here.

[wryter2000]

5. Thank you, Velma

Everywhere I hear about the crush of people registering to vote. And you know they're not doing it out of love for Whistle Ass.

Thanks so much for your hard work! :yourock:

[madmax]

10. Bless you, Velma

My heart is full of thanks to you and everyone who works so hard locally to get out the vote. No matter what happens, I know in my heart of hearts that because of people like you we did the best we could. :hug: :loveya:

[proud patriot]

13. Great report Velma

:D

[Gato Moteado]

14. i was down there giving velma some moral support......

...and let me tell ya, she ain't lying about the crowds. by about 10PM i thought the evening would just wind down peacefully. then at around 11PM people started coming out of the woodwork. it was like led zeppelin tickets were about to go on sale at the ticketmaster. when i left, the line at the albertson's stretched from one end of the store to the other and people were still coming.

i don't think we'll win texas this year, though we might next time (most of the new voters that i saw were hispanic or african american or young college students which is a great sign because they were most certainly democrats). but, if the registration drives in ohio and florida were anything like what i saw yesterday, then we should be able to unseat the unelected fraudulent war profiteer in chief with no problem next month. people are waking up...at least that's what i gather from seeing the enthusiasm yesterday.

props to velmad and all the other people working their asses off the last few weeks to get our democracy working again!

[VelmaD]

15. And the moral support was much appreciated

Things finally cleared up around 11:40 or so but I did get to register what was probably THE LAST voter in Travis county at exactly midnight last night. :)

[movie_girl99]

16. does anyone have any numbers

in the US especially the swing states of new 1st time registered voters? I know the number has to be huge.

[VelmaD]

17. I would imagine...

updated numbers will be out in the next few days. The deadline to register was yesterday for a lot of states and I'd imagine it's going to take a little time to get a final tally given the HUGE number of people who have registered in the last few weeks.

[MsUnderstood]

20. excellent work

Sorry if I appeared to try to deflate the excellent news. I've gotta take my own advice (given in another tread) and ignore the polls!!

[VelmaD]

22. The only poll that matters...

is on Nov 2. :)

[SoCalDem]

58. Ohio was up 250%..yes TWO-HUNDRED FIFTY..(in DEM areas)

12-25% in repube areas.:)

[Andy_Stephenson]

19. Three Cheers for VelmaD

Hip Hip Hooray

Hip Hip Hooray

Hip Hip Hooray!


:yourock:

[VelmaD]

21. Awwwwww shucks

Thanks swee'pea *smooch*

[movie_girl99]

25. great work!!!

It makes me feel so good when I read stuff like this. I think about how this is going all over the country and it makes me smile!!!!:)

[Gato Moteado]

29. i couldn't believe my eyes when i saw that many people...

rushing to an albertson's that late at night to register to vote. it was cool!

[goclark]

27. That is so thrilling to hear!

I am registering voters too!
So far we have registered 828 folks! About 15 of them were Republicans.

I think we will need to have far more volunteers to cover the last minute rush in the late States like California.

PLEASE Du's, call and see if you can get involved.

I have been amazed that each weekend, we registered MORE than before. We are in a major Mall and last Sunday we had people waiting for us to set up the table. Since they know we are there each week end,they love to stop by and see if we have bumper stickers and yard signs. The debate really energized them!!!

One other hint,,, it seems to work better with a table and volunteers that are of all races, ages etc. Invite your friends to join you if only for an hour. They don't have to help with filling out the form, let the pros at the table do that Let them be like the cheerleaders. Encouraging and lots of " Just a few more days to vote, register here, did you change your name or your address?!"

Everyone of the volunteers should wear their buttons.

We are going to win on Nov. 2nd!

:bounce:

[grace0418]

34. This is exactly what I was talking about

in that post where someone was refuting that we have the voter registration numbers we claim to have. Thank you and GREAT WORK!

[sonias]

41. Yeah us!!

We are winning (especially in Texas) because we have such great people on our side. People like Velma and NoPasaran in Austin who are doing this out of passion and commitment. Like someone posted above these huge numbers of new registrations are not happening to keep the status quo, this movement is for regime change.

We don't have the absolute total for yesterday since we're not the registrar's office, but I can report the coordinated campaign total that Glen Maxey just released (below). This is the Democratic party effort that VelmaD, NoPasaran and I and hundreds of others helped with yesterday.

Sonia
-----------------------
Democracy Austin Style: A monumental record!

12,424
In a Single Day
Twelve locations until twelve midnight.

A huge thank you to all the great volunteers and helpers!
We processed 12, 424 cards from our voter registration locations... finishing at about 7:30 am Tuesday.

And remember there are thousands more who went to the Tax Offices or mailed them in directly. Reports are that over 4000 came in the mail on Monday alone. (No idea how many thousands have arrived from our door hangers last weekend.)

Without a doubt, we set the record of the most voter registrations ever done in a single day in Travis County history!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gracias.

(And if you didn't help on this, get your butt in gear, 'cuz we got work for you to do to make up for it. LOL)

Glen Maxey, Coordinated Campaign

[VelmaD]

42. And don't forget GOPisEvil...

he was there last night too helping out. :)

I cannot believe we registered over 12,000 people in ONE DAY. OH MY GAWD! :)

[RedEagle]

45. Do those people have time to check back and make sure the records are OK?

Lots of new registrations and the need to make sure the voter registration systems do what they are supposed to do, especially in states with "new models."

[VelmaD]

46. By "these people"...

do you mean the registrars office or the people who registered?

Everyone who registered got a receipt and they can use that on election day to vote if they have to.

As for the registrar's office...well, we swamped them. But they say they'll have all the voter registration cards out in 3 weeks...just in time for election day. :)

[sonias]

56. Who could forget GOPisEvil?

I'm just tired. Way to go all of us, plus anyone I'm still leaving out. I'm not responsible for my lack of brain today.

Sonia

[JackDragna]

44. Anecdotes, anecdotes and yet more anecdotes..

..it's nice to be optimistic, but I've seen a few too many of these "I just know Kerry is going to win because event X happened near me!" kinds of posts. I've worked on plenty of political campaigns and there's always lots of people who try to register at the deadline. If you think this is going to be a walk, then you've bought into the propaganda here about how there's this lurking group of voters just waiting to put Kerry into power whose existence is constantly missed by every major polling group in the country. Getting new voters in is good, but the people you can actually rely on going to the polls on election day are conservatives. The race is very close right now and Kerry needs to keep plugging away if we're to have any reasonable chance of winning.

[leftchick]

47. well you know if they were"down right decent" people.....

They must be Democrats! :)

Thanks for the wonderful post Velma!

[w4rma]

48. It's not going to be a walk by any means. This is just one part that *has*

to happen for us to have a chance at getting Democrats in and getting Republicans out of the Whitehouse and the Congressional majority.

Just one piece of the puzzle and *all* of the pieces have to fall into place for us to get out of this mess.

[ArkDem]

49. Do you think Kerry has a shot in Texas? If he wins there it's all over!

[VelmaD]

50. I'm a hopeful realist

:)

Can Kerry win Texas...absolutely. Is it likely...probably not. But as Glen Maxey keeps reminding us, the way we win is to change the electorate (i.e. turning out a different group of voters). If we can get everyone who registered here in Texas over the last couple of months out to the polls we can make it close. And it'll do really good things for all the local Democratic candidates. :)

[NoPasaran]

51. I'm tired, but it's a good kind of tired

I worked a different location but had pretty much the same experience as VelmaD. Even at eight in the morning, with hardly any traffic on our side of the street, people were stopping by to register. The crowds grew and grew and grew all through the day. (At one point I wondered if someone had replaced our "Last chance to register" signs with ones promising "Free Beer".) As it was getting dark a ferocious thunderstorm passed by. I was registering a couple of people as it began to rain. They stood there, getting wet, while I completed their paperwork and the rest of the team carried our stuff inside the Goodwill store. While it poured rain, we a lull of a few minutes and we dried things off. Then people started to come in out of the rain to be registered...

I have to say thanks to the local broadcast media for covering the voter registration marathon. The night before, I had seen a KEYE truck at the booth we had already operating at headquarters. When I went to headquarters at 5 AM to pick up signs, KVUE and Fox had crews on site to do live interviews for their early morning shows. Fox came out to my site during the afternoon and interviewed several people, including yours truly. And KXAN came out during the thunderstorm and taped some people registering. All through the day lots of people told us that they had heard about us on radio or TV.

I can't wait to hear what the total for the day was. I've heard that the record for the previous marathon was something like 4,000. My site did more than a thousand. I've heard about a central site that got 350, the Albertson's South did 700, and at UT they 2,000. That by itself breaks the old record... and there were eight more sites!

On edit: read that the total was more than TWELVE THOUSAND! Holy shit, Batman!

[VelmaD]

52. I signed my name so freakin' many time last night...

I may have passed you. :)

People came in out of the rain to register. WOOHOO!

[NoPasaran]

55. I haven't signed my name that many times

Since I closed on my house.

I registered 263 voters yesterday so for the year my total is 543.

[sonias]

57. 543 - Awesome NoPasaran

That's the whole election difference in Florida 2000 right there.

Way to go!!

:yourock:

Sonia

[VelmaD]

63. I lost track...

sometime during the big deluge last night. I have NO idea how many I eventually signed.

[Sparkle]

59. Let's hope most of them are voting Kerry/Edwards!

I have to tell someone my experience with people getting everyone to register. I went to the movies over the weekend and I had my Kerry/Edwards tee shirt on. Before we handed the attendant our tickets, there was a booth registering voters. When I passed by she asked if I wanted to register and then she said (after she saw my shirt) "Oh, I hope so!" and she smiled. Me thinks she was a Democrat. The movie plaza has several restaurants and other family establishments around, so after the movie we walked around. We stopped at an ice cream parlor and all I ordered was water and the young fella that gave it to me said it was on the house. We wondered why he gave it to me for free. My bf said it was because of my tee shirt! I did see one guy leering at me as we were standing and talking. He was probably a Bush supporter!

[NoPasaran]

61. Hee hee!

Most of the registration I did was non-partisan (although of course we tried to do it in areas where the preponderance of voters would be our people) But I remember a few weeks ago at some festival or other (they're all starting to blur together) I had my Kerry/Edwards shirt on and was asking people if they wanted to register. One knuckledragger said "not with THAT shirt!" Fine---have it your way---don't register!

[VelmaD]

Congrats on the freebie...

My momma bought me a suncatcher at the Old Pecan Street Festival here in Austin a couple of weekends ago and the woman gave her a discount because I was wearing my Kerry for Pres t-shirt. :)

[Longhorn]

60. This Drippin' Springs girl thanks you from the bottom of my heart!

Y'all are the BEST! :yourock:

[NoPasaran]

62. We registered a few folks from Dripping Springs

Hope they turn out for Mark Rose!