Cross-posted at WinningProgressive
Tuesday’s elections are going to be won or lost at the margins. The polls show that virtually all of the key races out there are within or near the margin of error. While Republicans are holding slim leads among “likely” voters, Democrats tend to hold the lead when all registered voters are counted. In addition, it appears that many of the polls are underestimating Democratic strength by not polling people who only use cell phones. Cell phone only voters tend to be young people, which is a demographic that leans strongly toward the Democrats, but which are also less likely to vote.
The bottom line is that getting out our vote is absolutely critical to making sure that we wake up on November 3 to continued Democratic majorities in Congress. And getting out the vote is something that all of us can help do. Numerous studies show that door-to-door canvassing can increase turnout by as much as 10-15% among voters who are contacted, and by 5% among other voters in those households. And phonebanking can be nearly as effective as canvassing in mobilizing people to vote.
Fortunately, the Democrats have put together perhaps the largest GOTV effort for a mid-term election in history. But this effort will only work if all of us get involved in it over these final 72 hours. So:
1. If at all possible, take all or some of Election Day off from work so that you can help turn out the vote.
2. Sign up to do door-to-door canvassing.
3. Call voters to help remind them to vote Democratic.
4. Forward this post to your family and friends and urge them to help out.
5. Get offline once you have done the above. Turn off your TV. Even close your books, newspapers and magazines, and help Get Out The Vote!
As Scott Urb over at the Great Lakes, Great Times, Great Scott blog recently pointed out, numerous elections throughout history have been decided by extremely small margins. For example, Al Franken won the Senate seat in Minnesota by 312 votes, and President Bush was declared the winner of Florida by 537 votes in 2000.
With this year’s elections so close, let’s make sure we all do everything we can to ensure that we wake up on November 3 with the Democratic majorities intact, rather kicking ourselves for not doing more.
