GOTV and VR

I started writing this a month ago and must have been interrupted before I finished it. (cwr)

Atrios--at Eschaton--has a short post at http://atrios.blogspot.com/ captioned: "Vote!" I can't figure out how to capture the trackback for the post itself, but it's not so very long, and the gist is that he's agreeing with someone that generic GOTV activities are less useful than voter registration. The comments are much more lengthy, with a lively discussion on several dimensions of voter registration, the importance of voting, voter apathy, and so on. If one had the patience to find the post and then go to the comments (I have to right-click on the link to open them in a new window--it really is a clunky interface for some reason), the richness of thought would be, well, thought provoking.

My own thoughts have been provoked thusly:

Both GOTV (get out the vote activities) and VR (voter registration activities) are essential. Without VR, there's no point to GOTV. Without GOTV, VR is similarly pointless. Campaigns to promote the importance of voting to one group of Americans or another are intended to build a desire to vote and should, of course, be accompanied by some information about how to get registered to vote. Voter registration cards (in Texas, at least) used to come in little stands that said, "Register and vote!" (emphasis, no doubt, added). They probably still do.

The thing is, neither happens without some effort on someone's part. I was, for example, pleased to see that some local Austin Democrats were using the occasion of showings of Fahrenheit 9/11 as an opportunity to register voters. This was a targeted effort, based on the assumption that folks who saw had just seen this movie (as opposed to, say, Shrek 2, would want to register to vote. It seems to have panned out. Others are doing block walks in selected areas of the county, although I have not looked too closely at how they have made their selections. I myself take voter registration cards to workshops, in case someone needs to update their registration--or, indeed, register.

[Note to Jack: Yes, I saw Shrek 2 (with the grandson). Loved it. No, I didn't see Fahrenheit 9/11. I already knew the "plot" (pun intended) and couldn't bear to put myself through the emotional meat grinder. ]

In all cases, voter registration is a non-partisan activity. One might wish to register voters of one party or another in order to boost support for one's favored candidate, but that's not how it's done, nor should it be. Our right to vote is one of the most precious gifts of citzenship in our democracy. The one thing a VR drive should be doing is making sure that everyone who is willing to accept that gift receives it.

GOTV used to be fun on E-Day. I have fond memories of driving one of the old Volkswagen Rabbits as a sound car for a City Council race. Sadly, they only let me play a tape rather than letting me broadcast my own ad-libbed endorsements of the candidate and encouragement to "come on out and vote, folks," but it was fun driving through neighborhoods, waving to folks in their yards, and feeling so much a grand part of things. That was 20 years ago. I was already too upset with intrusive telemarketers to want to be a phone bank person, but I thought the sound car was a nice tradition. Nowadays, I'm sufficiently intolerant of noise pollution that I would probably have some second thoughts about voting for a candidate, sound permit notwithstanding, who destroyed the peace and quiet of my neighborhood (such as it is) to get me to the polls. And the real nitty gritty of GOTV is still those phone banks of identified voters. Find out who they are before E-day. Call 'em until they tell you they've voted. Ugh. GOTV of the sort that is being pursued with television and print ads, rock concerts, and wrestling events is much more "peaceable."

I've cut the rest of the essay, since I seem to have been trying to make a transition to a discussion of the need for some bipartisan civility when I was interrupted mid-sentence. This will have to stand as is since I've already done my freedom of speech rant for the day. (cwr)