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September 9, 2004
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September 9, 2004 |
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Registering voters one door at a time
Some people feel powerless to influence the Nov. 2 presidential election, sure that vast, unknowable forces beyond their control will dictate the outcome. But those people probably don’t live in Yellow Springs. Carrying on the village’s activist tradition in this year’s passionate campaign, a number of Yellow Springers are putting their own boots on the ground, knocking on doors, signing up voters and performing countless small organizational tasks in an effort to make a difference. In this presidential race, George W. Bush has many advantages: the power of the incumbency, a huge war chest and a finely honed Republican organization. But he doesn’t have Sylvia Carter Denny on his side, so you might say he’s at risk. Carter has thrown her considerable charm, energy and enthusiasm toward the John Kerry camp, and Democrats all over the country can rest a little easier. Of course, those Democrats — even those in Greene or Clark County — probably don’t know of Carter Denny’s efforts, since she’s a freelance political organizer on a one-woman campaign to register voters. Carter Denny doesn’t sign in or ask permission before she heads out each afternoon. She just grabs her clipboard and voter registration forms and drives north, stopping at Kroger or a laundromat in Springfield’s working class south side, where she believes voters tend to be Democratic. Then, she spends several hours standing in the hot sun, flashing her megawatt smile at unsuspecting shoppers as she encourages them to register to vote. Carter Denny says hello to “oh, I don’t know how many, a whole bunch,” of shoppers, she said, before she finds someone who needs to register. But that part’s not hard, since Carter Denny, a former therapist, loves talking to people. When she finds someone who needs to register she patiently answers questions and helps the person fill out the form. She hopes to register 10 new voters per day, she said, and most days since she began in mid-July she’s reached her goal. Why does she make the effort? “I think we’re in danger of losing the democratic process,” said Carter Denny. “I think our rights are being usurped.” Recently retired, Carter Denny calls voter registration her new job until Nov. 2. She’s never before been politically active, but the prospect of four more years of a Bush administration has galvanized her to do what she can to help Kerry. Carter Denny cares deeply about the environment, she said, and is outraged at the Bush administration’s rollback of many environmental protections. She also opposes the war on Iraq and worries about the effects of the growing budget deficit on the economy. While she’s been concerned about Bush policies for some time, she was motivated to act by a February New York Times Magazine article, she said. The article profiled the Republican plan to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers to get out the vote in Ohio, and Carter Denny decided she couldn’t just sit around and complain anymore. She’s tried several ways to get involved in the campaign, including going door to door to Dayton swing voters for the progressive group Americans Coming Together (ACT). But while she values that activity, Carter Denny decided she preferred helping register voters, so she devised her own system and jumped right in. “By golly, it’s so easy to register people,” she said. “I just decided to go where the people are.” Carter Denny found people, lots of them, in Springfield and most days she can be found from 5 to 7 p.m., or later, at Kroger on Limestone Street or the Family Dollar store across the street. She’ll turn in all her forms by the Oct. 4 voter registration deadline. After that, she plans to send thank you notes to her new voters and, as the election draws near, she’ll make reminder calls to get out the vote. And for those new voters who tell her they’ll vote Republican, well, she just might not make that reminder call. It can get lonely at Kroger, Carter Denny said, and she encourages anyone who wants to help to call her at 767-7395. And though she sometimes gets discouraged about the election, she has an antidote for feelings of despair. “I just go back out and register some more,” she said. “It’s something true. It’s something you can do.” A working vacation Some people spend their vacation in Europe. Some go to the beach. Massachusetts resident Chris Rohmann used his week off work to help the John Kerry campaign in Ohio. “When people say that this is the most important presidential election in our lifetime, I think it’s true,” said Rohmann. A native of Yellow Springs, Rohmann, who was known as “Kit” when he was growing up, graduated from Bryan High School in 1960. After graduating from college, he pursued a successful career as a folksinger in Europe for 10 years, then returned to the United States. He lived for several years in New York City and has most recently lived in Massachusetts, where he works as a freelance writer and as a grant writer for the New World Theater at the University of Massachusetts. Like Carter Denny, Rohmann has never before been involved in politics. But he has become increasingly concerned about Bush administration policies, and he strongly opposes the war in Iraq, along with the Bush administration’s weakening of environmental protections. Several months ago, reading about the importance of Ohio in the election, he decided to do what he could to help Kerry. “I live in Massachusetts, which is already Kerry country,” he said. “I wanted to do something useful. I wanted to put my body and energy somewhere where it would count.” So Rohmann got in touch with Yellow Springs friends, who hooked him up with the Dayton office of ACT. He arranged to stay with longtime family friends Doug and Dorothy Scott, and flew to Ohio on Aug. 28, just in time to protest at a Bush rally in Troy. The following week Rohmann offered his services at ACT’s Dayton office, which initially needed his skills entering data into computers. He also spent time canvassing voters in a swing neighborhood in the city. He found both kinds of work to be gratifying, he said, but he especially enjoyed canvassing, and found the undecided voters he spoke with to be concerned about health care and the war on Iraq. His visits, during which he and a full-time canvasser passed out literature, talked about issues and showed videos, seemed to have some influence on the undecided voters, he said. “People who were leaning toward Kerry seemed to get a little further along,” he said. “And those who were leaning toward Bush listened.” If Rohmann, who left Yellow Springs on Sept. 3, has one regret, it’s that he doesn’t have more time to help the Kerry campaign in Ohio. “If you care about the direction the country is going, even if you’ve never been politically active, this is the time to get involved,” he said. “People who live here can spend the next two months making a difference. I’m sorry I could only spend a week.” In search of volunteers You might say that the Kerry campaign has taken over the lives of Phyllis Schmidt and Ellen Marie Lauricella. Both women say they easily spend 8 to 10 hours a day volunteering for the campaign, beginning with making calls early in the morning and ending with a final e-mail at midnight. And both feel strongly that their time is well spent. “Every day,” Schmidt said, “it feels like the right thing to do.” The two women are among several villagers who are helping Kerry’s campaign in Greene County, which is housed in the Greene County Democratic headquarters at 68 East Main Street in Xenia. But because they began helping relatively early this summer, finding their way to the Montgomery County Democratic headquarters even before the Greene County Democrats had a building to visit, Schmidt and Lauricella now help coordinate volunteer efforts for the local Kerry campaign. The two women often find new volunteers while they staff tables on area college campuses or in downtown Yellow Springs on weekends. They consider the volunteers’ interests and steer them to the appropriate activity. The volunteer possibilities are many, the women said, from canvassing voters to making phone calls to writing letters. It’s long hours and hard work, but what keeps Schmidt and Lauricella going is their belief in the significance of the election. “What comes up is the passion of this election, how profoundly meaningful a number of issues are to people,” said Schmidt. “It’s all pretty exciting. We’re finding out that people on their own are finding ways to get connected to the Kerry campaign.” Many of those volunteers are people who, like Schmidt, have never before volunteered for a presidential campaign or, like Lauricella, haven’t been politically active for a number of years. The two women have met many independent voters who now support Kerry, as well as some Republicans who voted for Bush in 2000. Most say they oppose the Bush policies on the war in Iraq, the economy, the deficit and the environment. “People have a gut feeling,” said Schmidt, “that things just aren’t right.” Both women are heartened that many new Kerry supporters live in areas traditionally considered Republican, such as Bellbrook and Beavercreek. “Sometimes people in Yellow Springs think we’re the only Democrats in Greene County,” said Schmidt. “That’s not true. There are motivated people all over.” But even though many people have volunteered for the Kerry campaign, both Schmidt and Lauricella emphasized the need for more help. People who wish to help may contact Schmidt at 767-7050 or Lauricella at 767-8708. “There are a lot of volunteers,” Lauricella said, “but there’s even more need.” |
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