Prepping for Nov. 6

11/7/2018

How student campaigners prepared for the elections

Ian McKenzie / For The Post

As Nov. 6 drew near, OU Republican and Democratic student campaigners spent much of their time preparing for the midterm elections.

The Ohio University College Democrats were initially focused on getting people registered to vote, according to Bailey Williams, the president of OUCD. Meanwhile, the Ohio University College Republicans focused their time on phone banking.

Only 100 fewer people registered to vote in Athens County for the elections this year compared to 2016 — which is great for a midterm year, Williams said.

Ever since the voter registration date passed Oct. 9, OUCD focused on making sure voters are aware of the Democrats’ political standing, Williams said. One of the main selling points was that if people vote early, then OUCD will not continue to canvass voters.

Something that OUCD did not have to worry about was the cost of campaigning. That’s because the Ohio Democratic Party pays for most of what they use, Williams said.

“The Ohio Democratic Party pays for a lot of stuff that we need,” Williams said. “They paid for burner phones for phone banking. They paid for a lot of campaign literature that we use while canvassing.”

OUCD did not focus on having any events to get people to vote. It is a grassroots operation, Williams said, and they talked to as many people as they could.

There are about 30 active volunteers who helped OUCD canvass and phone bank, according to Williams. The volunteers worked a minimum of 10 hours a week.

On Oct. 28, Kailee Missler, the communications director of OUCD and a sophomore studying strategic communication studies, and Charles Fessler-Krebs, a volunteer and sophomore studying communication studies, went canvassing in Athens.

They asked which residents will be voting in the upcoming midterm. The houses were chosen based on past voting history and the location that they are registered to vote.

When OUCD canvasses, it’s not to try to polarize voters, Missler said — they’re just looking at what to expect to see in the polls.

“I hate that people make politics so life or death,” Fessler-Krebs said.

Something that OUCD pushed for was early voting, according to Missler. Despite that, most of the people they spoke to said they planned to vote on Election Day. There can be problems that arise when waiting to vote on Election Day, Missler said.

While OUCD focused on door-knocking, OUCR focused on phone banking.

The Ohio Republican Party has two call centers in the state — the larger one in Columbus and a smaller one in Athens. The center in Athens was efficient when it comes to the number of calls made: In the last two weeks of October, there wasn’t been a day the center did not hit 10,000 calls, Cole Neuhart, the political director for OUCR, said.

Kelsey Boeing | FOR THE POST

Cole Neuhart, political director of OUCR, sits down to talk about student campaigning during this midterm election.

“Our call center in little Athens, Ohio, is outperforming (the Columbus center) by about 40,000 calls,” Neuhart said. “I think that we are about 40,000 or 60,000 calls away from 300,000 total calls.”

Of the people who answered the phone, Neuhart said about 70 percent will say that they are busy, around 20 percent will answer the questions posed, and 10 percent or fewer will be rude.

In past years, OUCR had a more balanced focus on phone-banking and going door-to-door. That was because OUCR was working at one of the two call centers in the state, Neuhart said.

The call center contacts residents across the state. When calling, the volunteers ask who the person plans on voting for in a particular election.

“Being in as rural of an area as Athens, it is hard to make voter contact when knocking (on) doors,” Neuhart said.

Development by: Megan Knapp / Digital Production Editor