Get-Out-the-Vote Efforts in Ohio Have Kinks
Get-Out-the-Vote Efforts in Ohio Have Kinks
In the all-important ground game, both the Obama and Romney campaigns claim their get-out-the-vote operations are superior. But time spent with volunteers for each campaign in the crucial days before the election suggests that neither organization operates exactly as advertised in this key battleground state.
At a phone bank for Republican Mitt Romney in this town just south of Youngstown, six volunteers were calling Romney supporters to assess whether they will vote early or on Election Day. A campaign official said the goal is to make sure the campaign knows who is voting on Tuesday, so those people can be called and urged to go to the polls.
The callers, however, repeatedly reached people who don’t plan to vote for Mr. Romney, and, in some cases, weren’t even registered to vote, casting doubt on the quality of the lists. One woman said she hasn’t voted for 14 years and doesn’t plan to resume this year. Another woman had moved, one was in a nursing home and a man said he wasn’t a registered voter. Another person who picked up the phone told the volunteer, “She’s not voting for him. Please stop calling her.”
Two voters told the volunteers that they wanted to vote for Mr. Romney but weren’t sure how they would get to the polls. “Well, I hope you can find someone to take you, and I hope you’ll support Mitt Romney,” said volunteer Larry May, 75 years old, of Salem. A campaign official later said the Romney campaign does offer rides to the polls.