Washington United for Marriage's Capitol Hill action center is bustling with volunteers preparing to canvas King County to get likely voters out to Approve Referendum 74. It's also packed with food. So. Much. Food.
Granola bars, Top Pot Doughnuts, fruit, cupcakes, water, tea, juice, coffee... It's all there for the taking as volunteers whisk in and out between three-hour-long shifts of phone banking and canvassing.
Dominic wrote earlier about the phenomenal ground game that the Approve 74 folks have going, and I got to walk along with Katie and Jeff as they worked to get Capitol Hill voters to turn in their damn ballots. Jeff works for himself, and Kate is between jobs, so they've both been volunteering during the day to drive out the vote.
(Shifts are in the morning, afternoon, and eveningâand it's not too late to sign up! The evening shift starts at 5:30 p.m., so people with jobs can canvass too!)
Kate, Jeff, and I marched around the east slope of the hill, knocking on a specific list of doors that belong to voters likely to approve 74, but who haven't yet turned in ballots. Being the middle of the day, most folks weren't home. One of the few encounters we had was a middle-aged woman returning home from work.
"Hey! Are you guys for Referendum 74?!" she yelled from across the street.
We were, we said. Have you voted yet?
"Ohhhhh yes. I have a gay son! And I put that sign down on the traffic circle!"
She then proceeded to tell us where ALL of the gay people in the neighborhood live. There were lots of them.
We marked down the few folks we talked to, left literature at the houses with nobody home, and returned back to the action center after finishing the beat. Before the end of tomorrow, folks will be back at those houses. Want to go tell people who already support 74 to turn their ballots in? Here is a list of events between now and tomorrow night. Tonight and tomorrow are both great times to get out in the crisp fall air and canvass for equality.
Sign up. Eat lots of food. Get out the vote. Get right with God.
