It's the home stretch of the midterm elections. These last few days are a crucial time for volunteers to go door-to-door and influence people who might be on the fence about whether they should make the effort to show up at the polls on Nov. 6.
WNYC asked listeners to share their stories of canvassing, especially for candidates who are outside of their own district.
Many people said they didn't have to travel far to find an area with a close race. One Manhattanite, Carol Hillson, said she's been to Hudson Valley and Long Island to knock on doors and tell people about Democratic candidates. Clearly she's been putting in the miles.
@shubasu @wnyc
— carol hillson (@carolhillson) October 28, 2018
I love canvassing. I meet all kinds of people, see neighborhoods I‘d otherwise not see. I get a feel for what’s happening from on the ground. I’ve learned that nonvoters can be PASSIONATE. Some more so than voters. I want to talk with more of them after midterms pic.twitter.com/bzxJHxQBpe
Emma from Park Slope traveled to Staten Island to get out the vote for congressional Democratic candidate Max Rose, who's running against incumbent Republican Dan Donovan.
"One thing that I've learned about Staten Island is that the commute is absolutely brutal," Emma told WNYC. "Even if you can get to the ferry, sometimes it can take hours on the island to get to the ferry during rush hour. And that's one of voters’ main issues."
Bill in Manhattan traveled out of state for a few days, to northern Ohio, to talk to voters a candidate named Janet Garrett. She's a Democrat challenging the Republican congressional incumbent Rep. Jim Jordan.
"If you told me a year ago I would be doing that, I would’ve been very surprised," said Bill, with a chuckle. "But the fact is that I heard Jim Jordan attacking [United States Deputy Attorney General] Rod Rosenstein over the Mueller investigation at some point. And thought, 'What unfortunate corner of Ohio sent that person to Congress?' And found out that it was a place where my father grew up and my grandmother grew up."
These people all said they were motivated by a candidate, and in many cases by a party, to go out and encourage others to vote. But some New Yorkers said their efforts were non-partisan, more focused on voting in general.
Steve Miller and Laverne Berry, two New Yorkers and longtime friends, have both worked in entertainment law and public media. A decade ago, they decided to look into voter rights and election laws, and they discovered that voters in North Carolina frequently cited problems at the polls.
In 2016, a federal appeals court overturned North Carolina's voter ID law, which Republicans in the state claimed was aimed at countering voter fraud but the court said was disproportionately disenfranchising African Americans. The Supreme Court refused to revive the old law in a 2017 decision.
So Miller and Berry have been going down to North Carolina (during presidential election years) since 2008, standing outside polling places, asking people what problems they're encountering and offering advice on what actions they can take to make sure their vote gets counted. They said they work with groups on the ground in North Carolina who've been doing this type of work for years.
"We're not coming down here like, 'Oh, we're from New York and that's a progressive state and we're here to help you.'" said Miller. "We come and say, 'Here we are. We're extra bodies. We've learned the laws. Tell us where you need us.'"
This year is the first time Miller and Berry are in North Carolina during midterm elections. And it's their first time bringing a group of 15 other New Yorkers with them to volunteer. A documentary about their work in North Carolina during the 2016 election is out now, called "Capturing the Flag."
Miller and Berry also recently gave a TEDx talk on "How to Effect Change With a Couple of Friends."