Neighbor to Neighbor Outreach Day- Mult Co

From the Multnomah County Democrats:

Never before has our party been more organized in advance of an election. With new staff hitting the ground everywhere from Alaska to Arkansas, we are going to fight for every vote in every corner of every state in 2006. Not only does Oregon have staff hired by the DNC on the ground, Multnomah County also has two newly hired staff members who will be working hard towards our fight to win every election in the county.

Right now we're preparing for the next big step in our 50-state strategy. On April 29th, thousands of volunteers will recruit hundreds of thousands more Americans committed to changing the status quo this year.

We're going to do it by making personal contact with our neighbors. April 29th will be the Democratic Party's first-ever National Neighbor-to-Neighbor Organizing Day. We're going to test our organization and build new relationships among volunteers with door-knocking events in communities across America.

Here in Multnomah County, we’re putting together a fun filled day of morning snacks and rallying, afternoon canvassing, and topped off with a social event once when it’s all done.

Canvassers will be talking with Democrats in their senate district to help target new volunteers and precinct committee people, let them know the Democratic Party is active in the county, and help strengthen our base for the November election.

As April 29th is also the after ballots are mailed out, we’re also going to use this opportunity to encourage voters to complete their ballots and turn them in before Election Day. Turnout in the 2004 primary was only 45% and 48% in the 2002 primary—we can do better.

In order to make this the biggest and most successful one-day canvass in recent history, we’re going to need a lot of help, including:

• locating staging locations across the county—at least one per Senate District, but preferably one per House District;
• finding donors for snacks and water in the morning and for food, refreshments and entertainment for the social event, and for the printing of the walk packets;
• collating walk packets for all our canvassers, including walking lists, candidate literature, county party literature, and DNC door hangers; and
• making phone calls to turn out canvassers on April 29th.

For those not able to canvass, we’ll also need volunteers to help set up the post-canvass social event.

To keep up to date regarding the details for the canvass, visit www.multdems.org/canvass or contact Field Director Jenni Simonis at 503-248-0826 or field@multdems.org.