Election Volunteering By Eliza Meketon

Election Volunteering Experience By Eliza Meketon

My time canvassing for Hillary Clinton was definitely an eventful time. When I first came to the canvassing coordinator’s house I was bombarded with Clinton propaganda and the enthusiastic face of a woman who was a little to high on Hillary. She was a very genious host and she got me prepared for the next three grueling hours. She gave me the script to read to Hillary supporters. She then proceeded to give me a list of the supporters names and addresses, as well as a map of the area. I then began to hyperventilate due to my utter lack of directional sense. Unfortunately this fact was made worse by me not having a car to take me from house to house and the weather being a humid 80 degrees. The locations of the houses ranged from Abbington, Stenton, Chestnut hill, Evergreen, Meade St, Bethlehem, and more. By the end I had knocked on 27 houses, however I only got to talk to 4 supporters. The first actual supporter I had met was incredibly nice. I stumbled on my speech I was supposed to give her, and asked if she was going to vote today, if she was supporting Hillary, and if she knew her polling system (essentially my job was to promote and remind Hillary supporters to vote.) She gave me advice on how to address people which was very helpful, and I then thanked her for her time. One very memorable moment was when a car of teenage boys pulled up next to me and asked who I was campaigning for. I then blabbed “Hillary Clinton” with a smile and a stutter. They nodded their heads and said “ok.” I had never really been someone to state out loud their political ideas for fear that if I said it to the wrong person I would be judged, harassed, or worse. With the hostile political atmosphere of our country, in which people are getting taunted, injured, or killed for showing off their political beliefs. Luckily for me Philadelphia is a pretty democratic city so the likelihood of being excessively hounded by opposite parties was not likely. However I still felt uncomfortable putting my beliefs on my body through buttons, or any sort of propaganda. I felt the need to tell people this is for a school project, due to the fact that I most likely would never have done this if it weren’t necessary. I respect other people’s opinions and ideas and by publicly advertising a politician, it feels like I’m telling those who disagree, are wrong for having their own opinion, even if I do happen disagree with it, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Overall it was an ok experience, but the heat mixed with the apathetic answers I received from the people may have tarnished my time canvassing. I think I can cross this off my list as possible job careers, but I am glad I did it. I think that everyone should try something that is a little out of their comfort zone every once in awhile. Some quick questions I have about elections are why do we have elections every four years instead of some other denomination? Also who  decided that the electoral college was the deciding factor for who becomes president? Why can’t the popular vote be the deciding factor for choosing the president?

My three pictures

Picture #1

Picture description: This is a list of the names of documented Hillary supporters and their addresses. There were four different sections. One was why the person couldn’t talk with me, then if they did take a moment to talk to me, I then proceed to the next category. This category consisted of me asking about voting for Hillary Clinton, like if they were definitely voting for her or if they were unsure, and so on. The next two categories were if I wanted to try again and knock on the door of someone who wasn’t able to talk to me the first time, and then basically filling out the same info as I mentioned before.

Picture #2

Photo Description: This is a photo of me with my Hillary support button that I was given by my coordinator. It was really interesting walking around with a button that out right stated my political standing. Some people nodded their head when the saw the button and others showed suspicion or discomfort, but then again that could have been because I was wearing a wool sweater in 80 degree weather.

Photo #3

Photo Description: This is a very blurry photo of my canvassing organizer. She was incredibly nice and she even had cookies inscribed with Hillary’s name. She had signs, folders, everything Hillary you could think of was in this woman's house.

Artifacts Photos

Artifact #1

Artifact description: This is an information leaflet telling people some more info about Hillary Clinton. It also tells people about Hillary. Also it tells people the time in which they can vote.

Artifact #2:

Artifact Description: This is the speech that we were told to give to the supporters. It basically just tells people thanks for  being a supporter and when and where to vote. I was very bad at giving this speech because I stuttered every time and I didn’t know the appropriate amount of information to summarize.

Artifact #3: