First Field Organizing Meeting
El Cameron and I had the first meeting of the Field Team on Thursday night (by Google Meet, of course). We were both still a little upset over the sacking of the Capitol. However, we are grateful that the Electoral College votes were successfully counted, and that Biden was declared the winner, despite the terrible circumstances.
We agreed that those events only made the effort to organize in the county even more important—there has to be a voice in opposition to the conspiracy theorists who are failing to govern.
El and I knew each other a little bit because of County Party events over the past year, but we got to know each other a little better. Turns out El was raised on the South Side of Cheyenne, too! She went to Goins, Johnson Jr. High, and Cheyenne Central High. She is also a University of Wyoming graduate. She is in the process of raising three children. I remember those days and I am so impressed she has the energy for the organizing work.
On the topic of each of us having the energy and not burning out, we agreed that everyone involved in the Field Team would be honest about how much time they have to commit, and we will honor those commitments.
Our main goal of the evening was to develop a mission statement. We discussed the mission statement of the Laramie County Democratic Party which is loosely “To see that Democratic candidates are elected and that Democratic values are elevated in the county.” This is really the mission of the entire field organizing effort, as well. However, the mission of the Field Team is narrower: Our role is to identify field volunteers, train them to be effective in the field, and mentor them when they go into the field. We also agreed that the process has to be enjoyable, or no one will last as a field organizer. So, the mission statement we agreed on is: Find people who will get Democrats elected and have fun while we are doing it.
We talked a little bit about the plan moving forward, which is really the topic of our next few meetings, but we know we will do the following:
• Identify volunteers. Our fellow Precinct Committee People should be a rich source of volunteers.
• Provide them with high value communications training
• Work with them to develop and practice deep canvassing scripts
• Target precincts with a high percentage of Democrats and target Democrats and unregistered voters in those precincts.
We agreed that we should plan to hit the streets in late spring, when the Wyoming weather is better, the vaccine is rolled out and (we hope) optimism is sweeping the country.
Of course, we will need to use Votebuilder to locate our target audiences. I have an account. El may have one. I will check with the State Party to verify.
El and I agreed to meet next week. The numbers of our little group should grow a bit by then.