Hope Springs from Field PAC [website] volunteers in Nevada have been discussing the electoral changes for the 2024 elections and what it means for them.
Nevada adopted a largely all-mail voting system in 2021, permanently codifying pandemic-related election changes adopted for the 2020 election season. The legislation was staunchly opposed by Republicans and passed on party lines out of both the Assembly and Senate.
The legislation reduced some of the deadlines that were implemented during the 2020 election — shortening from seven to four days the timeframe after an election when mail ballots postmarked by Election Day can be accepted. There is a reduction of seven to six days in time for voters to fix issues on their mail ballot (a process called “signature cure”).
While ballot curing was available before, it wasn’t the focus in 2022. But this year seems like it will be a closer election, and we’ve had a couple of volunteers ask if the “Georgia Peaches” will come to Nevada like they did to Ohio (and North Carolina, but no one seems to remember that). Now i have a smart a** reply to this, but it goes over like a lead balloon. But the point is that our Nevada volunteers are now thinking about how they swing a close election, just like volunteers did in other states (Georgia, Ohio, etc). “Let’s not lose this thing.” Agreed.
The National Journal (one of those newspapers found in every Congressional office on the Hill) described the battle space in Nevada this way:
Democrats face an uphill battle to keep their narrow Senate majority, but running on protecting abortion access has proved a winning issue in battlegrounds like Nevada.
The pending ballot measure in Nevada that would enshrine abortion access into the state constitution may keep abortion near the forefront of voters’ minds, which could benefit Democrats in a consequential Senate race. While the initiative would not go into effect until 2026, its presence on the ballot may give Democrats an advantage in what will be a hard-fought race to keep the seat.
Like Arizona, Nevada has a competitive presidential race, a competitive U.S. Senate race and a ballot initiative on Reproductive Freedom on the ballot. But voters in Nevada are less alarmed at their Reproductive Rights being denied because that possibility is theoretical right now. Voters do understand the difference.
The Cook Political Report noted:
It is time for another Democrat to join the Toss-Up ranks: Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen.
The Nevada shift may be a bit surprising. After all, it's the only one of the swing states Democrats carried in both 2016 and 2020 at the presidential level, and Republicans haven't won a statewide federal race here since 2012. And of the quartet now in Toss Up, it is still probably the toughest.
Hence the reason why we are preparing for a close election in the state. Unlike Wisconsin, which was discussed yesterday, the Nevada Democratic Party is recovering from difficult times. Last cycle, from the viewpoint of the (incumbent) candidate, the Democratic Party in Nevada was more an obstacle than a help to her race. It certainly put obstacles in our way as we canvassed the state that year. But i think the observation that the party is recovering is apt. State parties (once) controlled by powerful politicians in the state is not as rare as we might like to think, Harry Reid is no longer around, even if his legacy remains. To be frank, so does the legacy of Bernie Sanders, and therein the tension had existed. But that tension, buried or not, never effected the volunteers who came out to knock on doors with Hope Springs. It was, as they say, (way) above our pay grade.
We continue to knock on doors in the Las Vegas area (NV-01 & NV-03). We cancelled canvassing in the Reno area because of cold weather. But 251 volunteers turned up to knock on doors in the Las Vegas region. They knocked on 18,498 doors and talked to 1,487 voters. 992 of those voters answered at least some of our questions on the Issues Survey.
Hope Springs volunteers have now collected (to date) 15,693 verified petitions from valid voters for the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment in Nevada. Canvass volunteers continue to collect signatures, and organizers continue to verify the address and voter registration of those who sign our volunteers’ petitions. The more Nevadan voters we can get invested in this proposition, the better we will do in November.
The Top 3 Issues canvassers found in Nevada last weekend were, first, Jobs and The Economy. This is really the first time Jobs has been a central part of our Top 3 Issues this year. Housing and Housing Insurance Costs and Availability was the Second most frequently cited concern. Reproductive Freedom or Rights was Third. Like Florida and Arizona, we have voters in Nevada ask about signing the petition to get it on the ballot before volunteers opened their mouths.
Hope Springs from Field PAC began knocking on doors March 2nd in a grassroots effort to prepare the 2024 Electoral Battleground in what has been called the First and Second Rounds of a traditional Five Round Canvass. We are talking to Democrats and unaffiliated voters with a systematic approach that reminds them not only that Democrats care, but Democrats are determined to deliver the best government possible to all Americans. In states where their are voter-driven petitions for Constitutional Amendments for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, volunteers carry those petitions.
Obviously, we rely on grassroots support, so if you support field/grassroots organizing, voter registration (and follow-up), GOTV and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopemobilization2024
Hope Springs from Field understands that volunteer to voter personal interactions are critical. Knocking on doors has repeatedly been found to be the most successful tactic to get voters to cast a ballot and that is the goal of what we do.
Biden’s Approval numbers among the Nevadans we talked to was at 50% last Saturday, with a Disapproval number of 10%. Senator Rosen had an Approval rating of 53% with 8% of the voters we talked to on Saturday expressing Disapproval. In the last cycle, Sen. Cortez Masto won her race by the narrowest margin of any Senate race, and Rosen may be in a tougher spot this year. Cortez Masto had roots in Nevada politics, having served as state attorney general before becoming a senator, while Rosen faces her first reelection bid. Rosen beat incumbent Sen. Dean Heller in 2018, beating him with 50.41% of the vote.
Approval of Governor Lombardo was 28% and Disapproval was 27% last Saturday. Las Vegas has continuously been more kind to the Governor than has the Reno area. (Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo was one of the first Republican governors to codify protections for abortion providers and out-of-state abortion patients. Though Lombardo describes himself as “pro-life,” he promised on the campaign trail to abide by the law allowing legal abortions up to 24 weeks.)
Volunteers registered 4 new voters and re-registered 11 voters. We differentiate between the two because brand new voters are often ignored by campaigns and we hope to compensate for that somewhat by having volunteers send them post cards before the election and they are also getting robocalls thanking them for registering. But we are finding lots of teens who just turned legal age whose parents (primarily mothers) are insisting they register.
66 voters filled out Constituent Service Request forms. We send completed CSRs to Democratic elected officials responsible for the requested functions, but if there are no Democrats who can further the request, and the appropriate office is held by a Republican, we still send it along. For Democrats, though, we encourage them to reach out immediately to the voter who filled out the Constituent Service Request forms and let them know they are working on the issue. This credit-taking is enormously valuable to the Democratic office-holder.
4 voters filled out Incident Reports about issues they witnessed in a prior election. We continue to see voters who want to fill out an Incident Report but realize they didn’t actually witness something to report. Nevada and North Carolina seem to lead the states where we canvass in this regard. We have been building a database of Incident Reports, and reports we collected in Nevada have been used successfully to request a time extension for voters before a polling precinct closed.
Incident Reports are used to plan Election Protection activities, and will be combined with other, historical incidents and handed over to District and State Attorneys, Attorney Generals and the DoJ Civil Rights Division right before Election Day as a precaution against Election Day Incidents in November. Past polling place activity is a predictor of future voter intimidation or suppression activity.
We knock on the doors of Democratic and Independent voters. At every door, we leave a piece of “show the flag” lit, something that tells them we were there and hopefully reinforces the Democratic brand. The lit focuses on the things voters told us were important to them last fall, aiming to appeal to every voter.
But the main focus of our canvassing is the Issues Survey, asking voters for their input and concerns. Voter responses to the questionnaire are entered into VAN and made available to all Democratic candidates who use VAN in the state after the primary. Creating this kind of data isn’t done with a specific goal in mind but has the purpose of engaging voters and creating a dataset that any Democratic candidate can use in opposition to a Republican.
Hope Springs has targeted states that have competitive Senate races and/or the Electoral College in 2024, as well as Congressional Districts that are remapped in ways that offer opportunities or vulnerabilities for Democrats next year (specifically those where a Republican won a Congressional District that voted for Biden in 2022). There is a lot of work to be done! Especially since we have had to expand the map this year.
By starting early, and aiming towards super-compliance with some really, really onerous new voter regulations, Hope Springs from Field seeks to undermine that strategy, while informing voters about the new laws and regulations aimed at them.
We are also — this being an election year — adding the Post Cards to New Voters component back into our Voter Outreach, both New Voters we find at their doors as well as New Voters we target in the Voter File.
Our biggest expense is the Voter File. But it is also a fixed cost. That won’t change as we raise and spend more money. Printing literature is our second largest cost. Printing and mailing our our Post Cards to New Voters is our third cost and paying the fees for ActBlue is the smallest of our monthly costs.
Hope Springs is a seat-of-the-pants grassroots-driven operation. We don’t have employees but we realize that to formalize and professionalize this effort that will have to change.
But here’s the reality: Identifying Single Issue Voters and Constitutional Amendment supporters and doing GOTV (Get-Out-the-Vote) costs us more money than our regular canvassing because this issue drives volunteer turnout higher and higher. Which means we have to buy more lit to distribute and other minor expenses (like water for volunteers). So please:
If you are able to support our efforts to protect Democratic voters, especially in minority communities, expand the electorate, and believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation and election protection, please help:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopemobilization2024
If you would rather send a check, you can follow that link for our mailing address at the bottom of the page. Thank you for your support. This work depends upon you!