This election is personal
On Saturday morning, my dad, mom, sister and I drove to a small city in Wayne County, PA. There we met many other volunteers from all over the East Coast who had come to canvass for the Harris/Waltz campaign. We were quickly trained, handed clipboards and given a route with names and addresses of people that we were going to try and speak with.
We spent the day driving around and speaking to as many people as came to the door. Though the slight majority of people we met were Democrats who had voted or were planning on voting, we also met some Independents and Republicans voting for Democrats, a Democrat voting Republican and Republicans voting Republican.
It was clear that many households on our list were mixed politically and there were times when we had to speak with someone to ask for their daughter, wife or son. It reminded us how personal the political divide is to these households and all over the country.
I am not sure if we “swung” any votes out there but we did have a day of conversations with many different people. And even in the sea of the opponent’s signs - everyone we encountered was polite and kind.
Doing this small action made me feel less alone and scared at a moment when you could cut our collective anxiety with a knife. I hope our conversations had a similar effect on the people we spoke with.
So I am knocking at your metaphorical door this morning to say that I know that you may have fears but that you are not alone. I am also asking if we can count on your vote today. We need all of you.
I know this election has far reaching implications for the future of our democracy but like those households in PA, it also feels personal. And no matter what happens, we are all going to have to figure out how to move forward peacefully with our family members, neighbors, friends and colleagues who may have voted differently.
Personal stories, though, may be the only way to break through the noise and swing anything. So tell your story to someone today. Explain why this election is so important to you and the experience in your life that led you to care so much about a particular issue. And then listen. This is the slow, sometimes painful and powerful work of connecting over differences. This is a small step on the path out of polarization and back towards a healthy democracy.
If you're interested in checking out a piece I wrote a few years ago around another important election, check out "Our American Family Tree" at The Prompt Magazine.
Be well, be safe and please vote!