Our Friends on the Ground in Ohio

Here is s short write-up from some friends who are on the ground in Ohio - the Lappe family. Hopefully this will trigger some positive thoughts!


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Today was the second day of Ohio's "golden week," when people can register and vote at the same moment.

It's inspiring to be a part of this huge network of volunteers – more than 100 across the entire state – who are helping get people to the early voting centers. On a conference call with organizers tonight, we heard that 800 people voted yesterday in Columbus and about 300 of them were from our group's organizing. It feels good to be making a difference, and we're sure the numbers will only go up.

The group we're with, VoteTodayOhio, has hooked up with Vote from Home Ohio, who has been doing voter registration in the state since Aug 1. They've registered almost 10,000 new voters! This week, like all of us, the effort is centered on getting people to the polls. They've been super smart and creative and focused on helping those who are normally disenfranchised get to the early polling centers. So we're providing shuttles from the homeless shelters, soup kitchens, housing authority, halfway houses.

Yesterday, we worked with Vote from Home and mainly shuttled people from the homeless centers in town. It's intense to see the incredible poverty, urban decay, and signs of unemployment here. The economic downturn is not hidden at all.

Today, we were sent out to a thrift store and a barber training school. Within minutes, Matt had befriended the crew of guys hanging out in front of the school. Within an hour we had registered more than 20 people and provided nearly all of them with absentee ballots. After such success, we plan on going back as well as visiting the other big barber shops in town.

As we circulated throughout the barber school, the barbers kept trying to get Matt to sit down for a haircut. Everyone agreed he was looking a little shaggy, so he paid the $6 for a trim from Tone—one of the most enthusiastic Obama supporters. As Matt got his cut, a half dozen other guys hung out and chatted. We talked about SF and New York, politics, life in Columbus, sports and favorite drinks. We all shared great laughs, and at one point, Matt had to enlist Tone to oppose a proposal to shave VOTE into the back of his head.

And then there's Mandeep! Matt's old roommate from Stanford lives here in Columbus, doing a postdoc in Cosmology, and has invited us to stay as his house, along with his 4-to-6 roommates (depending on how you count them). He is a classic nutty professor. Mandeep spends most of his waking hours researching dark matter, dark energy, and, as he says, the birth of the universe, but often forgets to untuck his pants from his socks after biking to work. He has been a wonderful host, loaning us his Prius and keeping us updated on all the political polls and news.

Polls seem to be tilting for Obama and being here makes us feel even more positive. If we're doing this kind of thing – taking time out to organize in a battleground state for the first time in our lives – there must be many more of us out there. Go Obama!

Thanks again for your support. This wouldn't have been possible without all of you guys.

Love to you all!
Anna and Matt

PS Here's the website for our group http://votetodayohio.blogspot.com/