Their pockets filled with hand-written sticky notes and carrying new digital technology, USW activists in Maine are canvassing the state in the waning days of the 2014 campaign, encouraging people who often stay home in midterm elections to vote on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
The hope is that intense door-to-door efforts in neighborhoods will improve voter participation enough to defeat the anti-union incumbent governor.
By the campaign’s last week, the team led by District 4’s Dan Lawson had contacted 36,000 drop-off voters who, records show, often stay home in midterm elections. They aim to hit 40,000 doors by Tuesday.
“We are throwing everything we have at this,” Lawson said. “But on Nov. 5, win, lose or draw, I’m going to be very confident in saying that we did everything we could do.”
Local 900 member Linda Deane, a mechanical millwright at a paper mill in Rumford, wants to stop the current governor from making Maine a right-to-work (for less) state, which he pledges to do if re-elected.
“If we get right-to-work in Maine it’s going to hurt everybody, not just union members. Pay will go down and safety standards at work will be jeopardized.”
A Steelworker Governor?
A six-term congressman, Democrat Mike Michaud faces Republican LePage and a third candidate, independent Eliot Cutler, who lost to LePage in 2010 and trails in polls this election.
LePage’s reputation as anti-union was cemented early in his administration when he removed a mural showing scenes of Maine’s labor history from the lobby of the Department of Labor building, saying it was not in keeping with his pro-business goals. He has vetoed a minimum-wage increase and severely stripped benefits from the state’s compensation program for injured workers.
Michaud grew up in a small blue-collar town in Penobscot County. After high school, he worked for decades at the same paper mill as his father and grandfather. He retains his USW membership and is one of the few card-carrying union members in Congress.
Before his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002, Michaud served in the Maine House of Representatives and in the Maine Senate, where he was president from 2000 to 2002.
Door to Door
The core of the GOTV team, working members who are on temporary leave from their jobs, has been together since early September. They knock on doors every day until it’s too dark to continue and spend evenings “cutting up turf,” or preparing their routes for the next day.
The canvassers carry hand-held electronic assistants equipped with maps, GPS and background information on potential voters as they trudge in teams up and down hilly roads and streets in every type of neighborhood.
When doors open to their knocks, they simply urge residents to vote without pushing a particular candidate – a change in approach from past campaigns. If no one answers, they leave behind a hand-written Post-It note urging the residents to vote.
“These people don’t routinely vote in midterm elections, but the minute you ask them if they plan on voting they all say yes,” said Shannon Sawyer, a paper mill worker from New York state who is on the team.
The approach is generally well received. “A lot of people thank us for what we do in reminding people to vote,” said Joe Herrick, of Local 1000 in Corning, N.Y., who estimates he has knocked on more than 3,500 doors.
District 4 Director John Shinn joined the team in Portland on Thursday to knock on doors with the GOTV team.
“I’ve been doing labor walks for 30 years and I’ve never seen a core group work as hard and be as dedicated as the eight or nine people stationed here,” Shinn said. “They didn’t leave anything on the field.”
The team members, young and old, work well together. There is constant friendly ribbing among the two-person crews to see who works the hardest and covers the most territory.
“You have to take the time to train the next generation coming up,” said Lawson, who views his job as team leader to teach a new generation of members who will carry on the USW’s strong tradition of political activism on behalf of working families. “You have to make sure they are ready when their turn comes and understand why we do this.”
The group clicked in pre-election training held at the USW’s Linden Hall and have become fast friends over the few months of working together.
“Honestly, it’s been an amazing experience. I can say I will be very involved in politics from here on out,” said Sawyer, who works as a pulp prep operator in Fort Edward, N.Y.
“It’s very easy as a middle-class mill worker to go about your everyday life and not pay attention to the world around you,” he added. “But when you get involved in something like this, you see how the world works, how politics work, and how much your voice and your vote matter.”