LET TERS
SOULS TO THE POLLS
The ground game is working in Florida
L
ast week I walked across the street to ask Miss Vienna if I could go to church
with her. Churches all over Florida were organizing events to take faith voters to
the polls on Sunday, Oct. 28. I wanted to see what a “Souls to the Polls” event
looked like.
In 2008, more than one-third of African-Americans voted on the Sunday
before Election Day, which helped President Obama carry Florida. It’s a crucial
day for working class voters who may not be able to stand in long lines during the week.
This year Florida’s Republican legislators targeted early voting and cut the number of
days the polls would be open before Election Day from 14 to eight. The polls will be
open on only one Sunday.
Many consider the new law to be blatant voter suppression, but Gov. Rick Scott
justifi ed the move as an effort to prevent voter fraud. According to several studies,
including those done by the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism
Education, the Brennan Center at NYU and even the Bush White House could fi nd only
a handful of voter fraud cases in Florida since 2000.
Vienna is a retired school administrator, a passionate Obama supporter, who recently
went to see him at the University of Miami. When I asked her about Souls to the Polls,
she hesitated then said that the Baptists and several other black churches organized
events.
Vienna is a Jamaican-born immigrant who was one of more than 250,000 people left
homeless by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
“I couldn’t tell where the house was,” she says. “If I live to be a 1,000 years old, I
will never forget the scene and the smell.”
Now she lives in a racially diverse community with neighbors who have immigrated
from Haiti and Cuba, or moved from elsewhere in the U.S. One family is the second
generation to live in the same house.
During Hurricane Rita in 2005, the roof blew off the house next to Vienna’s. A
neighbor watched from his window. He worked against the wind to reach his car, then
drove across the street and rescued the elderly couple from their home. After the storm,
Vienna sheltered the couple until their roof could be repaired.
“We love each other. We take care of each other. We get along well,” Vienna says.
She admires Obama for the same characteristics. “He’s here to help the needy, not the
greedy.”
I asked again about Souls to the Polls on Sunday and she politely told me, “I’m a
Seventh Day Adventist. I go to church on Saturday.”
I was disappointed, but decided to keep asking. The fi rst volunteer to come in the
offi ce was Christina, an immigrant from Eastern Europe, and probably not a good
candidate for my request to go to a black church. She works in a nail salon near the
Obama offi ce. She asked for a lawn sign while I was opening boxes of supplies and
lawn sign wires.
When I gave her the sign, she looked at my hands and said, “Oh, honey! Paper?”
“Yeah, and cardboard,” I said.
She made me sit down, pulled a small bottle out of her pocket and fi lled several cuts
with something that looked suspiciously like Super Glue. She looked carefully around
the offi ce as she worked and asked, “Are we doing OK?”
It’s a tough question to answer, because the national media doesn’t take the time to
explain how the ground game works and, in my opinion, that is where an election is
won or lost. I explain to Christina that, according to the Florida Division of Elections,
the Obama campaign registered six new voters for every one new voter the Romney
campaign registered before the Oct. 9 deadline. It’s a good sign, but still leaves the fi nal
outcome in the hands of the more than two million independent voters.
Christina, who is upset that neither candidate is talking enough about education,
interrupts my explanation. She’s worried about Hurricane Sandy and the turnout both
in Florida and up north. We all are, but even though the polls show Romney leading in
several swing states, including Florida, no one is giving up.
When Sunday, Oct. 28 , arrived, I was unable to go to church, but I checked in with
volunteers in Liberty City and Miami Gardens, who told me that the lines were long and
steady. Some voters boarded buses after church, while others marched to the polls. They
carried banners, followed a band or drum corps.
As I write this, the storm warnings for Hurricane Sandy have been canceled for
South Florida, but another storm is just beginning to rise as Election Day approaches.
More than 1.1 million Floridians have already voted absentee. On Sunday, churches in
Miami-Dade County helped to bring more than 22,000 people to the polls, people who
know by heart the scripture passage that has gone before every march since the early
days of the civil rights movement:
“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-fl owing stream.” ■
Nancy Webber of Eugene is a longtime Oregon political activist and author of Ground Game, a new book that
chronicles her time in the fi eld offi ces of the 2008 Obama campaign. The book is available at Amazon Kindle,
iBook, Kobo and Inkwater Press.
4
November 1, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com
YOU ARE NOT ALONE
On behalf of the Human Rights
Commission and the city of Eugene, we
extend our deep sympathy and concern
for acts of hate and violence that have
occurred in our community.
The Human Rights Commission and
the city of Eugene stand in solidarity with
those who are impacted, and will speak out
against acts of hate and violence. We do
not condone either the acts themselves or
the acceptance that silence implies.
Any public response on our part that
might identify targeted individuals will not
move forward without the explicit consent
of those who were targeted. While we
honor all requests for confi dentiality, we
do keep track of reported incidents and use
them to help us assess problems or trends
in our community that we want to address.
We are sorry that acts of hate and
violence occur right here in our community.
Please know that you are not alone in your
anger, frustration and sadness that these
incidents are happening.
Eugene must be a safe and welcoming
community for everyone. Anything less
diminishes us all. To report bias incidents
contact the City of Eugene’s Equity and
Human Rights Offi ce at 682-5177. To
report bias crimes contact the Eugene
Police Department at 682-5111 (non-
emergency) or 911 (emergency).
Kitty Piercy, mayor of Eugene
Toni Gyatso, chair,
Human Rights Commission
BETTER STREETS
Since the last street repair bond measure
passed in 2008 we have all seen major
improvements to the condition of the streets
and paths we use to get around. Whether
a commercial truck driver, a bus operator,
a family biking to school or individuals
driving their cars, things are in better shape
because we voted to fund work that is not
being paid for any other way.
Keeping up our transportation network
is expensive, and until more people start
moving around the city in different ways and
we change how we pay for our transportation
modes, we simply don’t have enough funds
coming in through other means to keep that
network running smoothly.
The previous ballot measure worked.
More streets were repaired than originally
projected (54 vs. 32) and miles of multi-use
paths were improved. The citizen review
committee reviewed the city’s work and
helped make improvements to the process.
The bond measure was a success and now
it’s time to continue that work.
Measure 20-197 would continue to
fi x our potholes, work on preventative
maintenance and improve our bicycle
and pedestrian network. If it isn’t passed
the backlog of street and path repair work
will just be pushed back and get more
expensive. Vote “yes” on Measure 20-197
for better streets and paths for everyone.
Shane MacRhodes
Eugene
THE PUPPY VOTE
Thanks to your cover story [10/25] on
the South Eugene Ward 2 council election,
I was able to fi nally make up my mind. I
want to compliment you on the title, “Fifty
Shades of Betty,” to clue us in to Taylor’s
“wink & kink” association with Eugene’s
outlaw sexual subcultures. The double
entendre with the pop porno novel was
a subtle hint indeed, letting some of us
(nudge-nudge) know who to vote for.
After seeing the Weekly cover, while
looking at the campaign literature, I realized
that her opponent prominently displays his
vanilla breeder credentials with a photo of
his family at Crater Lake. In contrast, the
mailing from Taylor had a photo of her with
a cute little puppy, cleverly inferring that
God will kill a puppy for every vote for her
opponent. Clearly, if you love puppies you
should vote for Betty.
Chuck Kleinhans
Eugene
RECYCLE RON DAVIS
For over 30 years we have lived across
the road from Ron and MaryJo Davis.
They have been great neighbors. He is
always stopping to check on people on
our road to make sure they are OK or need
help. During this time we have watched