November
12, 2004
Getting
the Vote Out in New Hampshire: Chelsea Twohig '06 Reflects
on Her Involvement in the Kerry Campaign
The
scene inside the small warehouse down a back alley in Keene,
New Hampshire, looked more like a Red Sox riot than the Democratic
headquarters that it was. Hundreds of people were crowding
into the small room, trying to figure out where they were supposed
to be, and no one seemed able to tell them.
In the midst of the chaos, one middle-aged woman walked in the
door, scanned the commotion, and exclaimed, “This is awesome!”
Twenty-four other Mount Holyoke Democrats and I made the trip
to Keene on Friday, October 29, and luckily knew the general
plan for the day. Get the vote out. Spread the word. Remember
to breathe. This would be the strategy for the rest of the weekend.
After signing in, our group split up. Half were sent to dorm-storm
at Keene State College, where their mission was to put a door
hanger that outlined a student’s right to vote on every
dorm room doorknob they could. The rest of us, armed with a photocopied
script and a list of numbers, were sent to a back room to make
cold calls to students.
In the back room there were not enough chairs, so we all sat
on the cold cement floor with our cell phones, frantically informing
Keene Staters that Senator Kerry would be coming to speak in
Manchester the next day, and that we would give them tickets
and a ride for free. As simple as the job may sound, it was quite
tedious. It’s difficult to keep your sentences straight
when the room is echoing with the same words, said by other people
reading from the same script. The job is a thankless one. By
the time we decided that we had had enough, I had made over 60
calls, and only two students were interested in seeing the senator
speak.
While combating voter apathy and trying to convert “Bushies” were,
in the opinion of the volunteers, assignments of the utmost importance,
many of the students, myself included, were there for more selfish
reasons.
In the 2000 election, if Gore had won the state of New Hampshire’s
four electoral votes, the Florida fiasco would have been inconsequential.
We saw our role in Keene as one of a preventative nature. A blue
New Hampshire would have won the election in 2000, and we wanted
to know that we did all we could to ensure a victory for Senator
Kerry in 2004.
While discussing the prospect of New Hampshire going red in the
election, my fellow Mount Holyoke students took the possibility
personally.
“My grades will have suffered for no reason,” said
Mount Holyoke sophomore Catherine Thompson, who made the trip
to New
Hampshire every weekend in October.
Though the thought of four more years of a George W. Bush-run
government was too painful for most of the Mount Holyoke College
Democrats to even contemplate, Vice President Emily Lamia '06
said that canvassing “gives you faith in humankind.”
I agree. To be in the midst of over 300 college students who
all believed in a common cause, who were willing to sacrifice
their precious weekends to have people hang up on them and have
doors slammed in their faces, was empowering. The beeping and
thumbs-up signals we received from Kerry supporters as they drove
past strengthened our resolve. From my weekend in Keene, I realized
that people still care and are willing to unite to reach a collective
goal.
Now that the election is over, I am still happy that I trekked
up to Keene. The election results do not reflect my personal
politics, but I take comfort in the fact that the people I met,
old and young alike, came together to fight for a common purpose.
I also take pride in the fact that, though it did not get Senator
Kerry into the White House, the state of New Hampshire went blue.
The
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