Deep canvassing

We can thank the electoral college and its history of contrived support for the social disorders of racism and reactionary politics for the fix we are in. Without it Kamala Harris would have already won, for all intents and purposes. Moreover, every 21st century (and several 20th and 19th century) Republican presidential administrations owed its existence to this antiquated institution.

But because the United States is, broadly speaking, subdivided into blue states, red states and battleground states, the election could, thanks to the electoral college, literally come down to one swing state, Pennsylvania, and one small region of Pennsylvania, the Lehigh Valley. Naturally, this is also potentially true of other areas in the country, but I’m focusing on Pennsylvania’s third largest metropolitan area because a powerfully effective organisation has — and it’s also where I recently happened to have cast my own vote.

This nexus of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton, Pennsylvania, is the focus of an extraordinary group called “Canvassing Connectors.” They are an organisation of super-volunteers with an amazing track-record. They’ve been helping swing elections our way in Pennsylvania, Georgia, New York and California since 2018. They have identified the Lehigh Valley as a critical linchpin in the coming election, the key, if you will, to the Keystone State, and from there quite possibly the key to the whole country.

Canvassing Connectors is doing what is called “deep canvassing.” This entails engaging 20,000 people door-to-door in open-hearted conversations that help people connect voting to their personal values and experiences.

Canvassing Connectors’ efforts have yielded impressive results. Deep-canvassed neighbourhoods are 14 percent more likely to vote. Among people identified as LEAST likely to vote their efforts have boosted their numbers a whopping 29 percent!

This result and the area they are focusing on impressed political activist Brian Tyler Cohen so much he made a point to mention it. Cohen has long been a powerful voice for sanity and democracy on YouTube and social media. He recently made a call for donations for Canvassing Connectors, and I would like to echo that call.

If you would like to help this powerful and effective group put Kamala Harris in the White House, please make a donation by way of this link. It could turn out to be the most important donation you have ever made. Or, as they put it in their donations page, “A donation to Canvassing Connectors may be your most effective investment in stopping Trump.” And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.