With the election less than a week away, Republicans, Democrats, measure campaigns and other political organizations, are working hard to get the vote out.
Shawn Fleek is with the Bus Project, a non-profit that drives around in a bus with volunteers to shopping malls, festivals and town squares, trying to make sure people vote. Early in the fall, the Bus Project focused on registering voters. But now, it's time to get out the vote, just in time for Halloween.
Oregon Republican Party
Volunteers in Eugene at a phone bank for the GOP.
"And Trick-or-Vote, which is yearly Halloween event, is the largest non-partisan get out the vote effort in the entire country. So we call all of those supporters that we've met in any different venue where we've gone and we say 'Hey, have you got any plans for Halloween this year? Because we'd love for you to come to the largest non-partisan get out the vote effort in the country.'"
Fleek says it's a unique way to contact voters on the one day they're happy to open their front doors.
Jim Moore, a political science professor at Pacific University in Forest Grove, says the Bus Project is far from the only organization out knocking on doors. He says Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Green Party candidates are all wearing out shoe leather and making phone calls to get their own voters out.
But, he says, Oregon's vote-by-mail has changed the nature of the whole get-out-the-vote effort.
He explains, "Vote-by-mail has just made it a long Election Day."
He says rather than driving people to the polls, campaigns focus on phone calls, knocking on doors and providing a free mail service.
Creative Commons
Get out the vote efforts for the Obama campaign in 2008. Courtesy Flickr Obama photostream.
Moore said, "People from campaigns will go up and show up at places and say: 'Hi, if you trust me, I will take your ballot and I'll put it in the county ballot reception box.' "
Moore says so far, there's been no evidence of fraud -- campaigns do deliver the ballots. Another thing that's changed he says, is that a few years ago, measure campaigns worked harder to get voters. That's because Oregon used to have a "double majority" rule that required at least a 50 percent voter turnout for a property tax measure to pass. But that's no longer the case, since voters repealed the double majority in 2008.
Moore says technology has also changed the process. Campaigns that can afford it, he says, will be searching through the public records this week to see who has and who hasn't voted -- so they can chase their party's procrastinators.
Moore told OPB, "Several years ago, Governor Kulongoski, who was running for re-election made a point of saying the sooner you vote, the sooner my campaign will stop bothering you. So it becomes a very particular strategy. But you have to have the resources to go look up those numbers and actually put them into action."
Technology is also changing things at the Oregon Republican Party. Chief of staff, Greg Leo, says state Republicans are focusing closely on social media.
Leo explained, "We do a thing called "social precincts" where people who have friends and neighbors, people they do business with, may golf with or go to church with, people they know in their communities. We've asked them to social network with those folks and also gather up the ballots in the process."
Leo says even though Oregon isn't considered a 'battleground' state in the presidential race, the Republican National Committee has provided money, expertise and supplies.
He says they now have hundreds of volunteers across 32 Oregon counties ready to knock on doors and make phone calls.
On the other side of the political aisle, Trent Lutz of the Democratic Party of Oregon says they're also getting help from the Democratic National Committee -- in the form of cash and fliers.
Lutz say they have something like two thousand shifts scheduled between now and the end of the week for people to knock on doors and make calls.
Trick-or-Vote, which is yearly Halloween event, is the largest non-partisan get out the vote effort in the entire country.
Lutz explained, "We have neighborhood teams in almost every community in our state ,who are talking to their neighbors, making phone calls and encouraging the turning in of ballots and the vote for Democratic candidates, as well as we're running major phone banks and major canvasses here in Portland, Eugene and other major Democratic areas to make sure that we're getting out the vote, and making sure that Democrats understand the importance of this election and are turning out."
Lutz says these last few days are a sprint to the finish. In 2008, for example, the party collected more than 90,000 ballots on election day.
As it stands, Oregon has one of the highest voter-turn-out rates in the nation. But Secretary of State, Kate Brown, doesn't expected this season's turn-out to reach the peak seen during the last presidential election. In 2008, the state voter turnout was about 85.7 percent.
Brown anticipates voter turnout this year to be in the mid- to high-70s.
So far, about 25 percent of Oregon's registered voters have cast their ballots.
Once you vote, you can track your ballot to see whether it's been received at Oregon Votes.gov. And if you haven't voted yet, the website has information about where to find an official dropbox.
