Register Voters in Philadelphia and Bucks County

Register Voters in Philadelphia and Bucks County

Register Voters in Philadelphia and Bucks County

Win Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral college votes for Kamala Harris

The best place in Pennsylvania to “run up the margins” is Philadelphia County.  There are thousands of unregistered voters, lots of Democrats who don’t vote, and some unaffiliated voters who can be persuaded to vote for Kamala Harris.  In 2020, Philadelphia County generated 471,000 net votes for Joe Biden in a state Biden won by just 80,555 votes.  Bucks County is the quintessential purple county with a Congressional District and three state legislative districts hanging in the balance.  Since 2020, Republicans have been registering voters at gas stations, jails and Trump rallies.  This July, they gained the voter registration advantage in Bucks for the first time since 2007.

Why Voter Registration?

In a historic and passionately partisan Presidential election, registering likely Democratic voters is the key to unlocking November Democratic victories. Swing Blue Alliance is using state-of-the art voter registration techniques.  In addition to registering voters at “hot spots” in  high opportunity neighborhoods, we knock doors in Democratic precincts using our own carefully curated unregistered voter lists.  In Bucks County, we’re following up with potential voters who have received prefilled voter registration applications by mail.

Help us register voters now, before the October 21st deadline. Thousands of would-be Presidential election voters in Pennsylvania will register after October 21st, but it will be too late for them to cast a ballot in this election.

Deep Canvassing with CTC for Progress

One technique for creating a meaningful connection with people who may not believe voting is for them is to exchange personal stories. Most people will not remember what we tell them, but they will remember what they said.  And studies show that these experiences can affect people’s choices weeks and months later.

Learn Deep Canvassing with Changing the Conversation for Progress, and canvass in West Philly: https://ctc4progress.org/take-action/. Please email CTC directly for info about these opportunities: info@ctc4progress.org.  CTC canvassing is weekend only.  We encourage you to sign up for Swing Blue’s weeklong voter registration program in addition to CTC.

Training options with CTC for Progress (in-person).

Why Come to Bucks County?

Bucks County is the quintessential purple county in Pennsylvania. There is so much at stake here, from a flippable Congressional District (PA-01) to many critical state legislative seats.  Our focus will be Bensalem, one of the most populous municipalities in Bucks County, with a diverse community that includes a substantial Southeast Asian population from the Indian state of Gujarat.

Just want to come for the weekend?  Please click here for information on where you can sign up for canvassing in Bucks County, nearby Montgomery County, or deep canvassing in West Philadelphia.

With Housing Options – Weeklong stays only

We will endeavor to provide you with accommodations with local volunteers, including your own room. No charge.  We ask that you commit to working at least five full continuous days with us. This does not include travel days.

Without Housing Options – Weeklong stays only

If you live in the area, are staying with friends, or just want to rent your own place, you can still join our team.  We ask that you commit to working at least five full continuous days with us. 

When:
10am-1pm every morning
3pm-6pm every afternoon.

We expect folks to participate in all the sessions and be on time.

What:
You will learn and use proven strategies for registering new Democratic voters, connecting with potential voters who feel disengaged from the political process, and persuading voters to vote Dem. Until the voter registration deadline on October 21st, we knock doors to talk to registered and unregistered voters. Later in October, we will follow up with mail-in ballot voters whose ballots may have issues.

Cancellation Policy:
Please give 10 days notice before canceling your reservation.

Transportation (at your expense):
Some carpool options are available but we strongly prefer that you bring a car.

Fill out this Google form to book your week to register and connect with voters in Bucks County.

The Philly House – Fully Booked

The Philly House is a spacious 5-bedroom apartment located on the second and third floor of a townhouse in Philadelphia’s Francisville, near the intersection of N. 19th St. and W. Girard Ave.  Francisville is a diverse, multi-cultural, urban neighborhood in the Art Museum area, near Center City Philadelphia, the Philadelphia International Airport, 30th Street Amtrak train station, bus/subway lines, and lots of historic attractions, cultural museums, and delicious restaurants! There is free on-street parking throughout most of the neighborhood. Check out the AirBNB listing and the walk-thru video taken by a colleague. We have a house cleaning service once every two weeks.

Register for a Week at the Philly House:  NOTE: The Philly House is almost fully booked.

Our Expectations:

We expect folks to make a week-long commitment, ideally arriving and leaving midweek. We’ve found that we become more skilled with practice, and this schedule will have you well-trained and comfortable for the peak canvassing hours of Sunday afternoon/evening.

You’ll have morning and afternoon-evening sessions every day, maybe two hours each, and we expect folks to participate in all the sessions. There will be time for people to be tourists in Philadelphia, and to become familiar with the cafes, restaurants, and other neighborhood attractions in Francisville and surrounding neighborhoods.

Cost: $30/night for one person in a room; $45/night for two people.

Food: Food is at your own expense – cook at the house with (or without) others, go out, order in, as you please.

Cancellation Policy: Cancellation with a full refund is available up to and through the 11th day before your scheduled stay. You may cancel (without any refund) within 10 days of your scheduled stay.

What a Day at Philly House Will Be Like

Volunteers staying at the Philly House will spend roughly four hours each day talking to voters, not including travel time, training, etc.  The general format will include 2 hours of registering voters in the morning and 2 hours of door knocking in the afternoon. We’ve found that the later in the afternoon is better. If you leave the house at 5-5:30 and start canvassing at 5:30-6:00, you will find more voters at home. This will obviously vary with particular events, the weather, hours of daylight, and the stamina of each volunteer. 

The House Point Person will supplement whatever training the volunteers have completed prior to arriving. We hope that people will have completed remote trainings about voter registration in PA, and basic canvassing.  Some people may also wish to be trained in “deep canvassing.”  Training in “hot spot” registration will be provided on site.

The morning may be the best time to do “hot spot” registration.  This involves going to a place with a lot of pedestrian traffic–it may be a supermarket, city hall, a college, or an event.  We will have a small table to use as a base, but will spread out carrying clipboards and try to engage passersby with questions, either about their registration status or about leading issues such as women’s rights.  We register people, update their registration if they have moved, or persuade them to sign up to vote by mail, which increases turnout substantially.

Any given “hot spot” usually supports only two or three people, so we will usually divide the group in the morning. On some days we will work with other groups, such as NextGen or Rise, and will follow their guidelines, such as being nonpartisan.  At other times we’ll be independent and will set our own guidelines. And some days there may be special events–festivals, etc–that we can all go to.

Then, after lunch and a break, it’s time to canvass!  Weekday canvassing is best done late afternoon or early evening; on weekends, we may do morning and afternoon canvassing shifts.  Again, we will canvass with different groups:  some days with the Harris campaign, some days with Indivisible Philadelphia, and maybe some days on our own.  Those who have trained in deep canvassing may canvass with CTC on the weekends, or may incorporate those techniques into whatever canvassing they are doing.  We will generally all go to the same “launch,” and then will go out in pairs, unless anyone wants to go solo. Pairs may knock doors together, or may decide to split sides of a street or divide doors in whatever way works for them.

Then it’s back for dinner–and whoever is at the house will decide on a plan:  cook together at the AirBnB, eat out, order in, or everyone on their own.

College Voter Registration during Welcome Week

Where do you find young unregistered voters all in one place at the same time?  At college campuses during Welcome Week! We are partnering with a group that is already well recognized on PA campuses as ambassadors of civic engagement and voter registration.  Their goal is to register 10-12,000 students during Welcome Weeks and they need all the help we can offer.

Sign up to register students during Welcome Week

Book Your Week in Bucks County

 

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