Coordination of rides to polls?
When I was done canvassing at about 6:15 pm today, I called the number on the Obama literature (as instructed by the campaign staff) to offer my assistance giving rides to the polls. I was in South Mpls. They called and said there were three people, so I took the one in S. Minneapolis rather than North or Roseville. When I was finishing up taking the S Mpls man to the polls, I called the number back to say I could take someone else in South Mpls if they needed me. It was then 7:30 pm. The woman in North Minneapolis who had been waiting for hours called me at about 7:45. I told her I'd come but I wasn't sure we'd make it to the polling place on time. I'm not very familiar with the northside, but I got to her place and we arrived at the polling station ten minutes late. They had packed up the machinery so she and her son couldn't vote.
So I'm wondering how is it that there were so few people organized to give rides in the metro area? Rides were organized from out of state, since I got a call about the first rider from CA. The woman in North Minneapolis had been waiting a long time and was clearly the person the CA women mentioned to me when she first called. It never occurred to me that I was the only person giving rides in the metro area.
We carried the state and seem poised to win the presidency, but I have to wonder why the campaign wasn't better organized about giving rides to the polls. Anyone know anything about this aspect of the ground game?
