[Mpls] Turnout 12-1, Immigrant Outreach

[Jay Clark]

I walked over to the 12-1 polling station at Cooper school at about 7:45 
A.M. Armed with a thick magazine, I was ready for a big crowd .  But 
even I was taken aback - indeed I was unprepared for what I saw.

The line snaked all the way through Cooper school, out the door. looped 
around the parking lot, and finally spilled onto the front sidewalk.  It 
took us close to an hour just to get inside and out of the rain, much 
less get into the voting booth.

This turnout is significantly bigger than in 2002, which itself was 
massive.  Frankly, I have no idea what pores and nooks and crannies all 
these people were coming from.

I think the turnout is going to be absolutely massive, even more than 
the mainstream media has been predicting.

I base this in part on the turnout strategies I have seen with the 
immigrant communities in Minneapolis in the past week.

Late last week I saw a major phone bank operation at Southeast Asian 
Community Council, to get the Hmong out to the polls to vote.  At least 
a dozen teenagers and adults were working through phone lists and a 
Hmong phone book.

Earlier in the week, SEACC held a candidates forum and voter education 
drive in Hmong.  The meeting was held in the Harrison neighborhood in 
north Minneapolis.  Mayor Rybak came, and let me tell you he can be VERY 
engaging and even funny.  I an sure that his performance  that night 
will pull several Hmong into the polls who might not have voted 
otherwise. His charm cuts right across any language barriers.

I have been told that the younger Hmong will mostly vote for Kerry, but 
some older Hmong will vote for Bush, because general Vang Pao, their 
leader in the Indochinese war, told them that Bush will be tougher on 
the communist Laotian government that Kerry.

(I lived in a Lithuanian neighborhood in Chicago, and they voted solidly 
Republican, because they blamed FDR for selling Lithuania down the tubes 
at the end of WW II)

I know that there have also been powerful hands-on voter registration 
drives and get-out-the-vote drives in the Latino and Somali communities.

I gut tells me that the get-out-the-vote drives to these and other 
typically disenfranchised groups has been even more massive than we 
think and has largely been flying below the radar screen of the 
mainstream press.

I have also seen these black November 2 t-shirts around Minneapolis. 
This is one of the most brilliant marketing campaigns I have ever seen. 
  I have a suggestion:

I saw one Noviembre 2 tshirt.  I knew several organizers who were doing 
meetings for largely Latino crowds and\or were going doorknocking in 
largely Latino areas.  I tried desperately to come up with Noviembre 2 
tshirts for them.  I knew if they wore them it would spark talk and 
there was a good chance that some of the people would end up voting that 
might not have otherwise.  I found mounds of the November 2 -tshirts, 
but could not get my hands on any NOviembre 2 tshirts.

My suggestion is to get plenty of the November 2 t-shirts (corrected for 
date) printed in the languages of the major immigrant groups.  Many 
can't vote, but many can, and having the t-shirts in their native 
languages (in Minneapolis I would suggest at least Spanish, Hmong, 
Somali, and Oromo) is sure to spark conversations and result in some 
additional people getting to the polls.

Jay Clark
Cooper