Copying from another thread.

Lynn Sweet

Even though Obama has not always done things as I personally felt he should have, (like pushing a hell of a lot harder for a public option in HCR for instance). I campaigned for him in 08, canvassed, and even went door to door in an organized effort offering rides to the poles on Election Day.

And I’ll be doing it all over again in 2012.

Agreed, Ms. Daisy. Plus, the alternative is unthinkable, at this point. I believe we would be doomed by a Rethug Presidency.

I highly, highly recommend that all lawyers and law students here sign up for the legal arm of the campaign. It is ideal for lawyers: only 2 real days of your time are ever needed, if you don't want to volunteer oodles more of time as a campaign volunteer. Training lasts just a few hours (4 hours for me on a Saturday, when I did mine in Nevada where they had asked me to go.) You need to take election day off (so vote by early ballot). You'll serve as the legal eyes and ears on the ground for the campaign, with the job of helping all voters (even Republicans) make sure their vote isn't quashed by irregularities. A hotline is set up to election law specialists headquartered somewhere in the state you are in, that you can call freely. You have unfettered access to the entire voting process during the day at your precinct, including the end-of-day tabulation of votes from the machines which are taken apart in front of you.

The overall mission is to avoid a Bush v. Gore fiasco. For me, the 2008 experience was unforgettable. Many McCain voters came up to me throughout the day and said wonderful things about the historic moment that was that day, even though their candidate was down in the polls. I think back to that day often to remind myself that this country isn't controlled by the nutjobs we obsess with here at FB.

Wish I could volunteer frankly. All I can do is wave from the sidelines.

I'm sure it will be damned fine waving, Suranis!

As long as Suranis agrees to ship us all the Guinness we need, we'll be fine.

I will be cheering from the sidelines and if any of them start to get away down the wing, I will try to trip them up.
Regards .........Dick

You don't have to be a lawyer to be a poll watcher, observer, election judge or clerk. You just need to volunteer.

I volunteer every election to be an Alternate Election Judge (because I'm the blueberry in the tomato soup). I basically sit there for 12-14 hours, make sure the machines are set up properly, sealed, and that those voting are in the db. I also meet a lot of fascinating people. Including many that are voting for the first time.

You can talk to your the elections office in your county/district or talk to your local party.

There are many independent (non-campaign) organizations with which you can become a poll-watcher, observer, etc. if you're not a lawyer or law student.

What I referred to earlier was the official Barack Obama for President campaign, which specifically runs a poll-watcher division that is basically an army of lawyers and law students. The campaign works under the law of each state in which it needs observers to ensure that they are given official observer status, and then ships lawyers off in teams of two to key precincts. (I was teamed up with a New Yorker during my Nevada mission; we remain good friends today.)

The Democrats got this program off the ground in 2004 in response to Bush v. Gore, but it didn't really take off until the 2008 campaign. Republicans don't really have such a program in place, that I've seen, because they magically never seem to be the victims of election fraud and voter abuses.

Email from the campaign:

My office proudly served as the Obama headquarters for the four counties in our area. I have never been more proud the day after the election hugging Jason, the OFA guy, and saying "you turned NC blue". I am sure that they will seek us out again next year, and both myself and my boss will be delighted to give them full use of our (albeit smaller) office.

As for volunteering, I did everything they asked me to do, making copies, getting supplies, answering phones, feeding the volunteers, you name it. However, I refused to phone bank. I figured that hearing a very obviously English woman on the phone telling you to vote for someone in a US election could very well have the opposite effect.

I was very, very proud sitting in the VIP section with my Mum (wearing her Obama t-shirt) and Norman the day Michelle came to speak. I cried buckets!

I know that we have been disappointed by many things that he has been forced to do due to the circumstances, but the alternative is just unthinkable and I will bust my rear end to get him a second term. Stuff the Firebaggers.

This is true. I have volunteered in some capacity in every major election, and some minor ones, since the 2000 catastrophe, although my job currently precludes political activity. I was a poll watcher in the 2004 election, for the Dean campaign, although Dean had by that time effectively withdrawn. In the 2008 election, when I was a law student, I volunteered with my school's constitutional litigation clinic to do intake on the massive influx of first time voters who had made good faith efforts to register to vote in that election, but had been disenfranchised by an inefficient, unprepared process. Third years actually did the representation, and we won over 90 percent of those cases.

In the mid-terms in 2010, I got to argue a case (under a provision that allows third year law students to represent clients under supervision) and won that, so can therefore claim a 100% win rate. Interestingly, though, I had gone in with a losing argument, and only won because I had the sense to STFU when the Deputy Attorney General arguing the other side insisted on making an argument that was obviously infuriating the judge (for some reason the state attacked all these cases incredibly aggressively against the public policy of the state that election law is to be construed broadly in favor of enfranchisement). Even though it was an election day challenge, there were three political party lawyers there, from the two majors and the Libertarians, and then the head of my legal clinic. We got an order to vote to the voter, and got her to the poll, 10 minutes before the poll closed.

I love doing these election day things, and if I live to be in my 90s, plan to be one of those wonderful old people who are always at the polling places on election day. Whether they're Republicans or Democrats, and many of them are Republicans, they are all very eager to help everyone. I will gladly defend the franchise of anyone. Even a bagger.

A really old, disabled Navy veteran who wanted to vote for his fellow old Navy veteran McCain took the bus and showed up at the Nevada precinct where I was an Obama poll-watcher, only to learn it was the wrong location. He was out of time to arrange for arrival at the right precinct. I asked him if he would mind sitting in a car with an Obama bumper sticker while I personally drove him, waited for him to vote, and drove him back to his bus stop. We had a great conversation on the way there. He left a mark on me that I'll remember for some time, and I hope this Obot left one on him.

Bravo Poutine!

In a different country long ago I did same thing.

When I took part as a legal monitor for the Obama campaign on Election Day, I encountered a few people from another Obama team tasked with the GOTV mission: get out the vote. I was totally amazed to see the technology they employed. They had various gadgets that told them exactly which house to go to, which person to ask for, which precinct those people needed to be sent to, etc., all digitally transmitted to their devices as they scurried around the state of Nevada where I'd been stationed. Pretty cool stuff. I'm sure it will be even niftier with 2012 technology upgrades from 2008.

The Obama team has always been incredibly tech savvy. I seem to remember (I could be confuzzled) that his acceptance speech at the democrat convention was texted to everyone's phones as he was giving the speech. It has to be remembered that the Obama campaign has a HUGE data base of cell phone numbers, thanks to the youth vote in 2008, I remember the extraordinary footage of college students lining up in front of polling places in order to vote and the minute the doors were opened they swarmed in like Wal Mart shoppers on the day after Christmas sale!

This campaign is going to be totally tech savvy, it is going to be waged on twitter, facebook, and all the other online resources, he has an unseen Army of Obots out there, willing to forward, retweet, like and blog about the election. The Repub opponent (whoever that might be) better be sure that they have a team of tech savvy people on their side. Having seen what they have to offer so far, I am not going to be worried.

I'd like to think that this is why many of us are here.

This is going to be such a wild election. It hasn't even begun, not really.

I can't even begin to tell you how great it's going to be, yappin' about it with all you political junkies.

I can't imagine how much fun 2008 would have been if Politijab/TFB would have been around. Yes, '12 is going to be a blast.