Your 2020 Guide to Get Out the Vote

Close your eyes. No, really. Close your eyes. Imagine that you are waking up on November 4, 2020 and you have just learned that Donald Trump has been re-elected president. How do you feel? What would you be willing to do to prevent this from happening?

If you're like many Americans, the answer is: I would do anything to make this stop.

The election is less than a week away. We have officially transitioned into the penultimate phase of the campaign cycle: GOTV, or, Get Out the Vote. GOTV is traditionally considered to run the final four days in an election cycle. Typically, that means Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

In a "normal" year, in the early to mid campaign cycle, campaigns will run voter contact initiatives that vary in size and targets. Canvassing efforts are used to build the "universe of voters," meaning the collection of voters who are willing to vote for a given candidate. By GOTV, the campaign has formally transitioned away from persuasion to speaking only to voters who likely will vote for the candidate. The purpose is to make sure that voters know the day of the election, polling places, hours, when voters plan to go, and if voters have a way of getting to their polling locations. The purpose is not to convince people to vote for your candidate — ideally, the voter being contacted has already been contacted by the campaign and does not need to be persuaded.

So, if you're like me, you've already been persuaded. Heck, you may have already voted. And now, you want to wake up on November 4, 2020 with a President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to make that change happen?

If you are, keep reading.

This is your how-to guide for the final days before Election Day 2020. No game plan? No worries. If you have a few hours to spare for the cause, here's how to get to work electing Democrats across the country.

(Full disclosure: I am a long-term volunteer for an organization called Swing Left. Swing Left is dedicated to flipping state houses, Senate seats, and electoral votes for Democrats in 2020. Swing Left has been my primary source of information for volunteer efforts.)

The guide included phone banking opportunities throughout the final week of the campaign, focused on battleground states including North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Resources were available through Swing Left, Do The Most Good MoCo, and state Democratic parties running shifts from October 29 through Election Day, November 3.

Thank you all for whatever you are able to contribute! Together we can change our country, our society, and our future.