It’s go time. So we’re grabbing our phones and making calls to get out the vote with our friends at Indivisible Chicago every week until November 3. Learn more about our partnership.
We can tell you from personal experience that phone banking is easy and fun. All you need is a phone and a computer or tablet to get started! Phone banking may sound scary—especially since some folks spread misinformation about the difficulty of phone banking in order to suppress the vote. That’s why we are proud to bust these phone banking myths and get you feeling confident and ready to make some calls to voters in pivotal swing states.
Bhuvanagiri Myth 1: http://ornamentalpeanut.com/category/interview Phone banking is ONLY about persuasion— as in, “I’ll have to convince someone with extreme views to change their mind on the phone.”
The goal of phone banking is not to find the people posting fake news memes on Facebook and convince them to flip their views in five minutes. Phone banking is about encouraging progressive voter engagement and turnout. It’s the candidates’ job to change hearts and minds—we’re just giving people the extra push they may need to cast their ballots.
Myth 2: I’m too busy to phone bank—when will I find the time?
Don’t worry—you can phone bank around your schedule, at your own pace! We’d love for you to join us when we call together, but once you’ve done one phone bank with Indivisible, you can make calls on your own anytime the phones are open ( 9:00 am – 8:00 pm, seven days a week). You can even split it up into smaller chunks. Take 15 minutes and make a dozen calls. Do that four times in a day (or over a few days), and you’ve logged your volunteer time for the week.
Myth 3: People are going to yell at me!
We know it might not seem like it these days, but, turns out, people? They’re generally good at heart! We’ve put in a lot of hours for different campaigns over the years, and we can say with confidence that someone actually taking the time and effort to yell at a stranger on the phone is extremely rare. If someone doesn’t want to talk, they’ll either hang up or won’t pick up the phone at all. Plus, Indivisible’s phone lists are already culled to maximize progressive voter turnout.
Myth 4: I don’t know what to say.
The campaigns that Indivisible partners with always provide clear and easy-to-follow scripts with lots of quick facts about the candidates. Sometimes candidates hop on at the beginning of the phone banks to say a few words about themselves! Most of the time, by the end of an hour or two, you won’t even need your script. But if you freeze up, all you do is look at the script in front of you. And as a bonus, Indivisible stays with you on Zoom to answer any questions you have during your shift.
Myth 5: Phone banking won’t really make a difference, right?
Wrong! Time and again, elections are decided by super slim margins. If we had just turned out a few thousand more voters in swing states in 2016, we’d be looking at a pretty different world right now. Political scientists who’ve studied decades of data have determined that a volunteer phone bank that reaches 1000 people will produce about 28 new voters. If we want to change the course of history, we need every single vote we can get.
Never phone banked before or haven’t done it yet for 2020? Sign up for Indivisible’s Phone Banking 101, an awesome 45-minute training session that will get you fired up, confident and ready to call.
CNOW will be phone banking once a week until the November 3 election! Head over to our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages for more info. If you can’t make the CNOW phone banks, check out Indivisible Chicago’s website to sign up for phone banks that fit into your schedule!
Let’s GOTV and save democracy!
In solidarity,
Chicago NOW
