Part VI: In Which I Inadvertently Completely Make Someone's Life

Well, you maybe be wondering where I've been for the past month. The morning after the election, I flew to MD to pick up the rest of my belongings at my parents' house and then drove all the way back to Colorado with my brother. And then the next morning after I returned, I flew to Dallas for a training for work. Since I got back from the land of JR, I've been moving in (almost there) and trying to catch up at work (not that that'll ever happen). So, November took a lot out of me. I'm recovering now though and I wanted take a little time to share an Election Day story with you.

On 5:30PM on Election night, we were working like mad to get as many homes canvassed as possible before the polls closed at 7PM. The canvasser training got pretty basic. "Knock. Ask if they've voted. If yes, say thanks. If no, get them to the polls! Here's your list. Go!" As canvass director, my goal was to make sure every door was knocked twice. We had already been through all our doors once and were most of the way through our second round. We still had a little ways to go though and it didn't look like we were getting any more canvassers.

All the sudden, a group of 8 volunteers rolled in. I pretty much threw the canvass folders at them and got them out the door. At 6:20PM, I took the last canvass folder and headed out to canvass with Ammon. We both hit our last doors around 6:50PM and headed back to the office.

Later that night at the Denver Dems party (the one that was on CNN when they cut to CO), a girl stopped me as I walked through the crowd. She was one of those last 8 canvassers that I had rushed out the door. Her name was Christina and she was with her mother who had been a phone bank volunteer. "I HAVE to tell you this story," she said. "Thank you so much for giving me that folder. You're responsible for the most amazing moment of my life."

The folder I gave Christina had an apartment complex on the list. Now, canvassing apartment buildings can be a little sketchy; it's a confined space and not as easy to just run away if you get in a tight spot. This particular building wasn't a bad one, but not a really great one either. When Christina and her canvass partner, Tom, came in the front door, she could tell that the building hadn't been canvassed; there weren't any of the telltale Obama door hangers in sight. This made up her mind--she was determined to canvass the building. She was nervous, but went in any way.

At one of the first doors, Christina met a woman named Helen. She was older and lived by herself. And she had clearly been crying. "I tried to go vote. I've been wanting to for so long," she told Christina. "But when I got there, they told me I wasn't on the list and I couldn't vote." Christina asked "Did you go to Barnum to vote?" "No," Helen said. "I went to Mountain View." "Well," Christina said. "That's the problem. We've got to get you to the right polling place." It was 6:40PM.

Unfortunately, Christina's car was parked about a mile away. So she ran as fast as she could, got her car, and drove back to the apartment building. Helen and Tom met her out front. With Helen in the front seat and Tom in the back navigating from his iPhone, they sped off to the polling place.

As they pulled up, it was 6:59PM. Christina and Tom helped Helen out of the car and the three of them rushed towards the door. The volunteers outside the polling place are cheering. Everyone was going nuts! Right as Helen enters the poll, the poll judge stepped out behind her and closed the door. Helen was the last person to vote. They had just made it.

After Helen voted, Christina and Tom took her back to her apartment. "She was so happy," aid Christina. "She told me 'I was so sad because I wanted to vote but I thought I couldn't. Then you showed up. You're my angel.' That was so amazing. Thank you so much for giving me that folder."

Of course, I didn't know what was going to happen when I gave her the folder. She made it happen herself and I told her so. But she insisted so I told her she was more than welcome.

And the day was filled with those moments. People working hard and finding themselves in the right place at the right time. I'm thankful that I got to see it first hand.

I'd like to say thanks again to those of you who donated to the campaign through my Obama page: Ned, Sasha, Sarah, Frannie, Becca, TJ, James, Liz, Gretchen, Adam, Will, Rose, and Maya. Of course, your donations made an impact through the campaign, but it also meant a lot to me to know that you were willing to contribute to my volunteer efforts.

And thank you so much to my Colorado friends who supported me (and put up with me) on my adventures in canvassing. Maya, Erin, Ammon, Becky, Dave Gilette, and the House District 2 South crew--I couldn't have done it without your encouragement. And thanks for listening, even when I went off on some crazy political rant.

Last but not least, thank you to each of you from out-of-state who called or emailed to wish me well. I know many of you were involved in volunteering in your own region and I'm thankful for the time that you put in. We all did it--together.

So this brings my 2008 election adventure to a close. I'm not yet sure what my next step is, but I think I'll be looking to continue my involvement locally. Either way, let's not wait until the next presidential election to talk.

Love,Fran

PS Remember that gang member I registered a while back? Well, I wrote a blog post about it. I got a very serious comment about it on my blog. Apparently, gang members are a historically disenfranchised population and the author of the comment was proud of my efforts to include them in the political process. So I got that going for me. Which is nice.