This past week, I canvassed neighborhoods for four candidates I'm proud to recommend.
That might be a bit much, but I'm healthy, active, single and retired; putting in a couple hours once or twice a day while each candidate races the calendar to reach voters.
For me, knocking on doors has always been the best part of campaign work. You meet people where they live. You hear what they care about. You talk about the experience, judgment and character of the person asking for their vote.
Most doors are pleasant. A few aren’t. When someone closes the door or opens with “go away,” I figure they were having a bad day, and that gets me to the next door faster, where a vote might still be earned.
Then there are the moments that stop you in your tracks.
Early in the week, a woman opened her door, looked at me and said, “You look like Fay.”
That was my mother. She’s been gone for 14 years, and I still love hearing her remembered so clearly. Her commitment to community is a large part of why I do this work.
A few days earlier another woman spoke warmly about my dad stopping by the UW Experimental Farm decades ago. Someone else remembered my sister playing the organ in church.
That's Wyoming. Campaigns here don’t happen in the abstract. They happen through long memory, family ties, work history, church pews, school events, county fairs and conversations across fences and front porches.
A candidate’s name on the ballot looks simple. It's anything but simple.
Behind that name are weeks of long evenings, fundraising calls, forums, parades, mailers and door after door after door.
A Wyoming House district has roughly 2,000 homes; a Senate district, roughly 4,000. A volunteer might knock 50 doors an hour in town, 20 in the county.
Campaigns also cost real money, often tens of thousands of dollars for literature, signs, postage and voter contact.
But money doesn't earn a vote by itself.
A sign doesn't answer a question. A mailer doesn't look a voter in the eye. A Facebook post doesn't replace a conversation with someone whose judgment you trust.
That’s why volunteers matter.
A candidate can’t reach enough voters alone. Not in a serious race. Not while also working, raising a family, running to forums and events, and trying to keep up with the daily demands of a campaign.
Volunteers multiply reach. More important, they multiply trust.
Your word carries weight because people know you. When you tell a friend, neighbor or family member why you support a candidate, it matters. You don’t have to speak for the campaign. You speak from your own judgment.
That’s different from a slick mailer. It’s the most Wyoming form of politics there is: one person saying to another, “I know this candidate. I trust this candidate. I think you should take a look.”
Volunteering doesn’t require knocking on doors, although I recommend it.
Some volunteers drive while the candidate goes door to door, which matters in rural districts where distance eats up time.
Some set up chairs and tables at meet-and-greets. Some put out yard signs. Some make calls to people they already know. Some host a small gathering in their home, shop or driveway. Some send a text reminding friends when early voting starts.
There's a role for everyone.
You don’t have to love politics. You don’t have to argue with strangers. You don’t have to become someone you aren’t.
Volunteering doesn’t require picking fights. It requires making contact.
That contact matters even more in Wyoming, where many of our most decisive contests happen in the Primary. It means helping voters understand the candidate, and reminding them how critical it is to vote in August.
Too many people wait until November, when the decision has already been made. Too many good candidates lose because enough people liked them, but not enough people helped them.
Voting is critical. Showing up at the polls is the foundation of self-government.
But you have more reach than one ballot.
You have your name. Your relationships. Your judgment. Your time, even if it's only an hour. Those matter to a candidate trying to be heard.
Here’s the thing: one volunteer showing up once helps. A few volunteers showing up every week wins races. So here’s the ask.
Pick one candidate you would be proud to recommend. Call, email or message the campaign this week. Offer to help.
Showing up at the polls matters. Helping a good candidate reach the polls with enough support matters too.
Voting is critical, but volunteering multiplies your vote.
Gail Symons can be reached at GailSymons@mac.com
