We’re closing out our last full week as Democracy Summer interns this week. On the road a lot, recently — Kinston twice (last Thursday and this Tuesday), Goldsboro once, Greenville once. In Goldsboro last Thursday, we met Mayor Alfonzo King and a got a brief overview of city politics. Though unfortunately we were never able to do our planned voter registration drive in Goldsboro, it was worthwhile to get a fuller appreciation of the region.
After that, we jumped in the car and headed to Kinston to do some voter registration at the community health clinic downtown. Kinston was quite a lot of fun to see — quaint, charming. The health clinic traffic was slow but we did get a few folks registered (and updated a few already registered voters on when and where to vote in the runoff election.)
Friday was a slow day but Monday was busy. We got to the office early so as to be on time for an event with a community group in New Bern. Unfortunately, this ended up falling through, though as Jake pointed out, that has happened fairly rarely this summer. We still ended up making it to the Pitt County Board of Elections in Greenville, which was entertaining as well as edifying. Some Pitt Co. residents showed up and everyone got a chance to stump for increased voting sites and hours. It’s unclear what the final voting setup will be, but we’ll head back out to Greenville next week in order to be at the decision meeting.
Tuesday we were back out to Kinston for voter reg. Again, a slow but productive day. We had some more bad luck with another meeting, this one with Eastern Carolina Equality, being cancelled just as we were about to leave to Greenville from Kinston for it. We also continued to make calls reminding people to vote in the special election, as that Tuesday was Election Day. According to the data, it looks like the calls we made (and we made a lot in the week leading up to the election) did some good, so that’s something to rally around.
The rest of the week we’re doing some administrative work around the office and working on our ‘media hits’. Check out The Greenville Guardian, a free, independent newspaper, for some of our writing!
It’s been a long, fun, productive summer, and I’m taking time to reflect on what I’ve learned, both about organizing and myself. We’re gearing up for a busy final week!
Griffin Bur
Greenville team
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