Killian and I have been off to a busy start in our first week and a half as Democracy Summer interns. Last week we got started by calling and recruiting folks in the eastern part of the state to be Democracy NC “Souls to the Polls” ambassadors and getting ready with the presentations that we’ll be taking around the state over the next couple months. We also did some preliminary research regarding County Boards of Elections’ plans for the Fall 2012 election.
We spent Monday doing important phonebanking work, asking people to call Sen Phil Berger in support of the release of HAVA funds. We were able to transfer about 15 people over to Sen Berger’s office immediately, and got strong commitments from another 15 or so. Then, we hit the road.
Tuesday, we made a quick jaunt over to Raleigh to speak with Rocky Mount’s Angela Bryant. Rep. Bryant was glad to hear from us and receptive to our message; she may even end up speaking at our Rocky Mount Pathways to Power training (June 23 and 24).
Wednesday and Thursday were our longer trips; the former we spent in Greenville and the latter in Snow Hill (Greene County.) In Greenville, we met with Councilperson Calvin Mercer. Cncl Mercer gave us an abbreviated history of Greenville city politics, as well as his experience being a resident of the town and an ECU professor. Later, we stopped in with another ECU prof., David Conradt, who also sits on the Pitt County Board of Elections.
On Thursday, we went out to Snow Hill to speak with a grassroots group at St James Presbyterian, along with former Snow Hill mayor, and current candidate for State Senate, Don Davis. We gave our first presentation — covering redistricting, the HAVA funds, photo ID bill and the Citizens United ruling — to the group. Afterwards, Don helped us all make phone calls to six state legislators to voice our opposition to photo ID and support for release of the HAVA funds.
All said, it was a busy, productive week. It was inspiring to see genuine bottom-up political activity in even the smallest of our state’s towns (e.g., Snow Hill, which has about 1500 residents.) We were able to accomplish our goals for the week while getting acclimated to the internship itself. An exciting time for Democracy NC and the state!
Democracy Summer Greenville Team
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