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Unity in the Community was great! It was an outdoor music festival sponsored by The Light 103.9 fm. It lasted from 11 to 6 and there were big crowds, I estimate around 5,000 people total. We lucked out and the organizers put us in a location where almost everyone had to walk right past us to get to the music. We registered 45 voters, signed up a dozen volunteers and gave out about 250 early voting info cards.

Beforehand I had been worried about having to schedule the volunteers: at first thinking not enough volunteers would come, then when the volunteers came through (several people signed up yesterday), then I worried that not enough festival attendees would come and we'd have too many volunteers sitting around with nothing to do. But it all worked out just about perfectly. A couple of the volunteers were idle and just wanted to sit at the table chatting with each other, but most were dedicated and willing to go out and engage with people, and a couple were fantastic, tireless. And the good, active volunteers were spread out throughout the day. It was great!

In general I find voter registration easier than canvassing, and this kind of voter registration, in such a sympathetic environment, is easier still. To give you an idea of how pro-Obama the crowd was, there were 2 vendors selling Obama shirts (plus another with mostly other clothing and a few Obama shirts mixed in). And it wasn't a political event! I bought a shirt from one of the vendors, who gave me a deep discount since I had been working the Obama table all day. And also, because I sent a lot of customers his way. Every time someone asked about shirts I would point them towards his booth.

The volunteer effort in Durham is going like gangbusters. Like I mentioned, people signed up to work the table all day. And then the office sent several extra people over to help us early on, and at that point the event wasn't that crowded so I actually called the office and told them we were fully staffed, so not to send anyone else. Then later in the day, two women showed up with clipboards. No one had sent them; they said they just figured wherever there were a lot of people, that's where they should go! I love the idea of volunteers so motivated they're out there seeking registration opportunities, not even waiting for someone to tell them where to go. By that point the event was much busier so I welcomed their help and asked them to work the crowd while we stayed at the table. All these volunteers aren't just running around making busywork, they're accomplishing a lot. I was surprised by the number of attendees who said they had registered within the past week or two, or even in the past couple of days.

I didn't talk to a single McCain supporter all day, and only a couple who refused to register. I did talk to one young guy who told me he supported McCain. He was with a crowd of friends and I was like, "really? um, well, we want you to vote anyway .. that's democracy." Then he started laughing and said "naw, I don't even know who McCain is!" A couple of times during the day, the folks on stage urged the crowd to register, and pointed out both our table and a non-partisan group who were registering on the other side of the stage. One of the speakers made a nice statement about how much people had sacrificed in the past to gain the right to vote, and how we all owe it to them to vote now. I have to say, I do not understand Americans who don't vote. People die for the right to vote, and not just in the distant past either. Look at Zimbabwe: just a few months ago people were literally dying for the right to vote.

I got fairly sunburned on my face and the back of my neck, and slathered lotion on when I got home. Pretty much lost my voice too, between talking all day and the smoke from the barbecue vendor next to us. Organizing this event was a lot of work, and I didn't even have to do it all. Someone else booked the space and got things going, all I had to do was schedule the volunteers, pick up the supplies and set up. I don't think I would want to do something like this every week, though I'm really glad I did this one.

Although I just remembered, early in the day a man came up to the table and asked us to come to his organization's dinner for Ramadan next Friday. He said last time they had 550 people come. So maybe I'll be doing this next week as well. Still, it will be much less work than this one. I think 2 volunteers would be plenty, and I could probably handle it on my own if need be.