Action 173 Phone Bank!
Background: We’ve all received enough annoying phone calls to make us leery of placing calls ourselves. But, research shows, volunteer-led phone banks are effective in achieving the objective of turning out the vote. By contrast, some studies have found professional callers to be ineffective or even have a small negative effect on turnout. (1)
Polls are showing Referendum Question 1 is in the range of 1% margin voting NO, (the choice we want) and only 3% still undecided. The margin of error is 3% (2). For whatever reason, far too many people have been persuaded that “just showing a picture ID to vote” is a good idea, ignoring or unaware of the consequences for absentee voters embedded in the actual referendum, or the burdens of obtaining/maintaining the appropriate ID. This is not altogether surprising, if you have driven around the western and northern parts of Maine where the easily read, effective “yes on one – secure the vote” signs are all over the place.
So, it’s time to overcome our reluctance, and sign up as volunteers to phone bank. For novices, here’s how it works: You sign up for the training at a specific time and place online. You use your own “smart” phone in the comfort of your own space, as long as it has a decent internet connection. Immediately after the short training you are connected to the phone bank managed by NGP-VAN (3). You are supplied with a name and a script. You call from your phone which is receiving the information from the statewide VAN – “Voter Activation Network” - which contains statewide data on the most likely persuadable names and phone numbers. As soon as your call is completed (whether you reach a person or not), you request the next call, and the name and number pops up. I tried doing this a few weeks ago for a Graham Platner phone bank to let people know about some town halls in their area, but because my browser was Safari, I couldn’t manage it. I think I could have done it using Google Chrome or some other browser, and I plan to try again. In the space of a few hours, the 20 or so phone bankers working at that time made over 4000 calls, speaking to voters directly or leaving messages. Very efficient!
Action: Click here to sign up! (4) There is a dropdown menu on the right where you can pick your date and time. There are three-hour blocks of time starting at 9 am and ending at 9 pm, from November 1 (this Saturday) through voting day November 4 (when the last block ends at 8 pm - the polls close then.)
Urgency: Needless to say, the sooner you check your calendar for your availability, and sign up, the more likely you will get your first choice of time slot. Do it today!
Extra Credit:
(1) https://www.ngpvan.com/blog/is-phone-banking-effective-successful-strategies-and-software-options/
(2) https://www.pressherald.com/2025/10/23/polling-shows-maines-voter-id-and-red-flag-referendums-could-be-close/ For Question 2, it’s 38% in favor of the red flag law, 40% opposed, and 22% unsure.
(3) https://www.ngpvan.com and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGP_VAN