Today, I went canvassing for the first time since sometime in 2019. Or even earlier. Most likely, since the 2018 campaign when I was canvassing for Maggy Trevor.

Last fall, there was no in-person canvassing, only phone banking. I never do phone banking because I am not good at it and because when people do not see me, they react negatively to my accent. But I truly love in-person canvassing. First, I know that it works, and second – when people see me, they do not care about the accent that much.

I was delighted when I read in the Palatine Democrats newsletter that they are doing in-person canvassing again. I waited for the warmer weather and then started to look for signup.

It turned out that these days, all things are done differently, and canvassing is not an exception. I had to submit a form on the website, and then a person in charge of canvassing emailed me, and then we talked. He told me I need to install a MiniVAN application – a special application for canvassing.

loved it. It is so much better than the canvassing I did for years – with a paper turf and a clipboard. You can switch from a map to a list of households and back; you can look up people and leave notes, and you are syncing, so you make sure you didn’t miss the house and didn’t visit a house twice.

The person in charge of canvassing is doing an outstanding organizing job. Everything is planned the night before, the turfs can be loaded into your app well in advance, and you are good to go.A funny thing happened. When I talked with this person on the phone, I told him that I was canvassing for years. Still, since he didn’t know me, he told me he wanted to start the turf with me to see how I am doing it, and then we can canvass separately. I understood that it was a responsible thing to do and didn’t object. He took the furthest turf in Rolling Meadows, and I asked him to drive me there because I could get lost with my geographical disability.

When I saw him in person in the Democratic office, I realized that he was very young. Since he mentioned earlier that he lived in Palatine, I had a suspicion that he might know Vlad and Anna. And as soon as we started walking to his car, he turned to me and asked: Do you know Novikov’s, Anna and Vlad? And I am: yes, I am their mother.

It turned out that not only he knows them well, but he also worked with Anna on Matt Flamm’s campaign when Anna was a campaign manager.

So, we had a lot to talk about on our way to the turf 🙂