Last minute election push for voter turnout

Everybody and their dog were phone-banking like crazy Monday. Everywhere, at every candidate’s headquarters, candidates and their staff were working right down to the wire. Like elsewhere, all hands were on deck at Carl DeMaio’s campaign headquarters Monday evening – getting the DeMaio message out to as many people on likely voter lists.

“My plan is simple: force Congress to live under the same laws as the rest of us. No more special exemptions or privileges,” said DeMaio.

The DeMaio campaign has faced challenges from the beginning, vying to attract attention from incumbent Congressman Scott Peters, but getting attention as recently as last week for the wrong reasons: a break-in and vandalism at the Miramar campaign headquarters office. DeMaio says people are listening.

“They are so fed up and frustrated with politics as usual. They know my record with the city of San Diego, so it’s not just talk – they know that I walk the walk. They know that I have a record of results that really shows that we are able to solve problems, balance the budget, fix programs that are broken in government.”

“How you doing, sir? This is Chris Cate, I’m running for City Council. How are you doing today?” Asked City Council candidate Chris Cate into a phone.

A room full of twenty-somethings, crowded into Cate’s campaign headquarters office Monday night, dug through their lists and hit the phones, doing their best to introduce their man to would-be voters – many of whom don’t even know there’s a primary election let alone the candidate.

“What we’re doing is talking to voters, and making them aware that tomorrow is election day, and that they go out and vote, and where their locations are, and hopefully to support our campaign. If they have any last minute questions they want to talk to me personally about, we’re out here trying to talk to as many voters as possible – making sure they all show up to the polls tomorrow.”

At Lori Zapf’s Liberty Station headquarters, the power of youth on display working the phones and alerting everyone in San Diego City Council District 2 about the big day Tuesday, making certain voters know what to do.

“Tomorrow’s election day, and there’s a lot of people who haven’t mailed in their ballots. Just want them to know that they need to walk them into a precinct polling place – it doesn’t have to be their polling place, it could be any polling place. But if they want their vote to be counted, they need to drop it off,” said Zapf.

And oh, by the way:

“I would love to have their vote,” proclaimed Zapf.

Dozens of candidates vying for federal, state, county and city seats will be on the Tuesday ballot. KUSI will provide complete and comprehensive coverage beginning at 6pm.