Listening and Talking to Undecided Voters
My regular Co-Counselor and I tried to help our favored U.S. presidential candidate win by calling undecided voters.
We had a short Co-Counseling session before the calling event to practice the telephone script with each other, a mini-session after the telephoning started, and a short session after everything was over [finished].
I was impressed with the competence and caring of the organizers. I also liked my small breakout group—a kind of support group—at the end of the event. A woman asked each of us how it had gone. After we’d all answered, I asked the group, “So would you do this again, or did it feel like a waste of time?” This helped people feel safe enough to say just how unpleasant some of the conversations had been and how awful it had felt.
The organizers said they didn’t want us to leave with any bad feelings. They asked us what we do to take care of ourselves, and I shared about my Co-Counselor’s and my sessions.
The goal of the calls was to have a meaningful conversation with undecided voters, listen to their concerns about the candidates, and share our own concerns. Unfortunately, there were many technical difficulties, and many people hung up their phone before a conversation could start. However, I was pleased that I had tried something new and that I hadn’t done it alone. My Co-Counselor and I will try it again soon.
The concept of making a connection with a complete stranger by having a meaningful conversation—sharing our stories with each other to free up rational thinking—made me wonder if it wouldn’t be even more effective to find and talk to the undecided voters in our own circle of family and friends, people who already felt safe with us because we had a good relationship with them.
So instead of assuming that my family (all now living outside the United States) had sent in their absentee ballots right away as I had done, I checked with each family member individually. One had helped another obtain and send in her absentee ballot. I helped a third with computer-related difficulties. And I was surprised to find that another wasn’t planning to vote at all. I shared why I had voted and listened to him tell me why he didn’t want to vote.
Has anyone else listened to undecided voters among their family and friends?
Kirchseeon, Bavaria, Germany
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion lists for leaders of women and for USA political issues
(Present Time 202, January 2021)