During the NH Primary, I made the calls and marked these sheets, and passed my completed sheets over to a staffer. The sheets were pretty much the same--voter name, address, number, boxes to check indicating level of support--and they also used the software VoteBuilder. But one thing was new. Bar codes! Whoa. I felt like George H W Bush when he first saw a grocery store scanner.
This was cool, at least to me. I got my own hand-held scanner, scanned the voter ID then scanned the results from a sheet that had all the codes on it. Click, that was easy. I think I felt cool mostly because during the primary, only paid staffers entered data; I felt like I got a promotion!
So, now I am in DC for work. On my first night here I had the good fortune to reunite with former UNH College Dems Prez & former Edwards summer staffer, Laura, who is now living in Baltimore. And when she asked what's new on the NH campaign trail, I told her all about the cool scanner. Since I never entered data before, I didn't know if she had used the scanners or not. She did, but not until very close to the Primary. But clearly the NHDP/Team Shaheen is hip to technology, and well-funded. Now I want to know who used what during the NH Primary.
And when I get back from DC, I'm spending every Wednesday night between now & the election with my new scanner toy. My new challenge to myself is to bring someone new with me each week. Care to join me?
