A knock on the door, a conversation with a neighbor, a text message: Campaigns are entering swing mode

CROSS PLAINS, Wis. (AP) – At this point electionsarguments were put forward, the airwaves were flooded with advertisements, inboxes and doorsteps filled with leaflets. Only that remains withdraw from voting.

It’s a key step that can make or break a campaign by turning Americans into voters, getting them to the polls – or the mailbox or ballot drop box – with their choices.

Democrats this year are relying on the traditional strategy of targeted phone calls, text messages and door-knocking from the party and its allies to encourage Vice President Kamala Harris’s vote. Former President Donald Trump did has outsourced most of the Republicans’ activities groups like America PAC, an organization backed by a billionaire Elon Muskwho took the unconventional and possibly illegal step of giving away $1 million a day in cash prizes.

Now both sides are going head-to-head to get their voters out of the battleground states:

Kathy Moran never thought she’d be standing on the street at sunset, political leaflets slung over her shoulder, going door to door trying to convince people to vote.

But Moran, a 64-year-old retired employment lawyer, said one brisk October evening that she could no longer sit on the sidelines.

“With the overthrow Roe v. Wadesomething I couldn’t imagine, I just had to get involved,” she said while canvassing in the streets of Cross Plains, a village of about 4,000 people on the outskirts of Wisconsin’s liberal capital, Madison.

Democrats hope it’s volunteers like Moran who will make the difference pendulum states like Wisconsin, where four of the last six presidential elections were decided by a majority of 21,000 votes or less.

The Democrats’ approach to getting out the vote is clear: They are using a vast network of activists, volunteers, Democratic Party stalwarts and others spread across the country to ensure their voters get to the polls.

What America PAC does it for Trump it is less clear.

America PAC is targeting irregular voters in Wisconsin by canvassing precincts and sending direct mail, digital and text ads, said spokesman Andrew Romeo.

However, America PAC declined a request from the Associated Press to observe the work in person.

Republicans have privately expressed concerns about whether America PAC is doing enough to get the deciding vote for Trump battlefield states. Regardless of their methods, more Republicans vote early than in the previous elections, which is another sign of great enthusiasm.

“A recall operation cannot turn a jump ball into a landslide,” said Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler. “But it can absolutely turn a 50-50 race into a 49.5-50.5 race.”

Moran said she takes between 8,000 and 14,000 steps on a typical night of canvassing, and as she knocks on doors of homes decorated with skeletons, tombstones and a few political signs, she encounters mostly Harris voters.

One of the women does not want to contact Moran, claiming through a closed glass door that “it’s none of her business.” Another claims that he has already voted, but does not want to say for whom.

Another notices her “Harris/Walz” and “la” buttons, smiles and says, “I see you’re with Harris.” He assures her that everyone in his house votes for her.

Moran enters notes into the app so voters committed to Harris don’t have to worry anymore.

The Harris campaign employs more than 40,000 volunteers and 220 staffers in 32 field offices across the state. The campaign says its volunteers and employees have knocked on more than a million doors, including more than 100,000 this past weekend alone, and made two million calls.

“The ground game is very, very busy,” said state Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, a Democrat from Dawson. “We knock on doors every day, but the communities are huge. There is a lot to do, but we have incredibly hard-working volunteers who are giving their all to this race.”

Sims said she wasn’t sure who would win Georgia because she saw similar Republican enthusiasm in the field.

The Trump campaign says it has nearly 25,000 volunteers working in Georgia and has held more than 2,000 events there in the past three months.

At one event, eight women wearing fitted pink Trump jackets with the number “47” on the sleeves and personalized engravings of their names marched into a spacious ranch south of Atlanta as part of the Team Trump women’s tour.

The crowd in South Fulton was small, but the RNC co-chaired Lara Trump and former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler urged her supporters to unite their friends to vote for Trump.

Kim Burnette signed up for the Trump campaign’s phone bank this year, calling sporadic voters who are registered Republicans.

“A lot of people say they’re going to vote,” Burnette said. “Looks good.”

Candace Duvall drove about 30 miles to the event and showed up decked out in gold Trump gear — she had glittery letters spelling out his name on her T-shirt and wore earrings that featured his mugshot. She rushed to the polls on the first day of early voting to cast her ballot for Trump, but she still receives a flood of texts, calls and fliers about his campaign.

“He is our only chance,” Duvall said. “I really think he was chosen by God and I think it’s a fight between good and evil.”

Camilla Moore and Lisa Babbage, chair and vice chair of the Georgia Black Republican Caucus, also came to support women in the Trump campaign.

The pair has been mobilizing black voters in South Fulton through events over the past few months.

“It was easier this time than ever before,” Moore said.

Moore said people are less timid in supporting Trump now than they were in 2020. They are more open to conversation when making arguments for the former president.

Charles Benson, 68, of Kinston, North Carolinahe said he contacts him several times a week, mainly by text message, about the elections and voting.

Benson, who is retired, was in attendance Trump rally in nearby Greenville in late October, two days after in-person early voting. Despite this, candidate lists continue to fill his mailbox.

“I’m ready for this to be over,” Benson said. “I’m tired of sending things like this in the mail every day.”

Emma Macomber, 76, of New Bern, another Trump supporter at the Greenville rally, said he contacts her regularly, mostly by text message, asking for political donations and making sure she votes.

Macomber said she has already voted and made some donations.

“I want it to end, but I’m afraid it will end,” she said. “Because I don’t know what will happen in the future, and I think everyone is afraid of the unknown.”

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Kramon reported from Atlanta, Robertson from Raleigh, North Carolina, and Mascaro from Washington.