More than 40 community organizations that belong to two local campaigns united in an effort to mobilize GLBT voters are planning their largest neighborhood-canvassing event ever, scheduled to take place Saturday, Aug. 28. A number of local organizations have pulled their voting registration efforts together into a coalition called LGBT San Diego Delivers the Vote!; another collaboration made up of The Center and Equality California have organized their efforts under a project called the California Voter Project.

“Canvassing is a great way to reach potential voters and to increase voter turnout in November,” said AJ Davis, director of public policy at The Center. “It is an easy, fun way to get involved, meet people and make a difference. We provide a complete training beforehand to ensure that all of the volunteers feel confident and have all of the information they need.”

The morning begins at 9:00 a.m. at The Center with snacks and a short presentation on how to register and educate voters about the importance of voting. After the introduction, volunteers partner up and get a “walk list” of homes they will visit. The day concludes at The Center with pizza, drinks and a chance for volunteers to debrief and talk about the experience.

“Volunteers universally have a great time doing the canvassing,” said Jeffrey Mittman, special projects coordinator for Equality California. “The standard response is: ‘I was a little afraid at first, as I had never done door-to-door work before, but was surprised how easy and how much fun it was.’ All our canvassers come back for another time.”

Mittman said The California Voter Project has been going “extremely well” since its inception in early spring. Canvassing groups have so far focused on central city neighborhoods, where Mittman said volunteers gain experience before branching out into other neighborhoods throughout the county.

Saturday’s canvass will again focus on city neighborhoods, including Hillcrest, University Heights, North Park, Normal Heights, Kensington and South Park. Canvassers may branch out into Golden Hill and the area around San Diego State University as well.

“How many volunteers we have at the canvass is really up to the community,” Davis said about Saturday’s expected turnout. “The more folks we can get involved, the more folks we can reach. This is our community’s opportunity to encourage consistent civic participation and the extent of our success depends on the commitment of our community. We hope that these canvasses will continue to grow until we have anywhere between 50-100 volunteers each time.”

Over Pride weekend, LGBT San Diego Delivers the Vote!, The California Voter Project and other groups registering voters and collecting voter pledge cards gathered more than 1,200 voter registrations and over 3,000 voter pledge cards. Individuals sign the voter pledge cards promising to vote on Nov. 2.

“Pride exceeded our expectations,” Mittman said. “It is clear that our community is energized by the issues facing us. Members of the community were searching us out to register their opinion on marriage equality and the LGBT vote.”

As the Oct. 18 deadline for voter registration approaches, the two campaigns are stepping up their intensity. Davis said the groups are focusing on having a strong presence at events like last weekend’s Ebony Pride and Gay Day in South Bay, and upcoming events like North County Pride, AIDS Walk and Latin Pride. They continue to register voters outside bars and other GLBT community locations and events, and will increase the number of door-to-door canvassing groups as Election Day nears.

“California Voter Project is a long-term project of voter education and identification that is about more than this ‘election cycle’,” Mittman added. “We will be continuing our efforts to energize our community and to educate the wider community into 2005 and 2006. This is not about partisan politics, but about making sure our community’s struggle for full equality is won.”