The Teapublican efforts at blocking the vote and the consequences if it succeeds have finally moved me to stop lurking and write. I have organized a GOTV effort that I would like to see copied. I call it "Neighbors calling Neighbors."
I got a CD from the Board of Elections of all registered voters and the last ten times they voted. I divided my precinct into blocks and printed out a list of all addresses in that block with a registered voter, the names and voting records of each of those registered voters. I made a folder for each block with the list, some Voter Registration forms, and my card (which I had printed up with my self appointed title of Precinct Organizer.)
Then I printed out a list of faithful democrats (people who when they voted in a primary election always took a Democratic ballot and who voted every year.) This was my hunting list. I went to them and asked them to be a Block Captain. The key was to make the Block Captain's duties as light as possible and to go to people who understood the importance of voting.
The Block Captain is asked only to visit each house on his/her block, check that those on the list haven't moved or died since the list was made, register any unregistered voters, and (most important) get a current phone number.
I pick up the corrected lists and take any new registrations to the Board of Elections. I correct my master list for the precinct and then print out a phone list for each Block Captain. When early voting starts the Block Captains call their neighbors, tell them the hours and location for early voting, ask them if they need a ride, and urge them to vote early.
At the end of the week I collect the names of those in my precinct who have voted, contact my Block Captains and tell them to mark them as having voted and call those who haven't and urge them again. This continues until early voting ends. The weekend before election day another call is made reminding those who haven't voted that election day is their last chance.
On election day I will strike the polls for my precinct at 11:00 and 4:00, tell my Block Captains who has voted, and ask them to make two more calls to get people to the polls. More on my experiences and reasoning after the elegant apostrophe.