Voter participation continues with volunteer efforts and events across the country. And This weekend is set to be the biggest yet. Obviously the election will continue beyond this weekend, but looking at the results, if we actually show up and get it through in the next few days, we might put the matter out of reach for the others. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that the more bad actors work to manipulate a story, the more afraid they are of it.

Why this weekend, turnip?

Since we have all the pieces to win this election, all we have to do is put them together. What do I mean?

• The gender gap in the early voting electorate has remained remarkably stable and we are not done voting this cycle. As I’ve previously reported, a significant portion of Democratic voters plan to vote at the door on Election Day.
• We have almost reached the ideal “firewall” of 400,000 votes in PA if you count party registrations only. And PA is a state where, in my (admittedly layman’s) opinion, some Republicans are more likely to cross this cycle.
• While we cannot detect partisan registrations in Michigan, partisanship modeled by TargetEarly has Democrats well ahead of Republicans now and at the same point in time (T-11 days) before the 2020 election
• In Wisconsin, we are well ahead of the GOP in early voting, even though independent voters make up a large share of early voters so far. Unless Republicans somehow win over a large number of independent voters in Wisconsin, that lead is likely to persist.
• For some reason people are panicking about Nevada, but the bluest part of the state and three-quarters of the population are always late, and there now automatic voter registration is the law that appeals more to the lazy, and lazy people don’t register a party. We’re bringing in higher numbers of Black and AAPI voters to the polls than we did this time in 2020, and the GOP, which I think needs high numbers of new voters to take the state, has seen its first-time voter rate collapse in some ways there.
• Arizona may be the toughest election because we simply have a built-in disadvantage with mail-in ballots this cycle, but the voter distribution so far is trending much younger. And Gallego is well ahead of Kari Lake in the polls and I don’t see anyone voting for Trump but not for the mini-Trump wife. So I think if the results are good on Election Day, that could be the case in Arizona too.
• While not exactly an unbiased source, the general impression is that we are maintaining or slightly exceeding the 2020 pace in the swing states.
• And I have no evidence to support that last point, but this is the first election where January 6th is directly on the ballot (as opposed to 2022, which is indirectly). I think many people underestimate how many people are still angry about the events of January 6, 2021. And anecdotally, some Republicans seem to be upset about it too.

Why are you saying all this, turnip? Get to the good stuff! I say it because in almost every battleground state, the voters we need to get to the polls are turning out at the polls. And we have the momentum, so we can keep it going. This means we can really take advantage of those margins this weekend!

But how? We did it the same way, with customer acquisition, phone banking and texting. If you are in a position to knock on a door or drive canvassers, please consider doing so. All evidence points to winning this election from the start. This is the big weekend because if we get enough people to vote, we can make it even harder for Republicans to close the gap.

My report from earlier this week: I continued to text for When We All Vote whenever I could. This is the group that organizes parties near polling stations where people have something to eat and then march to cast their vote. It also uses the relational model: people who voted are asked to talk to three friends and persuade them to vote. By the way, if you haven’t done this yet, stop and do it now. Tell your friends to go out and save democracy.

Sending a text message went quite well. We don’t have many Trump people, but those numbers are down slightly between last week’s shifts and this week’s shifts. The number of people who have already voted has increased, and with it the number of people who have not wanted to hear from us since their election.

Yesterday I was at an event in Darby, PA. Myself, my wife, about fifty activists, and Leslie Odom Jr. were in the room. These people include, among others, the people (as Leslie said) who saved the country last time by casting so many votes in the Philadelphia area and are ready to do it again this time. Leslie spoke for a few minutes about the importance of the campaign and didn’t mention Trump once.

What he did was walk around the room to everyone and offer to make a short video for their friends or on social media asking people they knew to go out and vote. So average people and groups of average people received video messages from a celebrity that were specifically addressed to them theminviting them to vote and sent to them by a trusted friend or member of that vote.

I got to watch a person call a good friend who lost his mind when he realized who the caller was, jumping up and down and acting like a teenager.

My wife, an ordained minister, was allowed to lead the prayer for the event and had Leslie record a video for a “choice-focused” interfaith service she is hosting in Philadelphia. It’s not really political, but the people she works for are assisted living tenants, mostly Jews and Muslims, who have been bullied, harassed, literally threatened with their lives and traumatized over the last year. The fact that she was able to get a famous person to help her deliver even a brief message of hope to people who really need it was pretty inspiring.

Promotions for the weekend: They still need drivers, so I help with that in Montgomery County and surrounding areas by transporting canvassers from the operational areas to their area. Depending on how many people arrive, we may need to make multiple trips. I’m scheduled for this on Saturday and Sunday.

Last night I attended an organizational meeting of the Progressive Democrats of America. They’re calling in swing states, but also in swing districts in bluer states where we have a chance to pick up some votes and take back the House. I signed up for some calling and texting shifts there. I will of course report on how the acquisition went and try to get as many details as possible from my own experiences and those of others.

What you can do:

Read this diary (all of Eater’s open GOTV threads were excellent) and click any of the Swing State links below to sign up!

Volunteer with PDA, they could use some help!

Register for a GOTV event near you. Just zip in and see what’s available!

I could post a lot more links, but you get the point. Folks, if you’ve been sitting, this weekend is the time to join in! If we get a massive influx of volunteers this weekend, we could give up a few states and increase our chances of winning in others. We’re actually on track to win this if we keep the momentum going!

I’m not putting up a poll at the end of this question, but I would like you to share any positive GOTV experiences you’ve had in the comments. Maybe you helped sway a voter to Kamala, maybe you were able to get someone to vote early, maybe you heard from a Republican friend that they were voting blue. Whatever it is, tell us about it below!