The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Traci B. during the 2008-2009 League.
Mission: Take Action - Volunteering for a Political Campaign
Tim Fair, Clinton County Commissioner
I have grown up with many people who are active in the political world, but I have never really gotten involved in a campaign until this year when Ambassador League pushed me to get involved. I had the privilege to work on Tim Fair's campaign who was running for Clinton County commissioner, district six. In spite of his great campaigning, he did not make it into office. His opponent, Eileen Hiedeman, beat him out by an extremely small margin of sixteen votes. Along with helping in Tim's campaign, I also got to work at the polling place in DeWitt.
Getting involved in a campaign helped me learn more about what all goes into trying to get into office. Along with nine others, I helped Tim put up signs. We split up into groups of two. Each group received a map of district six and a sheet of addresses, which Tim had planned out ahead of time. District six is made up of DeWitt Township and also part of Bath Township. My partner and I had about thirty signs to put into the ground. Most of the other groups had more than that. I am not sure of the final count we put in that day, but it was quite a lot.
I also had the privilege of helping put together some of Tim's campaign literature. This became very repetitive but there were nine of us, so we could talk as we worked, and it was still nice being able to help Tim out with the campaign. We took his palm cards and put a note, which told his phone number and if they had any questions to call, on the palm card with a sticker that stated "Vote the 4th". If I remember right, we got around two thousand palm cards ready to be passed out on "Judgment Day".
"Judgment Day" for this campaign was the day before the election and is the last time a candidate can make an effort to show his platform on issues. On judgment day you do not go up to the doors and talk about the issues the candidate stands for. This day you run from door to door either slipping the palm card into the weather stripping or putting it in the screen door - just somewhere where it will be seen and not be flying around the lawn. We had five vans of people and each group had about four or more people in it. An adult drove us to the destination and dropped us off at the beginning of the road or subdivision and picked us up at the end. My group had four teenagers. We handed out a lot of palm cards!
Besides this, I got to help work at the DeWitt Township polls on November 4th. I learned how the voting process went from a different side than the people who just come in and vote. A lot goes into the voting process. It was definitely an eye-opener to see how many people do not use their right to vote. There were many people who came in and told us their age and that it was their first time voting.
Being able to help out with this election made me realize how much work goes into being a candidate. Helping put up signs, getting literature together, passing out the literature and helping out at the polls on Election Day were experiences that will help me appreciate our candidates and freedom much more.
