and encounter an only-issue-is-guns dude. I just try to have a pleasant chat. The last one ended well, but it was a while ago

It's spooky.

Luckily, we have an intercom, and I tell whoever it is to politely go away.

And then they do.

folk often don't open the door to me even in broad daylight

.

We love Halloween.

First you would have to break into the garage..than fumble around in the dark...and hope you can find the door.


Seriously! Why do you think I have a compass on my watch?

Stalker!!!

After telling you about my earlier in the day canvassing efforts.

So don't do it. Please.

n/t

If they knock after dark, then wait a minute, then leave, no problem. If they knock and wait then knock again, I might start get irritated. If they knock and continue to linger and knock more after the first two attempts, and will not take a damn hint that I'm not comfortable opening to door to strangers after dark, I'll call the police to come see what they want, then get them the hell off my lawn.

If I find out they are representing a political party or candidate, I'm asking for their supervisor's contact info* so I can talk to their supervisor about it. I am all for GOTV efforts, but there is no reason to be damned creepy about it. There is a time and place for that type of thing and doing it after dark would be unnerving to a lot of people.

*I would do the same if they were representing any other group, i.e. salespeople, religious proselytizers, etc.

Most door to door canvassing is done in September-October. By the end of October, sunset here is about 6 PM. Show up by 7, I'll answer the door. Show up at nine, I won't. Show up while the police helicopter is circling overhead, you're probably SOL. This is a bad enough area that a lot of bad guys bail and try to hide here.

robberies, home invasions, etc. lately so I'd probably just talk to you through the locked storm door, and ask you to leave the materials on the porch. It is what it is.

Most people I know are either asleep, having dinner, or otherwise unwinding when it's dark.

disappointment that you aren't the pizza deliverer.

But after that, I might be willing to chat a bit, especially if you're canvassing for a candidate or issue that I want to know more about...

my cost for the last month or so would be around $4500

JK. I don't hide the stash. I don't answer the door tho. Not unless I know you're coming with Girl Scout Cookies.

I thought I was going to have to disarm a guy with a knife that was selling oranges door to door. He got enraged when I said no after he cut one open with his dirty pocketknife. I decided the best way to go about it. Right then a police car pulled up. They carted him off.

the question is would you take it? I could be a serial killer and the beer could be laced with something or the sandwich deadly. Or I could be a really cool person that likes people that try to help people by doing what you are doing and just offered an awesome ice cold beer and big huge hoagie.

So do you feel lucky?

You will be ignored.

When strangers come to my door, especially if they are carrying something, I assume they are there to sell me something. In your case, you're "selling" politics

As a woman, I will not respond to strangers ringing my bell after dark unless they identify themselves as police officers (in uniform) or are obviously in distress and in need of aid.

(If you thought I meant something else by soliciting, my apologies - I only meant it in the sense of selling a product).

And I suppose you can use the word "selling" as a metaphor, if you like, but I'm not actually selling anything: I never collect money or anything else from anybody; I'm not drumming up customers for any business

To my knowledge none of my state statutes or local ordinances consider my electioneering to be solicitation

If you put up a sign that says "KEEP OUT" at the edge of your property, I'll assume it applies to me, and I won't set foot on your lot

But if you have a sign that says "NO SOLICITING," I'll figure I'm not soliciting and I'll ring the doorbell anyway

I understand the need for electioneering, but since I do my own research and make up my mind on my own, I find it rather like "selling".

Quite honestly though, it's more about it being after dark and strangers at the door.

I wish you well - and I wish you safe electioneering. Be careful out there.

But people's perception of what's "dark" vary, and how dark it seems may depend on the weather

Yesterday was heavily overcast, so I quit around 6:45 as it began to seem darkish; today, there was a light intermittent drizzle, but it was less overcast so I knocked off when it started to seem dark around 7:00

Sounds like I need to wish you dry weather, too!

The only difference is if they are in distress, I will talk to them through my locked closed door and offer to call the police for them to get them some help. Otherwise, I'm not inviting strangers into my home after dark or even unlocking the door when strangers enter my yard.

Strangers had better have a good reason to be in my yard after dark anyhow. My neighbors' dogs consider my yard and me their territory and family/pack member and will not let anyone get to me anyhow. I'm lucky I get deliveries from FedEx and UPS as protective as they are. I have to go out and reassure the dogs when it is FedEx or UPS. Otherwise, they would defend me to the death. Of that, I have no doubt. I always make friends with the animals in any neighborhood I live or even visit for any decent amount of time, especially neighbors' pets. I doubt anyone would make it to my door after dark without a big huge alert from my neighbors' dogs, lights all over the neighborhood coming on, shotguns getting cocked and ready, and several dogs barking and edging closer and closer to them the further inside the pack's "territory" the stranger stepped.

S4A, please never try to visit me after dark. Unless you like the sound of cocking shotguns, the sight of lights all over a neighborhood coming on, the sight of blue lights flashing and the sound of growling ferocious large dogs who mean business, it is probably not a good idea for your own safety. Also, the dogs will not stop barking for the rest of the night at every sound they hear if you unnerve them that way.

or provide information to sway my opinion then, yes, you are.

(if this was meant to be a joke forgive my lack of humor-receptors before coffee...)

sP

doesn't match your usage

You're soliciting.

doesn't match your usage

now let's say it's 8:30pm no problem, I come outside and we talk as much as you would like. Now let's say it's 10:30pm here we have a completely different scenario. First I cut the lights "they" can't see in once the lights are off. Then I sneak out my Hal Capone gangster exit which then has me standing 12 ft behind you with a taser and cell phone. At that point my neighbors will have sent two family members over to see why I came out the Capone hatch. Seriously.

Lol of course I am exagerating a little but time is the biggest factor.

are getting ready to turn in by then

To campaign volunteers...I do t want talking points and hype...I prefer to look for the info myself.

and they've got other things to do, so I've got about three points I can make, which I tailor to the situation. Much of what I would say is purely informational, and I try to leave ASAP when folk aren't interested in any of it

I find it rather rude to canvass after dark whether it's for a candidate or girl scout cookies. If you don't find that others view it the same, then please carry on.

it doesn't seem to matter whether I'm knocking in broad daylight or at dusk. Usually those who don't want to talk with me just ignore the knock

But today, in broad daylight, I did have a woman tell me not to knock her door after dark

I don't remember ever knocking doors in her neighborhood before, and I'm quite sure I haven't knocked doors there in the last decade or so, so I don't know exactly why she was telling me that

I'd guess somebody knocked her door too late at night once in 2008 or 2010 or 2012

My reasons for not liking it are twofold.

First, I believe that there has to be some time to call your own and during that time it's rude to intrude on someone you don't know somewhat. Again, as I seem to be the only one who thinks this, it's my own burden to bear.

Second, I think it's dangerous to walk many streets at night without company. While this isn't directly my problem, it is an indirect problem if something happens to you in my yard. It's sort of like those volunteers who stand in the street soliciting donations. If one of them steps in front of my car, it isn't my fault but it does affect me for life.

Yes, I know my second reason is stupid but it still bothers me.

TL;DR: last1standing is a cranky fool who needs to chill out and be more welcoming to strangers.

Some streets may be less dangerous than people think. I've had lots of folk tell me to be careful, in circumstances where I met no one on the street -- and in circumstances where everyone I met on the street was incredibly friendly

That doesn't mean it's safe, only that I haven't had a problem.

I hope you have others with you when you canvass.

After all you would have to either climb over my locked gate or climb through or over a five strand barbed wire fence. Then walk a hundred yards or so the the house. You would be met at the door by a somewhat upset man with a gun and his equally upset wife, also armed Loving Wife. Of course she would be inside the house with her shotgun, while I would be behind you with a 45.

That's an explicit "KEEP OUT" even when there's no sign saying so, and I expect entry under such circumstances would be clear trespassing -- and easily prosecutable as that

So I don't hop locked gates

All you have to do is call the house, the phone is hardwired, ID yourself, and state your business. If the answer is no then hang up the phone, wave, and be on your way. If it is yes, then I, or my Loving Wife will unlock the gate. LE and local VFD have keys.

Nobody knocks on my door after dark (nor pretty much any other time.) When I do answer the door, I am armed. If it is after dark, my wife will be inside around the corner with either the shotgun or the sort barrel AR.

We don't cotton to strangers in my 'hood.

No, we don't get trick or treaters either.

and let you deal with the rancor.

You certainly are if you got past our greeting committee after dark.

We'll probably offer you something to drink after telling you we vote a straight D ticket

face off as the two ballot candidates for that slot in the real election, so there aren't any D/R labels on the ballot

And IIRC all the candidates in this one call themselves Dems anyway

In any case, for now there's no more Straight Ticket voting in NC: our Tea Pot legislature killed it

Be warned.

I do not encourage anyone to come knocking on my door
and I tell them so. I do not accept any materials.
I'm polite, but firm. Don't come back.

A few people tell me this, now and again: I'd guess I've heard it three or four times in thousands and thousands of knocks

No problem. Summer is another matter.

We have kids playing in the street at 11:30 p.m. It never gets completely dark around solstice. Winter is another matter. It gets light, but the sun is only about a foot above the southern horizon at high noon.

that you were able to:

1. Find my road
2. Find my driveway
3. Make it all the way down the driveway in the deep, total dark
4. Open the gate without an invitation and step, in the dark, into the rosebush growing too close to the gate and blocking the way through with long, thorny canes
5. Negotiate the steps up the deck in the dark
6. Get past the dog, who should have delightedly pushed you back at the gate, barking hysterically
7. Think that I live as inaccessibly as I do because I somehow want strangers to knock on my door EVER, let alone after dark
8. Find your way back to wherever you left your car after I said, "no thanks"
9. Find your way back down the private dirt road onto the county graveled road and finally back onto the little rural highway in the dark, when there are no street lights for many, many miles
10. Keep reading this

I'm willing to spent on average per door, and it's not that many minutes

On purpose. Not just because I like my solitude, although I do.

When I bought it 9 years ago, we moved my very small grandson here for physical and social/emotional rehabilitation after finally getting him permanently away from his abusive mother. Wed had one very traumatic snatching attempt already. I knew she wouldn't be able to find the place.

She couldn't find it. The Witnesses can, though, and do make the attempt every couple of years.

and don't come back.

If you're smart, you'll do just that.

What kind of idiot goes to a stranger's house after dark? I don't want to see you during the day either, but at night? That's a stupid and dangerous thing to do, imho.

or a city block, and I'd rather not have to come back tomorrow for just two or three doors

So if I'm walking your street as the sun is going down, the streetlamps may light before I quit

Exactly how stupid any person thinks that is, could depend on how important the person thinks elections are

when you're on other people's private property.

It isn't about what is convenient for you.

I'd encourage you to adjust your efforts so that you're not knocking on people's doors after dark.

you asked for opinions and you got them.

I am glad that you believe in something so much that you'd devote your time, effort, and I'm sure money to it. But that is all beside the point.

Many people, myself included, view their homes as a sanctuary from the outside world. Most of us work, or are busy trying to find work, and are deluged with ads and scams and people trying to sell us something, etc. It is incessant.

When we finally make it home and settle down for the evening, able to carve out some personal time for ourselves and our families after a long day, the last thing we want is someone intruding on that.

As I said before, I don't want uninvited people coming by my house period, day or night. I view them as telemarketers in person. If you want to influence my vote (or talk to me about God, or my windshield on my car, or my roof, or some magazine subscriptions you need to have some trip to Hawaii), send me a letter. I'll read it, or not, and reply, or not, at my discretion.

Intruding into my personal space, my property, my home, especially after dark, is not the way to go and could be dangerous as well.

One year ago I was doing the last few hundred of six thousand doors i knocked on during my campaign for State Representative. It's a mostly Republican and TP district, with quite a bit of low information, general apathy and mistrust of the electoral process.

And yet I really found no more "Get out of here" sentiment, even at dusk or after, than I've read on this sad thread.

"Get out of here!"

If people don't want to talk, they won't talk: they'll refuse to answer the door, or they'll politely say they don't have time to talk

But I'll chuckle a bit remembering some of them, because regularly folk, who tell me they don't have time to talk, end up talking to me much longer than I expect

There's no substitute for actually meeting with real people in real life: it's just not the same as chatting on a message board

it's because the person is a single-issue second-amendment voter, who wants to know my candidate's stand on right-to-bear-arms

People are sometimes shot by householders when going door-to-door but it's pretty rare: it looks to me like it happens about once a year, usually to a sales-person who meets a crazy

The number of full-time door-to-door sales-folk is over a million; and with part-timers, the figure is around 16 million. So it's really less than a one-in-a-million for the person doing doo-to-door sales, whereas the overall US death rate is around 800 per 100K per year

I guess somebody could shoot for knocking their door. But since I only do this a few hours a day during campaign season, I'm at least a hundred thousand times more likely to die of something else

Over my years here, I've encountered people whom I considered brilliant and people whom I considered clueless, serious conversations and trolls merely trying to provoke reactions, some emotionally mature and some stuck playing adolescent games, gregarious folk and loners, the balanced and the unbalanced. Sometimes the very same person strikes me in entirely different ways at different times

And, of course, we all have our funny little quirks

In real life, some people are delighted to see me at their door, and others aren't. Some people who post at DU are who they say they are, and others aren't

There's no way for me to know what's going on with everybody

Or at least not a well-organized campaign. I've done a ton of canvassing over the years, in several different states. And we've always had to return to the campaign office before dark and turn in all canvassing sheets.

Also, it is generally recommended that you canvas in pairs, never alone.

Canvassing after dark is plain dangerous, and it would alienate more people than it would garner.

Finally, if you're just literature-dropping, you don't knock on doors at all. You leave it. (Though in some localities you may not leave it in a mailbox.)

Hey people: don't they do election training anymore?

When I've sent out other volunteers in past campaigns, I've sent them out in pairs, unless they really know what they're doing and voluntarily went alone: pairing's a good practice, and for some areas or some volunteers it can be important

Whether canvassing after dark alienates more people than it motivates really depends on the list being used, of course: for many of the lists I've used, your claim simply isn't true -- though the possibility always merits careful consideration

In some past years, I've had people absolutely delighted to see me an hour and a half after sunset. Currently, I'm knocking off in the dusk

The folk for whom I'm volunteering have good campaign backgrounds, and some I first worked with years ago. For these lists, we want the actual personal contact (not just the lit under the doormat) when we can get it

In my town the whole city council is being recalled, the guy I voted for via absentee ballot for mayor resigned this afternoon after revealing he's under FBI investigation for accepting bribes, and I don't like any of the 10 remaining candidates.



So I'd appreciate any help I can get frankly, after dark or no.

being out there, wish you luck, talk politics a few minutes and maybe even invite you in.

Republicans don't waste their time knocking on doors in my neighborhood. And besides, most of the Republicans in my neighborhood are far too old (they are really, really from another era. Most of the Republicans in my neighborhood died some years ago.) to be walking around at night.

knocks on my door, especially after dark and I'm by myself, I wouldn't answer.

not in your driveway; I want to be able to walk to your door from the road in under half a minute; and I want to be able to knock more than fifteen doors an hour

In rural areas, figuring out house numbers, finding a safe place to park on the road near the house, getting up to the house, ringing the bell, waiting for answer, getting back to the car, and finding the next house will generally get me under ten doors an hour, without any conversations at all

I've never had anyone with a campaign knock on my door. I seldom have anybody knock on my door. Family and friends come to the back door or through the garage.

they'll go straight to hell if they don't vote my way!

I've never done door to door canvassing and I'm not sure when I will. I'm sure I'm like the vast majority of people, although DU probably has a very high percentage of canvassers.

As long as you "look OK" after dark, I might open the door to see what you want. Call me old fashioned but I'd give you points for wearing a tie/business attire, looking neat and clean, and having some organization about you. I'd do my best to be polite.

Keep up the good work.

I'll be neat and clean, but I won't be wearing a tie

You should be more considerate of other peope with different experiences and different safety concerns.

and I can't determine who somebody might be, given their name on a list

Some people are glad to see me. Some people have questions about issues or the mechanics of elections. Some people agree with me; some don't. Sometimes I ask for a deceased person

I don't get anything done, that I want done, knocking the door of somebody who doesn't want the door knocked, so if you don't want your name on my list, just tell me: I'll do my best to get it removed. So far this election season, about 500 knocks has produced one (1) person who asked me to take their name off my list

Usually followed by a request to take me off their mailing/calling list. Those are areas of my life that I prefer to keep private.

who mean business, dogs who belong to my neighbors across the street and each side of me, but love me like I am their own family, then see lights going on all over the neighborhood, then hear the sound of shotguns being cocked from those houses, and one neighbor who uses 50 caliber bullets (why he has those I don't know, don't care, and didn't ask*) and know you are in their crosshairs, then possibly get to talk to some police if they can get here before the neighbors get too freaked out and shoot you first, don't. Just don't.

*My neighbors will not hesitate to shoot first and ask questions later if they see you as a threat. When we first moved here, someone was trying to peak into my aunt's bedroom window. We called the police, then the neighbors to be on the lookout. After that, in about a minute, we heard loud shots. The peeping tom left, in a hurry. About five minutes later, the police arrived and followed his footsteps. The next morning, I found their footprints heading away from the house and some 50 caliber shells at the edge of my neighbor's property. My neighbor was outside doing some work in his yard that night. He always does yard work at night because of his work schedule and the heat. He took care of the peeping tom and went right back to his yard work with no fanfare. It turns out I didn't need to even call the police. They didn't do anything but follow the footsteps out of the yard then say the peeping tom was gone, then left. The neighbor had it all taken care of a full three to four minutes before the police even got there. We never had another peeping tom again.

If you know what is good for you, don't visit my neighborhood after dark, for your own safety.

... I will thank you for being the door to door volunteer I no longer am. I will take your literature unless I have already picked it up from the Dem card table at the farmer's market. If it turns out that you are the actual candidate I will ask a few pertinent questions, see if we know the same people, but not hold you up. I will try to lift your spirits.

Look, we had a thread not so long ago where a couple of people let it be known that they went out of their way to give all precinct walkers sheer hell. The lowliest signature gatherers were to be grilled over a slow fire on the front porch.

I'm a Dem. I want Dems to win. During the primary campaign I want to distinguish among people competing for the same office, but during the general election I want to know one thing: Is the candidate a Democrat? If they want to be a Green fine, as long as they register as and run as a Democrat. In the case of Democratic incumbents, if someone wants to primary them that person better walk on water and have a better reason than "I didn't get my pony last time." The incumbent Dem the challenger wants to unseat better be corrupt past hope and/or visibly senile, because I sure as hell don't want to risk an otherwise safe seat and all the seniority that goes with it.

I am getting old and cranky as hell, and I have no patience left for people who want to suppress the vote, split the party, toss Blue Dogs out of Red districts, and otherwise cause the Democratic Party to continue to be a minority in the US House of Representatives and lose more governorships to outright fascists. We can work with Green Dems on common ground; we can work with Blue Dogs who contribute to our having a majority, which means we get to choose the Speaker of the House; we can work with just about anybody with a D after their name, but we can't work with the lunatic fringe of the GOP or the radical right wing of the GOP. Republican centrists and pragmatists and those who know the art of compromise are hiding under a rock these days, hiding from the monsters they created or ignored too long. I will not stand for risking the GOP gaining more power just so some on the left can feel self-righteous and pure. Stand with us and help or get out of the way.

>ahem< >cough<

Have a nice day! (because we seem to get our precinct walkers mostly during the day on weekends, not at night)

Hekate

in an instant whether this is a real jerk or just somebody who's grumpy after having had a rough day. There's no upside to responding in kind: it's not my house, so I make every effort to scoot pleasantly

Sometimes I'll be left with an impression the person had hoped for more of a reaction from me, than I gave, and is a bit at a loss when I just apologize for the intrusion while heading away

Democracy's not a spectator sport. Folk who want progressive government should do what they can to get such government. We can't beat the voter suppression efforts without counter-efforts of our own -- and that requires voter contact

is this understood?

I offer a few glossy campaign prints and, if you need it, an early voting schedule off my clipboard

during the day. I don't like door knocks after dark, so I don't knock on doors after dark.

Most canvassing that drops lit does it by day so people coming back and getting their mail will naturally collect it. Night is reserved for phone calling when presumably most people, those with landlines enumerated on poll information, are available. That may be because of my own experience. Bolder folk who knock on doors, I don't know their hours and the poll info and Union membership usually directs them to GOTV efforts not debating the other side(time wasted even if one vote is turned?).

In my experience people are unusually polite considering. The hot button people usually have one issue they fortress behind. The experience of GOP workers would be interesting, probably similar, with reversed hot button experience.

The whackos of course will never give up fear and hate as their personal norm, their projection. I'd rather be visited by one of the Xian nut groups who don't intend much real world harm and whose underlying supposition that they are trolling the damned doesn't always create overt bad manners.

I can assume that people who talk like this about guns will produce the odd one or two who will carry guns in hostile(the majority) neighborhoods. This should make answering the door at all in some states a further act of courage.

unless it's family. I also have a 'no soliciting' sign near the door. It works sometimes...

to electioneering

We don't, and plenty of people with 'no soliciting' signs spend time chatting with me

I rarely answer knocks at my door during the day. All of the folk I want to see or talk to always call before coming over.

That's how I can tell not to answer the door.