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Actually, there are rules (of thumb) about who's door to knock on... I'll give you the lowdown of how I did it, and it is largely the conventional wisdom of "knocking down doors" as the [politicians] call it in the inside circles...
The "walking lists" are generated from voter registration information. There is a lot of information there, including your name, address, birth date, phone number, and most importantly, your voting history. [Editor's note: the voting history only tracks when you voted. The registrar has no way of knowing who you voted for.]
The voting history is largely what drives the decision. Information is available for EVERY election and primary since the late 90's. If you voted, the registrar knows it and it comes with the data you get from them.
So, suppose you are walking down a street, and you've got a well sorted list (I've made dozens of these at this point - I was the geek who did it for the [Manchester Republicans] for the last 10 years or so)
[The list] will tell you for any given address, how many registered voters live there. In addition, you can see the party affiliation of every voter, along with their voting history. I would typically condense this information into the number of times [the person] voted in local, state, and federal elections. Again, primary [voting] information is there, but it isn't really necessary to figure out whether or not you want to knock on the door.
You'll see patterns emerge quickly as you walk down the street. For instance, there is the Presidential voter - this person will have voted in the last few Presidential elections, but never in a state or local election. If all the voters at the house fit this profile, it probably isn't worth your time knocking on that door. Why? Well, if they haven't voted in anything except a Presidential election, you probably aren't going to convince them otherwise. Especially in a local election year, where there are few/none national/state offices up for grabs... It's a bit egotistical to think that your charisma will change their minds.
To a lesser degree, you'll see the State/Presidential voter... they vote in even numbered years. They never vote in odd years, when local elections are held. It MIGHT be worth knocking their door down, and I will say that I've done that. It's still a crap shoot... they probably won't be going out to vote at all... so probably not worth your time.
Then there is the "Never Votes" voter. This is a little more complicated. If they are young, then this is understandable. I'll knock on that door. Also, you may find that the person isn't young, but still hasn't voted. For that you may want to look at the registration date on their registration... if it's recent, then they may have just moved in from out of state. (If they moved in-state, their records move with them) Again, worth knocking. However, if they are older, registered years ago, and haven't voted... well, they don't vote. This puts them into the category of the Presidential voter - probably not worth your time.
(Aside: I've talked to people who say that they vote in every election, swear by it in fact. I can see that they are lying in some cases. Very funny)
The pot o' gold is the voter that votes in EVERY election. You knock on that door regardless of party. It's ALWAYS worth your time to talk to a likely voter... If they are not in your party, say you're a Republican and they are a Democrat... if you can get them to vote for you, you've swung 2 votes - the one for you and the one the Democrats didn't get. Same holds true of the other way around.
So if your house has one or more people who ALWAYS vote, you knock on that door, no matter what. And it is interesting. When running as an Republican, I've met Democrat's who wouldn't think of voting for the Democrats. I've met Democrats who ran me off their property and told me I should be ashamed of myself for being an Republican. It runs the gambit. Same with Republicans... I've had them tell me I have their vote... and I've had them tell me they would NEVER vote for a Republican again... For those that haven't done it, knocking on doors is almost always fun in that something new will happen every year. I've met crazy people, people who want to know my views on abortion when I'm running for the [Board of Education], people who want me to privatize the whole thing... and the stories are incredible some times. Anyway, unless you've done it, you can't really appreciate how odd the whole experience can be. But mostly you meet nice people. And the largest subgroup I've met are folks who say something like, "Well, you knocked on my door, so I'll vote for you." One on one works.
You should also know that it matters WHERE you live. Do you live in a relatively flat neighborhood with lots of other voters where the houses are relatively close together? Your door will get knocked on if you vote. Do you live in billy goat country where the big houses grow? Don't count on me knocking on your door. I might call you instead. Do you live in a district that is predominantly my party? I'm more likely to knock. Do you live in a neighborhood that is flat and the houses are close, but nobody votes? You probably won't see me.
Knocking doors is both art and science... hopefully this gives you some idea of why someone knocks or they don't...
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The Silk City Independent would like to thank Mr. Edwards for giving the citizens of Manchester a peek in to one of the processes of running for a municipal office.
