In Arizona, Kamala Harris volunteers battle overwhelming heat and voter confusion [View all]

PHOENIX — If Kamala Harris wins the critical battleground state of Arizona, where polls say she’s currently trailing, it will be because a small army of volunteers nudged people like Arturo Aguirre Vincent to vote.

He’s 32, works as a cook at a local restaurant and has never voted. But as the sun was setting in his south Phoenix neighborhood where there are no streetlights, Jessicka, a volunteer with an organization called Seed the Vote, knocked on his door and spoke to Aguirre Vincent in his native Spanish about his voting plans.

Initially he was noncommittal, and he seemed only vaguely aware of who the candidates were. But after 15 minutes of chatter on his doorstep, where he stood shirtless with two tattoos in the shape of red puckered lips adorning his chest, Aguirres said he would vote for “Kamala.” Jessicka, a California resident who asked that her last name not be used because of previous online harassment she’s experienced, took a selfie with him and texted him the address where he could drop off his ballot. He promised to text back a photo of him sporting an “I voted” sticker after he cast his ballot, a way for volunteers to keep in touch with potential voters.

Seed the Vote is chasing tens of thousands of voters like Aguirre Vincent. If even a fraction of them back Harris, it could provide the difference in a state that Joe Biden won by 10,432 votes four years ago and where Donald Trump is leading by two points in the latest New York Times poll.




https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/arizona-volunteer-kamala-harris-19824133.php