Moving door-to-door, Autumn Hickman, asked Lawrence, Kan., residents what they thought the single most important issue facing their state and nation today was.
Yes, no, maybe, one man said before she could ask the question. Another didn't open the door. Hickman, Free State high school senior, didn't seem fazed. Either way she gets paid.
Hickman is one of five newly hired canvassers in Lawrence, 20 statewide, paid $7.25 per hour by the Kansas Democratic Party to campaign for its 2008 state legislative and presidential candidates. The Kansas Republican Party relies strictly on volunteers. Douglas County is expecting more voters, so it will increase poll workers on Election Day despite recent budget cuts, as a result.
Like all canvassers, Hickman, 17, works up to 20 hours per week registering voters and signing people up for absentee ballots. About 140 democratic canvassers are being hired statewide this year, up from 120 in 2006.
"I've only got seven," Hickman said, checking names off her voter-registration list. "But, it's only my first day."
Hickman, though pleased about earning more than minimum wage, said she hopes to help voters make more informed decisions about candidates at the state level as well as at the "top of the ticket," especially the undecided voters.
The party's statewide field director, Matthew Anderson, said talking up democratic candidates one-on-one is key to pulling more undecided voters for the party. About 27,046 Douglas County voters are registered as Independents, up from 21,718 registered Independents in 2004.
"Many people don't make their mind up until election," Anderson said.
Although democrats are hiring more campaign workers to reach voters, Craig Campbell, Kansas Republican Party chair, said the state party couldn't afford to do that. The state party usually pays 10 to 20 percent of its candidates' campaign expenses. The candidates' funds the rest; including advertising and other campaign expenses. The Democrats Party follows a similar model.
Campbell said the party hasn't historically hired people to work its campaigns. But he offered that the number of volunteers doubled this year to around 200, compared to 100 in 2006.
"We're not taking anything for granted," Campbell said. "We're still going to work hard."
Equally important in the business of political campaigning, is the way political candidates make their contribution dollars work for them in trying to reach voters.
Joe Gaylord, former expert GOP political strategist, said a successful campaign, should spend at least 65 to 70 percent of the candidate's contributions on "voter contact," including TV, radio and print advertisements. Still, he said, the best way to get a vote is to ask for it. He added that the candidate running must also be viable, have an organized campaign and have adequate finances to run the campaign.
According to the Federal Election Commission, democratic candidates for the Kansas House of Representatives have disbursed about $830,995 in the state compared to Republican candidates who spent $2,840,142. Candidates for the Senate have disbursed $897,717 compared to Republican Senate candidates who spent $1,993,054. Political candidates spend this money on everything from advertising to paid campaign staff.
"Winning campaigns don't rise like a Phoenix out of the ashes," Gaylord said. "There's some rock they're built on."
Keeping up with Kansas politicians' increased spending to entice voters to the polls, some local government agencies undergone budget expansions to manage the expected record voter turnout.
Douglas County clerk, Jamie Shew, said the clerk's office has also expanded its budget from $150,000 in 2006 to $175,000, for Election Day, in order to hire about 250 more poll workers this year. Shew said the intensive labor, supplies and workers needed to operate poll stations and machines, which will cost about $50,000 this year compared to $25,000 in 2006, are too important to cut. He also said because Douglas County is "paper-based," more than $15,000 has been budgeted, at .28 cents each for about 90,000 ballots. The population in Lawrence is more than 89,000 people.
He said poll workers, including data entry workers, poll station workers, election experts and "jacks-of-all-trades," will earn between $8.50 and $13 per hour, depending upon years of service and experience, up to 15 hours per day. They also earn $25 for first-time training.
"The turnout in November is going to be so huge, we have to have an increased number of poll workers," Shew said. "That's one of the last places I'd make cuts."
Julie Ybarra, Douglas County election worker coordinator, said she worried there wouldn't be enough poll workers by Election Day.
Ybarra also said the Douglas County Voting and Elections Division, had received only about 50 applications, so far. More than 600 are needed to work the poll stations in Lawrence this year. Ybarra added that few youth, ages 18 to 24, have applied.
"I'm recruiting them at my counter," Ybarra said. "If they fill out a voter registration form than I may look at them and say: do you want to be a poll worker?"
Still, for most people, the business of campaigns and elections is about more than money.
Benne Garcia, 23-year-old democratic canvasser, said getting voters to listen who normally wouldn't outweighed the financial benefits, but the money helped.
"It's good doing something and getting paid for it," Garcia said.
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