Democrats Push Mail-In Ballots to Recruit Voters

Double Rock Baptist Church Pastor Joseph Holmes never mixes politics with religion in his services, but on Sunday he made an exception for Democratic officials who arrived with armloads of absentee ballot applications for his Compton congregation.

“This application is better than money in the bank--it’s the future of your children,” City Councilwoman Patricia Moore told the 1,000 church members shortly before Holmes delivered his own sermon. “Please fill it out and give it back to us.”

In a major bid to get out the minority vote in the heart of heavily Democratic Los Angeles, campaigners promoting absentee voting visited more than 75 South Los Angeles churches to instruct people how to fill out the applications and then “vote in the comfort of your own home by mail,” Moore said.

Absentee voters are traditionally conservative and Republican, and the Democratic effort to generate new votes in poor and minority communities is an attempt to counter that trend.

Democratic political leaders believe working-class blacks were all but forgotten in the 1982 election for governor between George Deukmejian and Tom Bradley, which Deukmejian won by 93,345 votes.

They are determined not to make the same mistake in the Nov. 6 gubernatorial contest between Democrat Dianne Feinstein and Republican Sen. Pete Wilson.

“Our community was taken for granted without any effort to get out the vote by those supporting Bradley. Compton alone could have generated 50,000 votes,” Moore said. “We are here for Dianne Feinstein and every other Democratic candidate.”

Since the law changed in 1976, registered voters can request an absentee ballot without explanation. Before, voters had to prove that they were not ambulatory or were going out of the state on election day.

Now, Democrats are viewing absentee ballots as a way of helping people whose days are consumed by long hours at work and other pressures in communities like Compton, where 47% of all males between the ages of 18 and 35 are unemployed, Moore said.

The applications handed out at churches Sunday were attached to a flyer emblazoned with a slogan tailored for otherwise apathetic black voters: “If Nelson Mandela had the right to vote, he would. . . . Vote Democratic for all offices.”

“It’s a fact that on Election Day in black communities people find a thousand reasons for not going out to vote,” said Basil Kimbrew, who, with Moore, was spearheading the absentee ballot drive among “captive audiences” in South Los Angeles churches. “Our goal is to target occasional voters and turn out 400,000 additional votes in the process.”

Among those who filled out an application at the Compton church was Kerry Island, 31, who did not vote in the last election, even though the poll was located “just around the corner” from his Compton home.

“It’s a struggle just to take care of my family on odds and ends jobs,” said Island, who hasn’t been able to find a steady job in three years. “If we get enough people to vote maybe it won’t be so rough out here.”

Willie Simpley, 23, of Long Beach, said the absentee ballot he expects to mail in November will be “the first time I’ve voted.”

“I don’t have a car, so it is kind of hard to get around,” said Simpley, a receiving clerk who rides a bicycle to work each day.

Holmes said that although he is “adversely against politicians interfering in the morning worship hour,” he agreed to let Moore and Kimbrew speak to his congregation largely because “Pat Moore is a believer who comes to church whether she is campaigning or not.” Beyond that, he said, “it is important to counter the apathy that permeates our community.”

No sooner had Holmes concluded a fiery sermon on “A Satisfied Soul” than Kimbrew positioned himself at the front door and asked every person leaving the wood and stucco church building, “Have you filled out your application? It only takes a minute.”

By Sunday night, he said, “We collected 575 applications at Double Rock, and more than 4,500 at all the other churches.”