October 31, 2008 - 20:08

Parties reaching out to last minute voters

Both major political parties in New Hampshire are organizing efforts to reach undecided voters and make sure their get out to the polls.

Kathy Sullivan, former New Hampshire Democratic Party chairwoman, and Jim Merrill, a Republican consultant, said get-out-the vote efforts have become more sophisticated since 2002, when the Republicans launched their "72 hour program."

"I thought we had a good effort in 2002, but this effort is far superior," Sullivan said. "The New Hampshire Democratic Party's Coordinated has a 96 hour program for these final days that is contacting voters in person, by mail and by phone to remind our Id's voters to come out on Tuesday and to convince anyone who is still undecided that if they are looking for a new change, then please support Obama, Lynch, Shaheen, Hodes, CSP and the rest of our ticket."

Compared to 2002 Merrill called the Republican outreach "more systematic."

"Every successive election cycle GOTV and voter outreach has become more sophisticated, more well-organized, more complex and I think that's true here [in New Hampshire]," Merrill said. "The methods used and the methodology used are more systematic than it was six years ago and the intensity on top of that I think is much more significant."

Colin Van Ostern, director of the NHDP's coordinated campaign, said that this year's GOTV exceeds any other year.

"The amount of volunteers we have is truly phenomenal," Van Ostern told reporters on a conference call.

Van Ostern said that the campaign has 1 volunteer for every 68 votes it would take to gain 51 percent of the vote. The Secretary of State is predicting that 750,000 people will turn out to vote on Tuesday.

Brian Lawson is a PolitickerNH.com Reporter and can be reached via email at noreply@politicker.com.

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