With party conventions wrapped and presidential nominations officially confirmed, local party officials are setting their sights on November 3rd. However, in an election year marred by a global pandemic, socio-political unrest, and widespread accusations of both voter fraud and voter suppression, election preparation this year is anything but normal.
As County Chair of the McLennan County Democratic party, Mary Duty already had a laundry list of responsibilities.
"Some days you're a cheerleader, some days you're envelope stuffers. Some days you're the person that's organizing lists to go walk blocks or make phone calls. It's just a lot of stuff that goes on - you do everything," she said.
This year, her main focus has been ensuring that everyone has the ability to vote - and vote safely.
"We're responsible for helping pull off a safe and fair election, and so we've got responsibilities to the voter that transcend the fact that we're a part of a party," said Duty.
According to Mary, one of the greatest challenges to this access this year is misinformation.
"The data on mail-in ballots is good, but we're having to counter a lot of narratives coming from higher up that ballot by mail is fraudulent and people are just, you know, making copies of ballots and handing them out, which they're not. And then you have to fight that perception."
Mary's solution?
"Education, education, education. We printed 15,000 pieces of material to give to voters by either hanging them on their door, or they can pick it up at a convenience store, that talk about what you need to do. We have people making phone calls. We have people sending text messages. We're contacting our voters through social media and through conventional means," she said.
According to Dr. Brad Holland, the chairman of the McLennan County Republican party, the shift to virtual campaigning has been a vital part of the party's strategy this year.
"We've gone to a little bit more of a virtual approach to reaching voters, trying to do things more electronically. Of course, social media always just continues to be more important in each election, but especially this one," he said.
Though traditional campaigning isn't possible due to the pandemic, the party has sought out creative ways to continue to engage local voters in person as well.
"Well, this is the height of campaign season, and of course candidates should be in the process of shaking hands and kissing babies and holding rallies and and block walking. And every single one of those is affected by COVID-19, such that it becomes either impossible or more difficult. We don't have big campaign rallies, but we are having a rally coming up in September, and that rally will be an in-your-car parking lot rally. We have drive through voter registration drives. We are trying to go more and more to businesses and to where people are instead of having big events for ourselves," said Holland.
Also paramount to both parties' plans for this election season: involving young people in the voting process.
"We have put out a plea for younger vote clerks and younger workers to come and sort of bear the burden for us, since the older folks are having trouble. And we put in a list of 30 or 35 people under the age of 30, and and some of them are actually high school age - 19, 20 - and they're all ready to go," said Duty.
Ultimately, both parties share a through line in their message to voters this year: the importance of participation. Vote in person if you're able. Vote by mail if you qualify. And take the precautions necessary to ensure that the process is safe for everyone.
"We intend to have a very safe and secure way of voting in person, if a person chooses to vote in person. But that requires a lot of work and we are having extra percautions taken such that the process of voting doesn't have to be a health risk for anybody. And we have no evidence that anybody contracted COVID-19 because of the process of voting, so if there's one thing you hear me say, its that the process of voting in person will be safe and secure, and we encourage those people who are able to do so, and do so safely," said Holland.
With KWBU News, I'm Sam Cedar.