Calling for Fairness: Phone Banking Against Indiana’s Early Redistricting Push

What began as my first experience with phone banking quickly became a reminder of how deeply Hoosiers care about fair maps. In a virtual room of volunteers, I saw how one conversation at a time can push back against gerrymandering.

On Tuesday, November 4th, I attended my first virtual Phone Banking Against Gerrymandering event hosted by the Indiana Democratic Party. Executive Director Dayna Colbert hosted the virtual event on Zoom and welcomed attendees, including Indiana State Rep. Chris Campbell (D-26). After a quick tutorial on how to use the secure calling and texting tool—which kept our personal numbers private—we jumped right in, reaching out to strong Democrats across Indiana to raise awareness about early redistricting efforts.

With a simple provided script and automatic dialing system, it was easier than expected to connect with voters. Once someone answered, the tool provided us their name and a series of guided prompts regarding the issues with this early redistricting push. Depending on the conversation, we could then have the tool send them a text with their State Senator's information.

Every conversation reaffirmed one thing: gerrymandering hurts Hoosiers and our democracy. Of the people I spoke with, several were very interested in contacting their State Senator and quite a few others had already reached out about this issue.

Want to get involved? Come join me at one of the upcoming Phone Banking Against Gerrymandering events! We’ll meet virtually and work together to make sure Hoosiers know what’s at stake and how they can take action.

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Isabelle is a HamCo Dems volunteer, diligently leading the Fishers Dems – Legislative & Lobbying subcommittee, contributing to the HamCo Dems Weekend Update and Blog, and supporting candidates around the county. You can learn more about volunteering at hamcodemsin.org/action.