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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels November 2, 2004 The Final ACT By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings Clifford Cain can't wait for the end of the day. A volunteer in America Coming Together's Ashland headquarters, Cain and his wife, Marian, have been working to get voters registered and to the polls on and off for about four months. Volunteer Gary Bodwin of California calls voters Monday from the Ashland ACT office. Bodwin says he'll be glad when the election is over because "it's time to move on." Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings "We are really looking forward to the end of [today]," Cain said. "Then it will just be the people at the polling stations working and not us." The 1956 Southern Oregon College (now SOU) graduate and his wife trekked from Runsey, Calif., population 54, last week to spend the final days of the election volunteering where there were more voters to reach. The couple has also donated their time to ACT in Reno. "I'm trying to keep the canvassers supplied with their needs," Cain said as he blacked out "mail" from "mail your ballot" on materials ACT canvassers were hanging on doorknobs around town. Marian was busy across the room, phoning registered voters who hadn't dropped off their ballots. All together, ACT hired about 80 people to canvass in Jackson County over the past two months. Countless volunteers have also streamed in and out of the office since the political action committee started getting organized with five employees at the end of the summer. "Some of them are just pumped," Steve Neuberger, the Jackson County ACT coordinator said. "They're motivated. We don't have anyone working here who's in it because it's just a job." ACT canvassers will continue to go door-to-door today, leaving doorhangers across town to remind folks ballots are due by 8 p.m. Volunteers will also keep phone lines busy as they urge people to return their ballots. "I'm tired, but I'm not burnt out," said ACT canvasser Lorenzo Santa Barbara. "I've developed a rhythm with the whole thing." This is the first election Santa Barbara has ever mobilized for. A Medford School District employee during the day, he has been canvassing in West Medford three nights a week for eight weeks. "I really don't want John Kerry to lose," Santa Barbara said. "It's real simple." ACT, though not affiliated with a political party or candidate, aims to defeat incumbent George Bush and elect progressives up and down the ticket. "It's extremely exciting," Cain said. "We race home and pull up all the polls online." Though confident in their efforts - ACT estimates election results for Jackson County will be quite different than the 13-point victory Bush recorded in 2000 - people don't feel like the election is sealed up for either candidate. "Wednesday could be a bit of a letdown," Santa Barbara said. "But this election is not going to end on Tuesday." For ACT, however, everything wraps up today regardless of the result. Wednesday morning, volunteers will begin taking the office apart and a five ACT employees will head to Portland for debriefing meeting and celebration sponsored by SEIU. "There's a sense of melancholy," Neuberger said. "We're tired, but excited. This is money time. This is the point where you win or lose elections. There is no time to be tired or exhausted." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams