If I seem to take part in politics, it is only because politics encircles us today like the coil of a snake from which one cannot get out, no matter how much one tries. I wish therefore to wrestle with the snake.
Mahatma Gandhi
Nothing quite makes one feel like they’re being constricted by the biggest snake in the world than living in a so-called “swing state” and being bombarded pretty much continuously by hideous mailers full of negative advertising containing gross distortions of truth if not outright lies stuffing one’s post box, spam texts from political campaigns, advertisements on TV and on the web via YouTube or social media, and worst of all…the dreaded visit by the partisan extremists ringing the doorbell.
So if you’re of a mind to bemoan the fact that seven states including North Carolina had the only meaningful votes in the presidential election, do keep in mind that there are decided advantages to being ignored and left alone by extremely well-funded national campaigns!
Mind you, all of the electioneering and canvassing activity I’ll describe below had absolutely *ZERO* chance of swaying my vote *FOR* a particular candidate.
As far as I’m concerned, any advertising or other contacts funded by a political party, campaign, or political action committee is 100% bovine faeces and of no use whatsoever in determining the qualifications and fitness of a political candidate for the office they wish to inhabit.
However, assaulting me with persistent negative and nasty advertising in whatever medium the campaign chooses is likely to influence me to give their competitors more of a look than I ordinarily would. Sadly, most modern political campaigns go negative quickly because that’s what sells advertising and studies have consistently shown that sort of campaign can move the needle.
Indeed, other than the mailers for the local candidates and get-out-the-vote drives, the vast majority of contact from the campaigns was with material that was very negative to the other candidate and off-putting at best and nauseating more often than not.
OG Spam Clogging Up The Postbox!
I’d decided that I’d conduct an experiment and track how much spam was stuffed into my post box or hung on the door during this election cycle.
I’ve broken it down by party affiliation (Republican, Democrat, and municipal candidates that are theoretically non-partisan) and whether it arrived prior to taking advantage of early in-person voting or after Nick and I had already voted.
| Sender | Principal | Addressee | Format | Before Voting | After Voting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NC Republican Party | Me | Mailer | 12 | ||
| Alex | Mailer | 4 | 3 | ||
| Me and Alex | Mailer | 5 | |||
| Household | Mailer | 4 | |||
| America PAC | Elon Musk | Household | Hang Tag | 2 | 1 |
| Nick | Mailer | 2 | |||
| Alex | Mailer | 1 | |||
| Securing American Greatness | Taylor Budowich | Household | Mailer | 5 | |
| Duty To America PAC | Cabell Hobbs | Nick | Mailer | 1 | |
| TOTALS | 36 | 4 |
| Sender | Principal | Addressee | Format | Before Voting | After Voting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NC Democratic Party | Me | Mailer | 4 | 1 | |
| Household | Mailer | 1 | 2 | ||
| Household | Hang Tag | 1 | |||
| Planned Parenthood Votes (S. Atlantic) | Sue Jackson | Alex | Mailer | 2 | |
| Voting Matters NC | Alex | Mailer | 1 | ||
| We All Vote | Alex | Mailer | 1 | ||
| Voter Participation Centre | Tom Lopach | Nick | Mailer | 3 | |
| Progressive Turnout Project | Harry Pascal | Alex | Mailer | 1 | |
| Fair Courts Now | Nick | Mailer | 1 | ||
| TOTALS | 9 | 9 |
| Sender | Principal | Addressee | Format | Before Voting | After Voting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comm. to Elect Jonathan Melton | Me | Mailer | 2 | 1 | |
| Janet Cowell for Mayor | Me | Mailer | 3 | ||
| TOTALS | 2 | 4 |
The overall volume of mailings/hang tags was comparable to what I remember from the 2016 and 2020 elections when North Carolina was also considered a swing state for the presidential election but it’s still a staggering amount of postage wasted for a vote none of the parties would get through this medium.
It was clear who was really relying on sheer volume of negative advertising with the Republicans maintaining a more than 2:1 advantage in that department.
Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Carry Your Phone…
I had thought about tracking the volume of junk texts which was way higher than it was in previous years as the campaigns are figuring out that text messages are exceptionally cheap to blast at the unsuspecting electorate!
I gave up for two reasons:
- It was a rare day I didn’t get at least five spam texts.
- Nicholas apparently thought it a wonderful idea to use my phone number in forms he was filling out so I ended up getting his spam text usually a few minutes before the same spam text would arrive with my name on it. The “personalisation” was accurate for the most part though when their software got the name wrong, it was usually *HORRIBLY WRONG*.
Naturally, there’s precious little you can do to stop the deluge of spam texts to your phone. Political texts are exempt from the FTC’s national “Do Not Call Registry”, the enforcement of which is generally toothless at the best of times.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) requires that political texts to mobile phones get “prior express consent” before sending them but I have yet to see this happen since the TCPA came into force in 1991.
Campaigns found a huge loophole that texts sent manually do not require prior consent under the TCPA and more than a few of the spam texts were worded as if it were coming from an individual. That may well be true for all I know but technology can also fake those texts and illegally use a robotext application to blast it out to millions of numbers cheaply and without much chance of enforcement action from the FTC or FCC.
Most of the texts did include the required “opt-out” mechanism (such as replying with “STOP”) in their wording but funny enough, a reporter actually did that and ended up with 100 more spam texts for their trouble!
Sadly, unless you’re willing to pay for a more sophisticated call blocking mechanism, about all you can do is delete and mark it as a junk text. However, with source telephone numbers easily spoofed and disguised, it’s a battle that the consumer cannot win.
The good news is that the FCC is at least looking at rules to implement blocking junk calls and texts at the carrier level rather than relying on consumers to identify when they’ve been spammed. It’ll be interesting to see if they’re any more effective against constantly changing technology and/or use of offshore spamming operations that are generally beyond the reach of US law than previous rule making and enforcement efforts.
There was one bright spot this election cycle…
“If there’s one thing people love, more than someone appearing randomly at their door once, it’s that same f*cking person coming back two or three times to talk politics. Even though everyone from vacuum salesmen to Jehovah’s Witnesses know that’s a losing strategy; in fact, they’ve known that for decades. Let’s just spend a quarter of a billion dollars on it. You know what Democrats should do? Whatever money is left over, send those same people back to those voters’ doors and just knock again during dinner and when the homeowner comes to the door go, ‘What the f*ck Scott? I thought we connected.’”
Jon Stewart – “The Daily Show” (11 Nov 2024)
I do have to admit that the number of canvassers dropped off dramatically in 2024 compared to 2020 and 2016, at least here at The Nerdery.
And no, there’s not a claymore mine mounted to the front door and wired to the doorbell.
At least not now…I’m thinking of ordering a kit from Amazon.
Seriously, there were only five total that I’m actually aware of:
- One of the candidates for the Raleigh city council was in the process of putting a flyer on the mailbox as I’d just pulled into the garage after running an errand. I actually ended up talking to him and he seemed a decent enough gent with common-sense ideas and the ability to think on his feet (unlike John Tedesco a few years ago when I had some fun interrogating him outside the polling place in Garner and making him look a complete fool!). I did promise him my vote and I did follow through though in hindsight I wish I’d warned the poor guy that my vote is usually the kiss of death for the average candidate. Not that it would have mattered against the well-funded incumbent he had no chance of unseating but at least the conversation was pleasant enough. Hopefully he’ll run again and if so, that’ll be the hard choice to make as to whether I should doom the poor guy’s candidacy with my vote… 😉
- A super cute and adorable red-headed 20 year-old young lady with impeccable manners and a curiosity about my views of our soon to be banished Lt Governor who can go back to his dubious websites and message boards as I don’t see any way his career is ever going to be rehabilitated. I have no doubts she was as pleased with the results of the North Carolina gubernatorial contest as I was on election night. 🙂
- Three canvassers shilling for the Trump campaign, one of which was African-American and another was Latino (both of which seemed surprising at the time but the data after the election results was tabulated showed a remarkably increased amount of support amongst both groups for Mr Trump against what one might have expected). I generally didn’t bother engaging with them but Mistletoe and Mocha were more than happy to serenade them with a very loud duet in conversational Labradoodle when they were available.
There were a couple of more hang tags that showed up on the door when I wasn’t here but I have no idea who deposited them.
The blissful sound of silence!
As you’d expect, the political spam volume dropped off a cliff on election day and I can assure you it hasn’t been missed in the slightest!
We’ll be back to the usual useless people from Rectum, the solar scammers, and the occasional Jehovah’s Witnesses.
I can assure you that any randos that turn up at the door have a better than average chance of a very loud and enthusiastic duet as I turn back to doing literally anything that’d be more interesting than talking to them! 🙂