Non-partisan group seeking voter input in Danville

Beginning their fifth week under a scorching sun, four interns and one volunteer with the Virginia Organizing Project walked the streets in a Danville neighborhood Monday afternoon in an effort to generate voter interest in health care reform.

The Virginia Organizing Project is a non-profit, non-partisan, Charlottesville-based group that has returned to Danville this summer to promote a variety of platforms, as well as increase voter registration. A team canvassed the city for the first time last year as part of the Summer Civic Engagement Project, and community organizer Tommy Roberts is back for another round of knocking on doors in the summer heat.

“What we do is we try to bring these community concerns that we hear to legislators to help understand the nature of the commu-nity’s problems,” said Roberts, who moved to Danville after graduating from the University of Virginia in May.

In addition to distributing voter’s guides and encouraging people to register to vote, the VOP’s main platforms this summer include health care reform, finding ways to combat obesity and working to restore felons’ voting rights.

When the interns and volunteers talk with residents, they ask what is the most pressing issue facing Danville residents. Common an-swers have been jobs and employment rather than health care reform.

“That’s a big problem,” said Danville resident Ricky Tabb at his home Monday afternoon.

Tabb said he was not registered to vote, but took a registration form from intern Emma Beneke and said he would look it over.

“It’s just something I never did,” Tabb said of registering.

Beneke also asked Tabb and others to rank, on a scale of one to five, the need for health care reform. Tabb said four. His next door neighbor said five. A man a few houses down said 99, on a scale of one to five.

“People are pretty responsive usually,” Beneke said. “Especially once we let them know we’re doing community assessment and our goal is to make positive change happen and empower people.”

Upon knocking on doors, Beneke and other interns identify themselves as VOP staffers and clarify that the VOP does not support any party or candidate. After discussing health care, they ask the residents to call Sen. Mark Warner and push for a public health care plan. The VOP staffers also invite anyone interested to a public meeting June 30 at the Danville Public Library to discuss health care reform.

Statewide, VOP interns will knock on 200,000 doors this summer and distribute 300,000 voter registration guides, according to Julie Blust, VOP communications director. The VOP partnered with 25 non-profit, non-partisan organizations to create the 2009 voter guide, which comprises 31 pages of information on a variety of issues.

“It’s probably the most effective way (to reach voters) period, not just in Danville,” said intern Chad Martin. “We actually go into the neighborhoods to ask what they need instead of just telling them what they need.”