Posted on 02/04/2012 6:53:17 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Very, very good e-mail lists — and an internal debate over whether to use them. “I'm getting really tired of the ads for Romney campaign trips coming from this list serve,” writes one young Mormon.
LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- At Mitt Romney’s first rally here earlier this week, there were plenty of hints that the enthusiastic crowd of 1,000 was stacked with Mormons. Kids walked around in BYU sweatshirts, moms chatted about LDS youth groups, and at least one supporter was overheard talking about making phone calls for the candidate as part of "family home evening" -- a weekly family night the church encourages its members to hold.
But while it's no secret that Romney's coreligionists have swelled the ranks at campaign stops from Des Moines to Reno, one question about the Mormon vote has gone largely unanswered this primary season: How, exactly, have they gotten so organized?
"We heard about it from some friends in our [LDS] ward," said one woman standing outside a rally held in a Las Vegas hotel supply warehouse. "We're so glad we could make it." Another Mormon standing nearby chimed in, "Everyone we know is voting for Mitt!"
The secret to the grassroots success lies, in part, in the unique national structure and scrupulous record-keeping of the Utah-headquartered Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While the church itself is politically neutral, it contains the structural groundwork for one of the most organized and effective voting blocs in the country—something Romney is poised to capitalize on.
Here’s how it works
In contrast with most other religions in the country, the Mormon Church is nationally organized in a strict, top-down fashion, like a corporation. Every congregation in the U.S. reports back to church headquarters in Salt Lake. Whenever an individual is baptized -- either as a child or as a convert -- local ministers take down the person’s name, address, phone number, and e-mail address, and feed the information into a national database maintained by officials in Salt Lake (and only accessible to certain church leaders).
From there, the individuals are assigned to geographically-determined congregations -- or “wards” -- of about 200-300, which they attend on Sundays. Their contact information is filtered into a local “ward list,” which is distributed to all local congregants for planning purposes--from coordinating Sunday school, to working out the logistics for church barbeques.
For decades, these ward lists were printed out and distributed after Sunday services, but in recent years the system has migrated online to LDS.org, where Mormons create logins to access the contact information for every fellow believer in the area.
For active Mormons, wards often become the center of their social universe: it’s not uncommon for members to visit their local chapels three or four times a week for various activities and meetings. Additionally, Mormons participate in “home and visiting teaching” programs, which require them to visit certain ward members on a monthly basis. In this context, ward lists become invaluable tools for Mormons’ daily life—inevitably finding their way into Google groups, listservs, and cell phones.
They also frequently become political tools.
Working the wards
The church expressly forbids using these directories for non-religious purposes, but that doesn’t deter many politically active Mormons from working their ward lists to get out the vote. Reports abound of members blasting out congregational e-mails soliciting support for partisan causes and candidates. One Southern California ward received several e-mails urging congregants to vote for an LDS politician running for local office. And in nastier example of the practice, ward lists in Alpine, Utah were used to spread an anonymous smear campaign against a candidate on the eve of a local election.
Several Mormons told BuzzFeed that as the 2012 primaries heated up, they started to see their fellow congregants use ward lists to organize local efforts for Romney.
Here in Nevada, Ryan Erwin, a consultant for the Romney campaign, acknowledged that the candidate has benefitted from grassroots efforts by Latter-day Saints, and said the campaign is proud of their support. But he also thinks the Mormon factor has been overstated.
“Mormons make up seven percent of the population here,” Erwin said. “If you read some of the reports in the media, you’d think it was 90 percent… it’s a little aggravating when you’ve worked for months to build up an organization and then they say, ‘Well, he just won it because he’s a Mormon.’”
That said, exit polls in 2008 showed that about 25 percent of Nevada caucus-goers self-identified as Mormon -- and Romney won that primary handily. This time around, polling indicates that he’s headed for a similarly dominant victory, and if it happens, local Latter-day Saints will no doubt deserve a chunk of the credit.
Much like how Iowa’s Christian home-school vote advanced its own grassroots efforts for Mike Huckabee largely independently of his campaign, there’s no evidence that Team Romney is officially coordinating with Mormon congregations. But anecdotal evidence suggests that a highly motivated base of Mormon supporters has effectively taken advantage of the LDS infrastructure to help Romney.
The Colonial First Ward listserv
One of the most illustrative examples is the Colonial First Ward listserv, which consists of more than 3,500 D.C.-area Mormons, many of them young and single.
E-mails obtained by BuzzFeed show the listserv being used frequently as a recruiting tool for Romney supporters -- gathering signatures to get the candidate on the Delaware ballot, requesting volunteers to aid the campaign’s Illinois operation, and organizing a get-out-the-vote trip to South Carolina on the weekend of the primary.
The fruits of that last effort were obvious on the ground in Columbia, S.C., where dozens of young Mormon students from Virginia and D.C. were found rallying for Romney at various campaign stops.
But not everyone on the listserv has looked kindly upon efforts to transform the network into a booster club for Romney, and a number of members have e-mailed complaints.
Matt Larsen, a member of the listserv, wrote last October: “I know I’m probably going to make enemies here, but I’m getting really tired of the ads for Romney campaign trips coming from this list serve. The disclaimer at the bottom of every list serve email states very clearly: ‘Items that will not be posted/that will be removed include: promoting your business, promoting political ideologies, and inflammatory comments and rhetoric.’”
The protests appear to have been ignored though, with members continuing to send out e-mails as recently as last month that requested volunteer help for Romney.
“The Colonial First Ward listserv seems to be a miraculous pro-Romney organizing tool,” grumbled one D.C.-area Mormon, who is a Democrat. “Whenever you get the contact information for 3,540 young Mormons in one place, I guess it has to be.”
“Look around, there are many more around here who agree with me than with you.”
I’m glad you have lots of friends who are willing to pick “approved religions”. it’s wrong, no matter how many of you there are.
“I call it as it is, you are claiming I am anti-American yet you are the one trying to silence us.”
Really I am trying to silence you? How? You ARE anti-American to the extent that you think certain religions are not fit to run for office because of those religious beliefs.
I know you use a nuanced argument against that - but you’re wrong. Our Constitution does not specify freedom of religion except for.....
“Fail on your part, big time.”
Keep patting yourself on the back. You’re still wrong.
typical engineer answer
“typical engineer answer”
Thank you.
Fail time RF. So you think a radical muslim is fit to run for office?
I know you use a nuanced argument against that - but you’re wrong. Our Constitution does not specify freedom of religion except for.....
Study it a little before making such foolish statements. The religion test ONLY applies to laws banning a candidate based only on religion. That does not apply to the citizenry in general who can use what ever standard they see fit. For you to say otherwise to denigrate that FREEDOM is antiamerican.
The Constitution does not prohibit any citizen from using any criteria they want when choosing a candidate.
“Fail time RF. So you think a radical muslim is fit to run for office? “
It doesn’t matter what you think or I think. If they meet the Constitutional criteria to run for office, they can, under the Constitution. You do understand that, don’t you?
“The religion test ONLY applies to laws banning a candidate based only on religion.”
And that’s what your crew is saying on this very thread.
“That does not apply to the citizenry in general who can use what ever standard they see fit.”
Who objected to this? Certainly not me.
“For you to say otherwise to denigrate that FREEDOM is antiamerican.”
I didn’t say that. It’s your team that says that Mormons - simply for the act of being mormon should not be running for office. You’ve found the problem, and it’s your friends.
Fail, indeed.
“The Constitution does not prohibit any citizen from using any criteria they want when choosing a candidate.”
Of course not. Who said it did? Not me.
Why did you post this to me? This isn’t about Mormonism, and I’m not Mormon.
as well as elsewhere- catch up with the world RF
Who objected to this? Certainly not me.
Right, only apart from accusing everyone who chose to apply that criteria antiAmerican and a liberal
It’s your team that says that Mormons - simply for the act of being mormon should not be running for office. You’ve found the problem, and it’s your friends.
There you go again. You just contradicted yourself. You are objecting to citizens using what ever standard they choose - to which you said Who objected to this? Certainly not me.
Yep, fail RF - inconsistant in your own words.
“Yep, fail RF - inconsistant in your own words.”
No. You want to choose approved religions, I don’t.
If you wish to use whatever criteria you wish to use in the voting booth, that is your choice as a free American.
However, if you wish to say, as you have, that someone who meets the Constitutional requirement for running for office who happens to be a member of one of your unapproved religions is not fit to run for office - then that is repugnant and un-American.
You reek of your own fail.
Just because you have friends who are equally deluded as you does not make you right. You are most certainly wrong.
It is not wrong or UN-American to vote my conscience, it is however both for you to try to keep me from doing so.
I never said they couldn’t RUN for office, I’m saying I will never VOTE for them and even then the list is small (pseudo-Christian cults and Muslims).
It isn’t a ‘nuanced argument’, it is what the Constitution says, not your interpretation of the Constitution.
Again, it is not wrong to vote my conscience. At least I have one. You however, are wrong to try to get me to violate my conscience and my religious beliefs.
Nah, real engineers make sense this one doesn’t.
Too much work.
I'd rather pick up tidbits from all the stuff MORMONism has produced over the years.
It seems to trash itself.
“It is not wrong or UN-American to vote my conscience, it is however both for you to try to keep me from doing so.”
Nobody said that, you twit.
“I never said they couldn’t RUN for office, I’m saying I will never VOTE for them and even then the list is small (pseudo-Christian cults and Muslims).”
Really? Well your friends have. Why don’t you help me correct their unAmerican views?
“Again, it is not wrong to vote my conscience. At least I have one. You however, are wrong to try to get me to violate my conscience and my religious beliefs.”
You can keep repeating this, but I never said you should not vote as you wish.
It is your intolerant friends who ignore the Constitution.
We’re making progress here.
Just like my experience with the Book of MORMON, I prayed about Bigfoot and have been assured by the Holy Spirit that he is REAL!!
--MormonDude(I don't know why Moroni misidentified him in the BoM)
How am I ignoring the Constitution?
Where have they said that Mormons or anyone else can’t run. Prove it, liar. Show me the posts.
You keep saying that I am being un-American for refusing to vote for a Mormon. You can’t even keep your story straight.
TR my BUTT!
Y'all best have PLURAL wives; according to BY!
FR's version of March Madness!
“How am I ignoring the Constitution?”
I’ll take your word, rather than check the entire thread.
However, your friend used the blatant example of a Radical Muslim running for office. As offensive as Radical Islam is, if that person wishes to run for office and is otherwise Constitutionally eligible, YES....they can run for office under the Constitution. It’s that simple. Your friends disagree. They also include Mormons, and I’m sure they have a list of other unapproved religions - I mean why stop at just a couple?
Are you on their side, or the side of the Constitution?
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