FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 21, 2013
CONTACT: Ana Beatriz Cholo, abeatriz@calicalls.org, 312-927-4845 (cell)

California Calls Contacts 101,811 Voters about Affordable Care Act — 25% of Young Voters Agree to Sign Up

LOS ANGELES – Of the 101,811 voters contacted between October 14 to November 10 during a statewide grassroots outreach campaign on the Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA), young voters were the most likely to sign up than any of the other age groups contacted, according to a report released by California Calls today.

During the four-week period, 1,000 grassroots canvassers working for California Calls, an alliance of 31 community-based organizations located in 12 rural, suburban and urban counties, spread out across the state knocking on doors and calling voters in a campaign designed to inform and educate voters about the Affordable Care Act.

  • Data collected during phone banking and door-to-door canvassing showed 20,649 people statewide said they planned to sign up for the new healthcare insurance marketplace.
  • One out of four of voters contacted were aged 18-34.
  • Out of the 101,811 voters contacted, 77,483 — 76% of the voters contacted — said they support the Affordable Care Act.

Recent news reports point to a surge in enrollment in California the first two weeks of November.

“In-person contact is critical to the success of enrolling Californians in health coverage,” said Daniel Zingale a senior vice president at The California Endowment, which helped support California Calls’ outreach effort. “We commend grassroots organizations like California Calls that are committed to informing Californians about the Affordable Care Act. Their canvassers spent hours tirelessly walking to thousands of households to ensure that community members have accurate information about the new health law and how it affects them. These efforts will go a long way in helping Californians get enrolled into health coverage.”

In Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, canvassers used a smart phone canvassing tool that saved time and allowed canvassers to collect data at the door while tracking responses in real time. Local member organizations also plan to send lists of voters who showed interest in signing up to local community centers.

Communities for a New California Education Fund and the Dolores Huerta Foundation, California Calls’ member organizations based in the rural counties of Kern, Fresno and Riverside showed strong support for the Affordable Care Act with 13,985 voters contacted at the door or by phone and, of that number, 65% stating support for the new health care law, and 2,869 planning to sign up.

“The myth is Fresno County continues to be a conservative county,” said Pablo Rodriguez, executive director of Communities for a New California Education Fund, a California Calls member organization based in the Coachella and Central Valley. “A lot of people assume folks here hold anti-government views which prevent interest and support for the Affordable Care Act, but we found different attitudes. Our phone bankers and canvassers live in the neighborhoods we phonebanked and canvassed and found strong support. We are talking to voters about pocketbook issues not only affecting their families but ours as well. So we have firsthand experience about the importance and need for the Affordable Care Act.”

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 California Calls is a growing alliance of 31 grassroots, community-based organizations spanning urban, rural and suburban counties across the state. We engage, educate and motivate new and infrequent voters among young people, from communities of color, and from poor and working class neighborhoods to make California’s electorate reflect our state’s diverse population. Through our bottom-up approach, we are organizing voters most impacted by budget cuts and deteriorating public services in support of systemic, progressive solutions to our state’s fiscal crisis. Working together, and including those who are often left out of policy decisions, we believe we can reclaim the California Dream of equality, opportunity and prosperity for all Californians.