Join the Minority

by Craig Wiesner - San Mateo Daily Journal - July 27, 2026

It struck me the other day that I am in a minority. Not because I’m
gay, Jewish, or a veteran, though I’m all of those. My minority status
is that I’ve actually volunteered on political campaigns, including
canvassing and phone banking. My first campaign was in Rockaway New
York when I was around 12. Back then I randomly walked through a
neighborhood, knocking on doors. My candidate won. By the time I
canvassed for Barack Obama in 2008, I had computerized sheets with
names and addresses of people the campaign had identified as
Democrats, likely Obama voters, and independents worth trying to
swing. The sheets were updated every few hours, so we knew if a
volunteer had already spoken to the voter or if they had voted.

In 2024, when I sat down at my home computer to phone bank and fired
up the application which would guide my calling, I had each person’s
name, address, phone number, party affiliation, and whether they had
voted in the last election, right on my screen. Curious, a few minutes
before my shift started, I opened another window and searched for my
own data. Yup. Someone could find out the same information about me
with just a few clicks. Lest you are worried, there is NO information
on how anyone actually voted. I headed back to the campaign app,
clicked start, and a name and phone number popped up, along with the
script tree that would guide me through a conversation when someone
picked up. In a two hour shift I had around three good conversations,
which, according to people in the know, was a great result.

According to Pew Research, around 16% of Americans have volunteered on a political campaign, a minority. Now, you might be wondering why
being among this minority dawned on me. Well, I watched the
president’s recent speech about elections and perused the documents
the White House posted which were meant to scare the heck out of
Americans about election integrity. The president ranted (yes, I’m
choosing that word) about China gaining access to “220 million voter
files.” WOW! You mean the same data that every campaign, political
party, volunteers like me, and YOU could get with a few mouse clicks?
Yup. He made it sound like some kind of nefarious deed, some horrible
intrusion, that might have “rigged” the elections, especially the one
he lost in 2020. The documents the president’s team shared said that
Russia had done similar deeds in past elections trying to get HIM
elected. OMG! Is he admitting that Russia Russia Russia was real? Yup.
The fact is there are many players domestically and abroad who want to
influence who wins elections here. The other fact is the president’s
team did not find a shred of evidence that any bad actors caused any
registrations or votes to be “flipped” or electronically changed.
None. The president’s own hand-picked election integrity “special
government employee,” John Solomon, confirmed that on camera from the White House lawn right after the speech, much, it appeared, to his
handler’s chagrin. (youtube.com/watch?v=UoBf5Zwm7OE)

The president also raised the alarm that the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) had flagged hundreds of thousands of registered voters
across four states, including California, as potential non-citizens.
The acting Director of National Intelligence, sent letters threatening
officials in those states with criminal prosecution if they don’t
“cooperate” with DHS. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has also sued
dozens of states, demanding their unredacted voter rolls. DOJ has lost
16, and won none of these cases so far. While the president’s claim
about hundreds of thousands of noncitizens being registered was meant to alarm people, election experts have flagged processes DHS used to come up with those estimates as flawed, wildly inflating the estimates, though state leaders have rightly vowed to review the actual DHS lists, if DHS actually provides them. CBS News did a good analysis of the overall situation here (cbsn.ws/4wSJAwm). New Jersey, BTW, DID discover they’d accidentally registered 6,600 noncitizens due to a software error so state reviews are certainly worth doing.

The impetus for the president’s speech about elections was to urge the
Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, which would make it more
restrictive, time-consuming, and potentially expensive for all
Americans, especially women, the elderly and minorities, to register
and vote. Voting would become more of a privilege for those with time
and money rather than a right for all.

If you need more trust in our elections, here’s a better idea.
Consider joining the minority, volunteering for a campaign or being a
poll worker or election monitor for the midterms. Participate in the
process. I believe you’ll find yourself with less fear, and more faith
in the system, and the results.

Craig Wiesner is the co-owner of Reach And Teach, a book, toy and cultural gift shop on San Carlos Avenue in San Carlos. Follow Craig: craigwiesner.bsky.social.