EASTPOINTE, Mich. ― Election Day was less than a week away when I joined Edwin Woodson for some canvassing through a working-class neighborhood just north of the Detroit city line. It was unusually warm and sunny that afternoon, and so was Woodson. “I know we’re making progress, we’re hitting our marks,” Woodson, 65, told me as he started working his way down the block. “I really think this is going to make a difference.”
Woodson works for the Michigan Liberation Action Fund, an independent organization focused on criminal justice issues that partnered with a national group, Community Change Action, to promote progressive candidates in the election. His team’s focus on the day I observed was to boost turnout in a traditionally Democratic-leaning neighborhood, which, like most canvassing operations, meant knocking on a lot of doors with nobody home.
But a few residents answered. One woman said she hadn’t decided whether to vote. Woodson spent about eight minutes…
