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# Volunteers target last-minute SM voters
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/volunteers-target-last-minute-sm-voters/
- Published: 2003-10-08T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T03:02:49.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Last-minute campaign tactics flush out votes*

Volunteers for gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger spent Tuesday combing Santa Monica neighborhoods for voters who hadn’t yet cast their ballots.

Nearly 2,500 volunteers from the Fourth Street headquarters for Arnold Schwarzenegger spent all day targeting Republican voters who don’t regularly go to the polls, officials said.

A total of 124,512 households were hit in L.A. County and 869 of those were in Santa Monica, said Jeff Beland, a full-time volunteer in charge of the last-day “Get Out The Vote” effort.

Meanwhile a block away at the Democratic headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard and Fourth Street, staff workers handled a steady stream of voters who were looking for their polling places. No volunteers for the “No on Recall” effort were sent out, said staff worker Judy Elliott.

Beland said Schwarzenegger volunteers were sent out first thing in the morning with a list of 50 homes. If nobody was home, the volunteers were instructed to leave door hangings urging them to vote. The volunteers then returned later in the day. After two visits, if the voters still hadn’t reported to their polling places, volunteers made one last effort by calling them, Beland said.

3E6,“The ‘knock and drag’ is what they call it,” Beland said, adding that once someone says they’ll vote, they almost always do. “That’s part of our goal, is to get them to commit to voting in the first place.”

> “The ‘knock and drag’ is what they call it. That’s part of our goal, is to get them to commit to voting in the first place.” — voting in the first place.” — JEFF BELAND Volunteer, Arnold Schwarzenegger campaign

Inside the volunteer headquarters at 1338 Fourth St., a 15-by-15-foot calendar highlighted the month leading up to the election. Each day had a large “X” placed over it, except Oct. 7, which read, “Election Day!” and Oct. 8, which read, “‘Sac’ town or bust!”

Rodney Olsen, a part-time volunteer from Riverside who was manning the front desk, said people had been streaming in and out of the headquarters all day, looking for directions to polling places and asking for last-minute information on the candidates.

Outside, a handful of volunteers waved signs that read, “Join Arnold!” and cheered at passing motorists who honked and waved as they drove past. A small contingent of news reporters spent the day across Fourth Street with cameras and lights set up, pointing at the headquarters.

Jean-Cosme Delaloye, a U.S. correspondent for 24 Heures, a Swiss news agency, spent the past four days in California, interviewing Gov. Gray Davis, and gubernatorial candidates Arianna Huffington and Schwarzenegger. He said despite the international attention California’s historic recall election has received, most Europeans are not rooting for Schwarzenegger.

“An actor in Europe wouldn’t stand a chance,” said Delaloye, who planned to board a plane for Switzerland Tuesday evening. “Especially an actor doing these kinds of movies.”

While volunteers swept area neighborhoods and manned the 30 phone lines at the Fourth Street headquarters, Schwarzenegger himself stayed out of the fray. After voting at 13554 Lucca Dr. in the Pacific Palisades in the morning, he remained out of the public eye and prepared for his election night gala at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City.

At the Democratic headquarters, staff workers and volunteers manned two phones and used Schwarzenegger’s Web site to help confused voters find their polling places. The county’s Web site took too long and since Schwarzenegger’s site was faster, they used it instead.

“We are using his resources against him,” one volunteer said. “He’s got the most money so let’s use it.”

Elliott said many people who came to the headquarters were confused on how to vote — they weren’t sure whether they should select a candidate if they voted “no” on the recall.

And while several people sat outside Schwarzenegger’s volunteer headquarters camp waving signs, only one volunteer for the “No on Recall” waved a sign at the corner of Fourth Street and Wilshire Boulevard.

“The Arnold people walk by and diss us,” Elliott said, adding the recall shouldn’t even be happening. “I’m so mad about this election.”

Schwarzenegger’s campaign headquarters at 3110 Main St. were relatively quiet throughout the day. Two security guards watched over the entrance while press workers and other advisors trickled in and out of the building, which has been off-limits to reporters since the recall campaigning began 180 days ago.

Jeff Beland

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 8, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/100803.pdf?ref=smdp.com)