Bay Area voters volunteer in swing states, while undecided voters mull choices

OAKLAND, Calif. - In California, where the outcome of the presidential race is not likely to change the national results, Democrats and Republicans are ramping up operations now to help impact those battleground states that are hotly contested in the remaining eight weeks before Election Day.

Emily Lee, co-founder of the non-profit Seed the Vote, was in her Oakland office Wednesday coordinating an army of volunteers from blue Democratic-leaning states to volunteer in the battleground states of Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.  

"Local organizations in those swing states are asking us to send volunteers. They're telling us to please send us more people. We need your volunteers to go knock on those doors," Lee said.

The non-profit helps cover travel and hotel costs for volunteers willing to travel, go through training, and knock on doors.

"I think I hit around 80 doors, Gen Fujioka said. Fujioka is a volunteer who drove to Reno from Berkeley to canvass for the Harris - Walz campaign.

"I think it's really important to have conversations with people. That's what it was about having conversations with people and hearing what they thought," Fujioka said.

"I'm going to Detroit at the end of this month to do the same thing, to canvass in Detroit. Michigan is also a swing state, and then I'm going to Phoenix in October," Akilah Monifa, a Seed the Vote volunteer from the Bay Area said.

Bay Area Republicans are also mobilizing after Tuesday's debate.

"There are folks doing phone calls on behalf of Donald Trump. There are get out the vote cards they're putting together for swing states. So, whatever extra bandwith is going to the swing states," said San Francisco Republican Party Chair John Dennis. 

Some are excited that former President Trump plans to visit the Bay Area Friday for a high-priced fundraiser in Woodside, where tickets start at $3,300 per person and go up to $500,000 per couple, with co-hosts paying $150,000 per person.  

The main battle for the campaigns is to sway those voters who are still undecided.

Martha Ehmann Conte, a Republican who supported Nikki Haley is a national vice-chair of the group No Labels.

"No labels is basically a voice for the common sense majority," said Conte.

She says as a moderate, who does not like Trump, the debate Tuesday night was a disappointment.

"I think that he sounded kind of crazy and she, because she could make him out to be as crazy as he often sounds, was able to dodge answering the hard questions about policy," Conte said of the candidates.

She says it is frustrating for voters who don't like Trump's personality, and don't like Democrats' policies.

"I can't really listen to him, but I like the policies of the Republican Party better," Conte said. "I probably will make a protest vote, whether that's to write-in Nikki Haley or RFK, I don't know."
 
Jana Katsuyama is a reporter for KTVU. Email Jana at jana.katsuyama@fox.com. Call her at 510-326-5529. Or follow her on Twitter @JanaKTVU and read her other reports on her bio page.