Are Florida/Alabama safe?

[FairyLights56]

Dd is in her first year studying politics at uni. The Labour society are organising a trip over the summer for a group of students to go to Florida or Alabama to campaign for Democratic candidates in the midterm elections. She'll be there for 5 weeks.

She's signed up to go, and is paying for it with her own money, so I obviously can't stop her.

I'm just really worried about her safety - is it safe to go around canvassing for democratic candidates in rural Florida or Alabama?

She's only been to New York/San Francisco before, so I've been trying to explain to her that not all of America is like that.

Am I unreasonable to be worried?

@Eltonjohnssyrup

I just read this on the election website, which would imply to me that it's ok, as she's not getting paid. However, she will be staying in the house of someone working for the campaign, so that could potentially count as payment in kind I suppose.

Volunteer activity

Generally, an individual (including a foreign national) may volunteer personal services to a federal candidate or federal political committee without making a contribution. The Act provides this volunteer "exemption" as long as the individual performing the service is not compensated by anyone. The Commission has addressed applicability of this exemption to several situations involving volunteer activity by a foreign national, as explained below.

She is paying a £900 payment (excluding flights - she has to sort those herself) so maybe that covers the accommodation.

I’m not sure you realise just how public and sometimes widely accepted these groups are in some towns in Alabama.

I'm very aware of it having spent 23 year of my life growing up in these areas, and still having family there myself. I've also had the benefit of having lived in 3 other continents in incredibly ethnically diverse areas.

There are many places that I'd be worried about non-white children travelling, rural Alabama doesn't even come into the top 10.

Will they face some horrid opinions and most likely receive some verbal abuse, sure, but I've received that on a London street for my accent. I won't even get into what I've been called in South Korea.

While I appreciate that the current political climate in the USA is dicey and rampantly racist, at the end of the day most Americans, Southern or otherwise, are decent human beings, and I'd rather my children go their to canvas for an opposition party than, say, Moscow.

Don't worry OP. Because politics is so polarised over there, activists tend not to try and "persuade" the other side on the doorstep like we do here. Instead they focus on energising their base. So if she's working for the Democrats they will probably be focusing on going round the black / minority urban neighbourhoods to get out the vote.

This really isn't anything new. Lots of Labour students have helped in Democrat campaigns in the past and gone on to become MPs. It's a good thing to have on your cv if you want to go into politics. The same thing happens in reverse.

I doubt v much if she will be doing any canvassing. It's more a question of needing volunteers in the office, leafleting, putting up posters etc. Voter registration is the big thing for the Democrats in Southern states.

Heat stroke and weight gain. Alabama BBQ is delicious.

Alabama BBQ is delicious.

They have white barbecue sauce, which is an abomination before God. Florida barbecue is much better.

C'mon. All BBQ is good.

She's certainly no more at risk than in NY or San Fran!

Brit in the US here. She will be fine. Southern US manners, the accent, she will probably be safer there than in the UK.

Tell her to watch episodes of Moonshiners to get used to The accents!

This is not directly answering your question, but you I'm staggered this is happening. Not because of the particular states though.

The democrats are better than the republicans, from a Labour point of view..but they are hardly anywhere near socialist. More like Liberal-Tory Left.

Why on earth are British students (non dual citizens) going to help with anything related to US elections? I can see if they were activists going to monitor polling stations in Election Day as some kind of independent monitor scheme, but to work for a party? Given that foreign intervention is an issue at the moment, this is even stranger.

It would be slightly more appropriate if it was Australia, because at least we - technically - share a head of state.

This is really odd.

How can Democrats complain about (alleged) Russian tinkering in the US presidential election whilst also shipping in Brits to help with their campaign?

Why on earth are British students (non dual citizens) going to help with anything related to US elections?

Having majored in politics in uni myself, having exposure to a range of political systems, especially if you plan on going into the foreign services, is ideal. Volunteering to stuff envelopes for a campaign looks good on a resume, no matter where you do it.

Before my time, but my Uni's Socialist society used to organize trips to the Soviet Union in the early 80's. It wasn't officially endorsed by the Uni as it was an independent student organization (which this seems to be as well).

How can Democrats complain about (alleged) Russian tinkering in the US presidential election whilst also shipping in Brits to help with their campaign?

Big difference between having a group of uni students from the UK volunteer to come over, pay there own way and provide their own accommodation, to stuff envelopes in Alabama and hijacking social media to show only Republican approved and fake news, paying off social media influencers to endorse Trump, and possibly tinkering with election results. I mean, one's students volunteering and the other is espionage.