In Georgia, campaigns look to drive turnout with a knock

Erika Hardwick waits at a door on Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022 in Dawson, Ga., as she canvasses for the New Georgia Project Action Fund. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

Someone like Erika Hardwick has come to the door of millions of Georgia voters.

A paid canvasser for the New Georgia Project Action Fund, Hardwick was working the southwest Georgia town of Dawson on a warm October afternoon. She was trying to motivate people in the town 135 miles (215 kilometers) south of Atlanta to cast ballots on or before Tuesday.

Hardwick is part of an intensifying effort to contact voters in Georgia, where narrow electoral margins have led political parties and other groups to pour in resources, knowing that driving a few more voters to the polls could make a difference.