Rubio, Clinton, Cruz, Sanders and Trump all have campaign offices in Georgia, but only one of these presidential candidates has a campaign office in Athens. Athens is an important spot for Bernie Sanders, and he is using the people in the area to strengthen his campaign.

Sanders’ office will stay open even after Georgia’s Primary on Super Tuesday because volunteers can still reach out to voters in other states through phone banking for Sanders’ campaign at this office.

What is phone banking?

Through Sanders’ national campaign website, volunteers on his campaign are able to connect to a dialer that calls registered voters in specific states. In states with an open primary, volunteers can call any voters, and in closed primaries, volunteers will only call registered Democrats.

Once Sanders’ volunteers are connected to voters, they ask them if they have voted already through early voting or absentee ballots, and if not, they tell them to check out the official Sanders website to learn more about his viewpoints. Phone banking is mostly all about sharing information about the campaign and when the state’s primary is being held so that voters can get to the polls.

Volunteers can do phone banking on their own at home through the website, but student volunteers in Athens say that having a central office to congregate that provides food and support is very beneficial.

By Abby Jessen