In early January, I caught up with an old friend who was interning in Las Vegas for one of the presidential candidates. She was working for the candidate I support, and the same candidate my mom had traveled to Iowa and New Hampshire to campaign for. My friend mentioned that I should come to Nevada and volunteer.

The next week, I boarded a plane to Las Vegas.

Here are a few of my stories and experiences on the campaign trail. While you might be able to figure out who I’m supporting and working for, in the end it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I got involved and had my voice heard. I urge all of you to do the same. If you’re interested, all the candidates’ websites provide plenty of ways to volunteer. For more info about which candidate might be right for you, click here. And for more on the election, click here.

Four Days Until the Nevada Caucus

6 p.m.: I flew into Las Vegas, and by the time we reached the office, I had been briefed and was ready to make phone calls (“phone banking”). I was given a stack of about 300 phone numbers—the campaign has a list of registered voters, their addresses, phone numbers, genders and ages. I was very nervous, so I procrastinated by going to the bathroom, getting some food, checking the list, etc.

Finally I picked up the phone to make my first call: “Hi, my name is Rachel, and I’m a volunteer with the…”CLICK. First call, first hang up. Next call: “Hi, my name is Rachel, and I’m with Nevadans for [candidate’s name]. I was wondering if you were planning on caucusing for [candidate’s name] this Saturday?” The person on the other line: “Of course! I would never caucus for anyone else.” “That’s great,” I responded. “Would you like to volunteer?”

For the next three hours (calling hours are from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.), I made my way down the list of names. Many were wrong numbers, but I had a few hang ups and lots of support. But what I found most of the time was that no one knew what a caucus was or how it worked.

In the 2004 presidential primary, 4,000 Democrats caucused; because Nevada moved up its caucus date this year, it got a lot more media coverage and was expected to have a bigger influence on the race. For the first time, Nevadans were hearing about the caucus and were actually interested in attending. Many people told me they weren’t going to caucus but would vote. I had to explain that in Nevada, voting was for the general election and the caucus was the only way to have their voice heard in the primary. In the end, Democratic turnout was over 117,000 people.

9 p.m.: I helped enter all the data we received from the phone calls. We made sure that undecided people would be called again, and wrong numbers, hang ups or non-supporters would not be called again. Supporters would get a caucus-day reminder.

Three Days Until the Caucus

6:30 a.m.: After a quick Starbucks stop, my friend and I reached the office and I formally met the other interns and staff members. There were five people working in the office—all were under the age of 25 and four were Jewish. I helped organize the calling and canvassing (door-to-door visits) sheets for the day.

7:30 a.m.: Morning staff call. Although I was just a volunteer, I was staying with my friend who was an intern, so I kept the hours of the staff and interns. This also meant I got a better look at the behind-the-scenes action of the campaign, including staff calls. Every staff member in Nevada was on the call and got a summary of the day’s strategy.

8:30 a.m.: My friend and I left to canvass. We went door to door, talking to people and leaving pamphlets if no one was home.

3 p.m.: Back to the office to start our calls for the day. One of our local volunteers brought us homemade fudge.

9 p.m.: We started entering data from our calls and canvassing.

9:30 p.m.: Evening staff call and getting ready for the next day.

11:30 p.m.: Home for the night.

Two Days Until the Caucus

Morning: The morning was the exact same as the day before. We got chased out of a gated community—which we were technically allowed to be in since we weren’t soliciting—by a man who threatened us. Overall though, the canvassing was successful. We knocked on many doors, signed up a few volunteers and got many people to fill out cards committing to caucus for our candidate.

Afternoon: The afternoon was spent making calls and meeting with precinct captains. We had at least one volunteer in charge of each caucus; those precinct captains were in charge of organizing our supporters in the caucus and convincing people to support our candidate.

3 p.m.: We headed over to the west Las Vegas headquarters to meet the candidate’s child and two movie stars! I got my picture taken with each of them, which was awesome (I’m easily star struck. My photo with actress Amber Tamblyn is at left.) After that though, it was back to work.

One Day Until the Caucus

Morning/afternoon: We spent the morning calling and visiting supporters and reminding them of the time and location of the caucus. We also invited them to a rally with the candidate, the candidate’s family and a few high-profile supporters.

Evening: We headed to the rally to help out, and it was absolutely amazing—so much energy, so much excitement and, of course, an inspiring speech by the candidate. I was able to shake hands with the candidate and the candidate’s spouse.

1:30 a.m.: I returned to my host home but was too excited and anxious to fall asleep.

Caucus Day

5:30 a.m.: I was picked up from the house and we stopped to buy bagels and coffee for all the precinct captains.

7 a.m.: The precinct captains arrived at the office to pick up stickers, pins, shirts and signs they could pass out during the caucus. A few captains didn’t show up, so the interns and I put on precinct-captain shirts and headed out to those locations. I was in charge of Precinct 1419. (Precincts are how neighborhoods are split up; each one holds a separate caucus.)

8 a.m.: I arrived at the middle school where about 15 caucuses were being held. I staked out the most visible part of my room to put up signs and cover the chairs with free stuff like T-shirts, buttons and visors.

10 a.m.: The other candidates’ volunteers arrived and started putting signs up. The front of the school was full of supporters for each candidate, arguing and trying to convince people that their candidate was better.

11 a.m.: Registration began. Turnout was so high that everything became disorganized. This led to a lot of problems and somewhat-questionable behavior from all sides.

Noon: The caucus began. The party volunteers running the caucus counted the supporters of each candidate. One candidate had just two supporters, which meant he wasn’t viable; those supporters could choose to support someone else, but they decided to abstain instead. My candidate ended up with two-thirds of the delegates. These delegates will head to the county convention, which nominates delegates to the state convention.

1 p.m.: CNN called the election, predicting my candidate the winner of the caucus! 

2 p.m.: We went to Planet Hollywood on the strip for the victory party. The candidate spoke and then the supporters in the room chanted and cheered for the next hour. 

I headed home the next day with a huge smile on my face. The next week, I started volunteering in the local California office, and I’m leaving soon to volunteer in Texas.

The most important thing I learned is that I always have to stand up for what I believe in. People questioned every single reason that I support this candidate. Coming from the bubble I live in, I wasn’t ready for this. At home, if someone doesn’t agree with me, they engage in a discussion and don’t belittle my opinions. But I have learned to not take people’s comments personally. I just remind myself that in the end, the voters of Nevada spoke and they overwhelmingly agreed with me.

Even though I will not be old enough to vote in the general election this year, I know I had my voice heard. Everyone, no matter what their age, can have a say in our government and its actions.

Rachel Levenson lives in Mountain View, Calif., and was the 2007 International USY Social Action/Tikkun Olam Vice President. She’s also a member of the JVibe Teen Advisory Board.