When Should Your Campaign Start GOTV?
Get out the vote, or GOTV, is a phase of a political campaign that is focused on getting more of your supporters out to vote on Election Day. Essentially, you are contacting preferably known but oftentimes also likely supporters to remind them about the upcoming election and support your candidacy for elected office.
GOTV has been proven to increase turnout by several percentage points by campaigns who execute it well. GOT has been a critically important factor in many campaigns. Campaigns that get out the vote right are often a distinct advantage over their opponent.
One of the elements of getting GOTV is starting at the right time and use the appropriate strategies as the phase matures. Many local activists have used GOTV interchangeably with Election Day. If your political campaign is only reminding people to come out and vote day of, you won't run an effective get out the vote campaign.
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What are the most effective GOTV tactics?
During get out the vote, political campaigns need to focus on the voters who are identified supporters and if that number isn't a majority of the likely voters to also include certain groups of voters who are likely to support the candidate on Election Day. The best way to connect with your get out the vote universe is by using the same direct voter tactics strategies that you have used earlier in the campaign.
Canvassing or door knocking
You just can't beat face to face contact in a political campaign. With that said, it's important to consider how little time there is before the election. GOTV is traditionally three or five days. Depending on the amount of volunteer resources that you have and the size of the district, you may not be running any canvasses during the get out the vote phase of the campaign.
Phone banking
Phone banking is an excellent way to contact known and likely supporters in the lead up to Election Day. It is fast, effective and inexpensive. In many cases, making phone calls will the cornerstone to a great GOTV effort. This means that it's critical to have a phone script that is spot on. Your volunteers should be well-trained and using the phone script to communicating the campaign message exactly to voters.
Direct mail
Particularly since you will be doing proportionately less canvassing and more phone banking during get out the vote, it's important to send a piece of direct mail to known and likely supporters. For many people, having a physical piece of paper is the best reminder that Election Day is around the corner. Also, having something physical that a voter can bring to the polling place, where the law allows for it, is also useful to voters so be sure to include instructions on how to vote for the candidate and encourage the voter to bring the direct mail piece to the polls.
Other strategies to consider
Outside of these direct voter contact strategies, particularly television but also radio is effective. TV is a very persuasive medium and using it to contact voters close to Election Day can stir them to action.
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What happens on Election Day?
Volunteers outside the polls
This does not apply in all states. Some states have laws that prohibit politicking near polling places, but for the jurisdictions that do not, it can be valuable to have someone outside of the poll to greet people as they come to vote and to help anyone who has questions about the candidate or the voting process.
Volunteers inside the polls
Again, depending upon your state this may not apply, but having someone inside of the poll is useful to keep a watchful eye on the pollworkers who might ave affiliated with another party and to help cross off the names of identified supporters that you have accumulated over the course of the campaign. The volunteer inside the poll can then hand off this list to other volunteers to call through those who have yet to vote and remind them when the polls close and that their support is critical to win the campaign.
Flushers
Flushers are canvassers who knock on targeted doors on Election Day who are trying to literally coax supporters out of their homes and to get out to the polling place to vote for your candidate. If you have the manpower for a strong flushing operation, this is an effective tactic to increase turnout among your supporters.
Rides to the polls
In addition to all of the other volunteer needs on Election Day, it's a good idea to have people who are able to give rides to the polls for people who are physically unable to get their on their own. If you have volunteers who are willing to give rides to the polls, be sure to include a questions such as "do you need help getting to your polling place?" to the Election Day phone script since most people do not volunteer their need for assistance to go vote.
Election protection
In case there are any concerns about election law violations on Election Day, recruit an attorney or two for volunteers and voters to call if there are problems.
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