I’ve been trying to buttonhole candidates and precinct chairs, because there is a lot of data available and a lot of tools for them to organize, and almost no-one listens to me. Thanks to chloris creator, who encouraged me to write a diary about what I know, here are some free(!) ways to know precisely what is happening in your precinct, and how to use these data and tools to make sure that you are working efficiently.
Precinct chairs are perhaps the most influential people at the local level. If you’re reading this and not a precinct chair, first off, check with your local county elections office to find out who your precinct chair is. If you don’t have one, run for precinct chair, or find someone to do it!
Your county elections office has a lot of valuable data for you. The data will show you how many people in your precinct voted straight-ticket R or D, how many votes each Presidential candidate received, the number of registered voters, and the number of ballots cast. With data from census.gov, you can figure out whether you need to register voters (although census.gov doesn’t cover the precinct level, you can divide the total population of your city/town/village by the number of precincts, filter that through your own local knowledge, and know whether most of the people in your precinct are registered. If it’s likely that you have comprehensive registration, look at turnout (number of ballots cast and number of registered voters) and the difference between R and D straight-ticket and R and D presidential candidate votes. I’ve found dozens of local precincts where fewer than 50 votes separate the R and D totals.
But before you start knocking on doors, or otherwise contacting people, do this:
- Set up at least a Twitter account and a Facebook group page for your precinct. If you anticipate photo-ops, also set up an Instagram account. And to get more visibility, add a free Gmail address for your precinct (even if you already have one Gmail address, you can have another one)
and set up a free Google+ account linked to that email. Then set up a free blog on Blogger, using your newly-created Gmail account. Post a relevant banner picture to your accounts (just a picture of a voting booth or a generic ballot will do. You can find a free, public-domain picture on Wikimedia commons or Pixabay).
- Go to buffer.com and set up a free account using your precinct email. Link your precinct social media accounts that Buffer allows on the free platform.
- Go to iffft.com and set up a free account using your precinct email. Use this to link apps to your social media accounts. Find apps that link one social media account to another, so that when something posts to your Facebook page, it automatically posts to your Instagram account, and when something posts to your Google+ account, it also posts to another account not covered by Buffer.
- If you have the budget for flyers, note cards, business cards, or whatever you plan to use, add your precinct social media accounts and email to your contact information. At least have the information in your smartphone!
- Give the social media account information (just the addresses, not the passwords) to your volunteers. Make sure they have it in a file on their phones!
Now when you knock on doors, you can drive voter engagement by connecting potential voters to social media.
Okay, how to put all this together? I’ll use a sample from a precinct near me.
This precinct had 2800 registered voters, and less than 50% turnout. Straight-ticket R voters outnumbered straight-ticket D voters by only 45 votes. This is a precinct that is completely ripe for flipping, probably for the foreseeable future. It has a representative population of Black and Latino residents for the area.
So what should this precinct chair do? First of all, post some outrageous stuff the Rs are doing to her social media accounts, using Buffer. This allows you to “clip” an article once, and post it to all your social media accounts with minimal effort. But take one more step, and schedule a number of them in advance, and use Buffer’s “shuffle” tool so that the same article posts at different times on different accounts. You want to give people a reason to follow your precinct on more than one social media account. Also “clip” articles about the amazing work the Democrats are doing and post that to Buffer as well. (Buffer has a browser extension so that you can simply click an icon and save an article to Buffer for you to schedule later.) Write short opinion pieces (or get someone to write them for you) on your Blogger blog. These don’t have to be long; just reference something that is current and say, “this is outrageous—we need to vote against the people doing this reprehensible thing,” or “this is great and we need to support the candidate who is doing this amazing thing.” Having a Blogger blog allows people to comment anonymously so that their personal data isn’t exposed, and discussions will drive voter engagement. The more people are involved in a discussion, the more likely they are to follow through and vote!
(This may sound like a monumental task, but it’s not. It should take less than five minutes a day on average, once you have it all set up. If you’re not familiar with social media, enlist a volunteer—someone will know about how to set all this up, or figure it out for you. Trust me, you’ve spent at least five minutes a day fuming at something since November 9, 2016. You might as well turn that time to good use.)
Okay, once you have your social media accounts going, now it’s time to block walk. If you have access to VAN data, you already know who has voted D. Knock on every door. If the address is not in your VAN data, you’ll have an opportunity to ask them if they are registered. If not, hand them a voter registration card. Ask them what their important issues are. In the case of one local precinct, R voters were shocked to learn that the incumbent R was one who wrote, introduced, and sponsored the “bathroom” bill and cost our state millions of dollars in lost opportunities, plus cost taxpayers millions to pass it and then litigate it in the court system. In your precinct, there’s something that will similarly motivate your voters. If they are unaffiliated, or seem to lean Democratic, simply share your social media information with them (if you run out of business cards/flyers, just get their permission to text them the information). Also tell them about focusblue.org, where they can sign up to find out about local Democratic events such as candidate town halls. Important: if you text them this information once, don’t spam them later. Respect their privacy!
You’ll have to spend a little time to monitor your social media accounts. If people seem fired up, now’s the time to host a meeting. You can do this at a coffee shop, a park if the weather permits, or a restaurant, depending on the number of people who seem interested. Especially in districts where Democrats are afraid to announce themselves, just knowing there are other Democrats nearby has a salutary effect. Post an event on your precinct Facebook page, announce it on Twitter, and post pictures of the event afterwards on Instagram (but make sure you don’t show faces of the people attending, or photograph only the people who agree to be photographed). You can use focusblue.org to announce the event as well.
For states with voter ID laws, let people know that volunteers will try to help them get ID if they need it. Set up a GoFundMe if people need money to get their IDs, and send form letters to the governor if ID records are missing (my father doesn’t have a birth certificate because the county courthouse burned down 60 years ago).
As election day approaches, remind people via your social media accounts to register, and to check their registration to make sure they are still on the rolls. (Remind people if you have a state that has Voter ID restrictions of what ID they will need to bring with them.) As soon as early voting starts (if you have early voting), remind them to vote early, and tell them where they can vote, and when, every day until early voting ends (this is where Buffer is invaluable). And post the few days before election day, reminding voters when election day is, where their polling place is, and what ID they will need, if they need it. Encourage them to reply via social media if they need a ride to the polls, or need child care, or something else.
I hope this inspires at least some of you to take some action. If you’re not a precinct chair you can volunteer to help one!