Who has experience with pledge cards Why voter reg and pledge cards What are our respective strengths Community organizations have grassroots relationships but less time and capacity for voter engagement work ID: 633314
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Slide1
Voter Contact
Voter Registration and Pledge to Vote CardsSlide2
Who has experience with pledge cards?Slide3
Why voter reg and pledge cards?
What are our respective strengths?
Community organizations have grassroots relationships, but less time and capacity for voter engagement work
Voter engagement infrastructure programs have capacity and time, but no grassroots relationshipsSlide4
Minimizing effort, maximizing effect
Community organizations are busy, likely overstretched and focused on meeting their essential missions
The simpler and more effective we can make voter contacts, the more widespread the adoption
Registration and commitment cards are a straightforward, low-cost and efficient way for organizations to make a big impact
Very concrete, practical and clearSlide5
Pledge Cards Pilot Project: St. Paul 2011 Municipals
Organizations
asked clients
to fill out an ‘I will vote’ commitment
card for three
weeks in
October
Cards were dropped off and picked up by hand
MPP sent reminders with polling
location and the names of candidates on the ballot
.
The
messages were sent by phone, text message, email and/or mail, in accordance with the voter’s preferences listed on the commitment card. Slide6
Pledge Cards Pilot Project: St. Paul 2011 Municipals
Neighborhood House, Goodwill/Easter Seals and Wilder Foundation reached 129 residents in a three-week period who committed to voting in the November 7 St. Paul municipal election.
After
the
voter file is
updated with 2011 election results on March 4, public election records will be examined to understand the voting behavior of the organization’s clients.Slide7
Voter registration
Long been a central tactic and activity within nonprofit voter engagement
g
overnment grants may mandate or prohibit voter registration work
Service providers play a key role in keeping the voter rolls accurate and updated
Essential and necessary step, but insufficient by itself to move the needle on voter turnoutSlide8
Purpose of pledge cards
Raise awareness about the election
Provides opt-in mechanism for those already registered
Make people promise!
making a written or oral commitment increases the likelihood a person will actually perform a behavior
Gather crucial information
Get consent for additional contactsSlide9
Purpose of pledge cards (cont)
Provide additional reminders and information to the voter
Repeated voter contacts are VERY important to increasing turnout
Can be used to remind people that whether you vote is a matter of public record
May be used to check registration status of your list to help people know if theirs is up-to-date or notSlide10
Options
‘Petition-style’ list
Individual pledge cards
Electronic or online pledge
Can include an element that is sent back to voter (or not)
Can include any number of opt-in ways to be contacted
Can include additional information about how to participateSlide11
Opportunities
Leverages what they have (relationships) with what you have (systems support)
Builds and strengthens advocacy programs
Allows for measurable results
Can be added in a variety of ways to an existing service delivery modelSlide12
Challenges
Data collection (and sharing) makes organizations nervous
Accuracy of data on cards
55
th
Street E
E 55
th
St.
East 55
th
Street
Legal name vs. your ‘everyday’ name
Transitory participants
Clarity of data on cards
Accuracy of data entrySlide13
What to put on the card?
Should match the voter file
What goes on the voter registration card is what the voter file contains
Consent language
Additional voting information to leave with voter
“I will vote because I care about….”
Other ideas?