Get Out Your Vote

Everything every smart campaign needs to know to conduct a winning GOTV effort

A strong GOTV effort can result in a 3 to 5 percent difference in the final election outcome. In addition to reminding voters to go to the polls and cast a ballot for your candidate, GOTV efforts are famous for their hoopla, sign-waving, rallies and election day festivities.

GET-OUT-THE-VOTE means something different to everyone. To the experienced campaigner, it means the final list of things to do in the last four days of the campaign.

To the candidate, it may mean a brand new project. And, to the volunteers who are attracted to the campaign as the momentum gets going, GOTV is the final push and the place where all their sins of previous undependability are forgiven.

All the work you do in the course of the campaign should be designed to reach voters who can be convinced to vote for your candidate. Whether it be direct mail, phone banks, doorbelling or meetings with the candidate, these activities seek to inform targeted voters, repeat your message and persuade the voters to support you. As you turn the undecided voters into supporters, you begin collecting a list of people who are your insurance that you will win.

A GOTV effort should concentrate on moving at least 10 percent of the votes you need to win. For example, if you are running for a state legislative race, and need 15,000 votes to win, you will want to have at least 1,500 identified supporters in your files. A strong GOTV effort can result in a 3 to 5 percent difference in the final election outcome. In addition to reminding voters to go to the polls and cast a ballot for your candidate, GOTV efforts are famous for their hoopla, sign-waving, rallies and election day festivities.

The Organization

At least 30 days before the election, the campaign manager should have in place a listing of all the activities, the principal players and timelines that are necessary for a comprehensive GOTV plan.

You can expect that your loyal workers will take time off from work (some look forward to doing so prior to each election day); other volunteers will devote far more hours than they would for ordinary projects; and still others will be more inclined to follow the rules more clearly than earlier in the campaign. Given your realistic work force, devise a variety of projects over the course of days leading up to election day. Have a range of project assignments ready for people who can work full time for four days to those who can only help out for a few hours.

The Plan

* The plan. The plan should include numerical goals for the number of volunteers you will need and the number of voters you intend to reach. It should also contain a budget and a list of supplies required to handle all needs. Include the timeline for action.

* A volunteer force. You need to gather the names and the hours each person is available to work at least a month before the GOTV plan swings into effect.

* A central calendar. Critical to the operation is a calendar that shows the times, dates, locations and leaders for each of the GOTV projects.

* A GOTV coordinator. There are dozens of little decisions that will need to be made in the pressure-filled atmosphere of the last week of the campaign. Only one person (preferably not the manager) should coordinate how all the pieces are put together. The manager and coordinator will have to make many decisions regarding remaining money, people and other resources in the waning hours of the campaign.

* Key supplies. Last-minute doorhanging pieces, phone lists, balloons, yard signs, postcards for mailing, maps, T-shirts, campaign buttons and other materials need to be gathered from all the storage locations, including car trunks and basements. Check everywhere before you order anything new.

As the hours dwindle, it is good to pull the team together for a rousing kickoff of the GOTV events. These rallies (held either on Friday night or Saturday morning before the election) can build people's spirits and draw needed free press. The GOTV coordinator can outline all the projects (don't worry about security; you can announce every activity) and get last-minute volunteers signed up. Packets for doorbelling can be handed out and yard signs for the last sign blitzes can also be distributed.

1. Phone Calls

During the campaign, you have been identifying people who are your supporters. If you have been meticulous and organized during your phonebanking, you could have hundreds or thousands of voters whom you expect to vote for you. These lists of supporters should be input into one database, but in smaller campaigns they might well be circled on walking lists or on phone lists. Depending on how many volunteers you have in the GOTV efforts, you might begin re-calling your voters on Saturday in order to reach them all before the polls close on election night.

It is very important to figure out how many calls have to be made so you can secure enough phone locations. Finding enough phone lines takes time and persuasion with people who already own multiple telephone lines. The new installation costs of temporary phones make acquiring your own too costly for most campaigns. However, some special interest groups might rent phone lines as part of their in-kind contribution to the candidate. Start early and ask everyone.

Determine the number of phone lines you need. Let's say you have 3,000 GOTV calls to make and your phoners will complete approximately 20 per hour. That means it will take 150 hours of phoning to complete all the calls.

If you want to complete these calls in three-hour shifts, you will need 50 phone lines. If you do your phonebanks over two nights' time, you can cut your need down to 25 phone lines.

2. Door-to-Door Drops

In those precincts where your targeted voters live, you have already sent targeted mail pieces, placed yard signs and had the candidate spend lots of time going doorbelling and attending meetings in these neighborhoods. Now, it's time to remind these voters to vote. A popular reminder many campaigns choose is to print small doorhanger pieces that can easily be affixed to doorknobs and screen doors of your high-turnout precincts. These simple fliers might have the candidate's picture, the campaign message, and the specific name and location where specific neighbor- hoods vote.

The "Before Dawn Brigade," a group of brave, dedicated volunteers, usually assembles around 4 a.m. in the targeted neighborhoods and leaves doorknob pieces on the front doors of sleeping voters.

3. Visibility

Although you think there is nothing going on in the hours prior to the opening of the ballot boxes, it is time for some hoopla.

Sign-waving at key locations helps to raise the visibility of both the candidate and election day. Have key volunteers gather at major traffic intersections and wave candidate signs. It helps to have the candidate waving at voters en route to work. Sign-waving usually begins between 6:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. on election day and lasts through morning drive time, the noon lunch hour and the afternoon drive time.

In some states, signs and other candidate identification are not allowed if they can be seen from the actual precinct polling place. Check the local ordinances. If there is no restriction in your area, try to place yard signs as close to the polling places as possible.

Where legal, get roving vehicles with loud speakers to travel through targeted precincts and announce that election day has arrived. Some campaigns have car caravans that drive through town. The colorful cars with signs and balloons help raise attention to the campaign. However, be careful that these visibility projects do not anger people. If a voter misses an appointment because she is stuck behind your candidate's car caravan, you might have just lost a vote.

4. Poll Watching

In most areas, election reform and civic interest in ensuring a fair election have made it less necessary to assign a poll watcher to each precinct. If you suspect that there will be unfair practices at the polling places, you might want to assign a poll watcher. The campaign attorney should set the rules for monitoring the polls and train all the poll watchers. In addition, the attorney should be at an available phone all of election day, particularly after the polls close as the votes are counted, prepared for counting or transported to the election central headquarters.

5. Checking Off Voters

More important than poll watching is getting the list of those voters who have cast their ballots. In a very sophisticated and large volunteer-based campaign, you might want to pick up the list of people who have voted by noon and check them off against your list of identified supporters in each precinct. You can then re-call those supporters who have not yet voted and remind them to go to the polls. You can also do the same thing at 5 pm. This process is slow and tedious. Other campaigns with fewer workers will forget the inconvenience inherent in calling people who may have already voted, and simply re-call people until they say they have voted.

6. Rides to the Polls

Providing rides to the polls is a service that every campaign traditionally offers its voters on election day. Of course, there is little guarantee that anyone you drive to the polls will automatically vote for the candidate who helped get them there. They usually da The campaign does not need to provide a lot of cars and drivers, as the service is seldom requested more than a half dozen times during the entire day.

7. Day Care Services

You will have far more phoners if you provide day care on election day. A central location with a few qualified day care providers should be all you need. Assign specific times and locations where you will offer child care. Do not offer extensive recreational or feeding services as you want to limit your responsibility. Set reasonable standards for which age groups you will handle. Do not attempt to offer everyone services, particularly if you only have teenage babysitters who are willing to watch children while parents go to vote. Keep it simple and make sure mat there are very responsible, experienced people in charge.

8. Giving Directions

On election day there are always voters who have no idea where they vote. Always have someone familiar with the town map at the receptionist phone on election day. You will get a few dozen calls asking where a specific voter needs to cast a ballot. Make sure you have both a road map and a precinct map, in addition to a list of the polling places and precinct numbers.

9. Victory Celebration

Getting out the vote also requires making sure there is a group dedicated to putting together a great victory party. Keep it inexpensive and make it at a location where people want to gather. Where some campaigns prefer the high-priced campaign party at a local hotel or banquet hall where the returns are phoned in, other campaigns opt for less expensive celebrations and turn their headquarters into the campaign party.

In all circumstances, the victory party should not be on anyone's list of responsibilities until the polls are within minutes of closing. Phone calls should continue until an hour before the polls close.

A dependable worker should be sent down to election central to report results. After she leaves to set up her sentry post at the elections office, it is time to straighten up the office, put on a new dress ... and a new smile ... and get ready for the celebration to follow. In these days of negative ads and TV commercial mania, field operations are your best opportunity to campaign in the cleanest way possible. Your goal is obvious and refreshing: Reach your targeted voters, persuade them to be supporters and remind them to vote.

There is nothing to shorten the hours between the closing of the polls and the awaiting of returns, but the hours are easier to bear if you know you have produced a well-organized field, absentee ballot and GOTV operation.

Keep your cool; good field work means the champagne is on its way.

[Author Affiliation]

Cathy Allen is president of the Connections Group, a Seattle-based political strategy group specializing in press, public involvement and political consulting. She also serves on the AAPC board and is national vice president of the National Women's Political Caucus.