How the technology can be used to deliver votes for candidates and causes on November 4, 2008.
The single most important factor in whether someone votes or not is whether there is someone in their life who asks them to. The closer the relationship, the more likely the person is to vote.
Project November is designed to make it easier, fun, and interesting – using the latest technology – to build awareness for the candidates and causes you support, to let everyone know how important it is to you that they vote, and to actually deliver the votes in November needed for your candidates and causes to win.
Just ask people to vote!
The November Project Plan
The basic idea behind The November Project is for you to start right away in building up your contact list, use the next few weeks to create a political dialog with each of them, and then use these contacts in the 5 days right before the election and on Election Day to get out the vote.
Here is how it looks:
Phase 1: Use the time between now and October 29 to build up your list of contacts. Look below for more information on who you might add. And over time start communicating with each of them to let them know that you support Barack Obama and you would like them to do the same. Look below for ideas on different ways you can communicate with your contacts.
Phase 2: Once you have been building your contact list and have been talking with them about the Obama campaign, now you can gear up for Election Day by contacting each of your contacts and get them ready for the big day coming up. If you have already been talking with them, it won't be a surprise that you are asking them to vote.
Phase 3: The big day. Election Day 2008. Now it is time to make a last effort to communicate with each of your contacts and get them as excited as you are to make sure that Barack is elected President.
Look below for more information on how you can plan and accomplish your goals for each Phase of the November Project.
Took Kit
You are going to need some help to make this easy. We recommend that you use an online email program such as Google Mail (GMail) which can be used to maintain your contact list as well as send out yoru emails. You can also use Google Calendar as a way to set up the activities you want to accomplish over the next few weeks. And we have provided some information on sample messages you can send. Of course you may already have tools in place to use. The most important thing is to use the valuable features available online to make this project simple for you.
Here are the tools we suggest:
Why Do I Do It?
This is the easy part. Every election year you hear the phrase that “This is the most important election in a generation.” This year it is actually true. Most Americans think that our country is on the wrong trace. We have to take some of the responsibility because we actually elected – or let others elect – the people in power. Never before have we been more ready for change. We have to take responsibility.
The most important step we can make is to work for our candidates and for our causes. The internet has become a powerful tool to use. No election again in our lifetimes will be the same now that the internet has matured into a political force. Sometimes we may not agree with how the internet is used – spreading false information or seeing supporters against our own causes becoming mobilized – and that is why it is important to do your part.
The November Project is a plan for making it work for you.
How Do I Do It?
If you are reading this then you are already familiar with the Internet. You probably use email everyday, send IM’s to your friends and co-workers, and get and send text messages on your phone. These are some of the techniques used by Project November.
The basic plan is to spend time in the weeks leading up to the election building your own database of contacts, start a dialog with them, and then ask them to vote on election day. Here are the potential formats of communication you can use:
- Individual emails
- Email to lists
- Messages from political web sites
- Phone
- Text messages
- Postcards and postal mail
- IM
- Postings on social networking sites
You will need to determine the best way to communicate with your contacts – you will know how each person responds.
The November Project will be providing you with some tools to make this easier. Check back often. And if you find something that works really well for you, share that information with the group so no one has to reinvent the wheel.
Who Do I Contact?
Everyone, every last person you can think of.
Think of all of the people you come into contact with everyday. Think of all of the people who have been a part of your life. Chances are you surround yourself with people who have similar values to your own. You want to build an actionable database of contacts.
A good list of potential contacts could include:
- Family members – close and extended
- Current Friends – the people you talk with all the time
- Past Friends – the people you used to be closer to but may have lost contact and you can use this election as a reason to reconnect
- Acquaintances – people whom you meet all the time, maybe at the store or your postman
- Co-workers – you need to be careful about using company time and resources for political purposes, but there is no reason you cannot let others at work know of your interest in the campaign and invite them to be part of it
- Business associates – in addition to co-workers, there are many other people you come in contact with who could be included in your list, such as your accountant or attorney
- Neighbors
- Classmates – many of us have lost contact with classmates, but the campaign can be a good reason to reconnect
- Social networking contacts – as we all spend more and more time online we develop a social network which can provide potential contacts
What Information Should I Collect?
You are going to be asking for a lot of personal information from your contacts. For some you already have everything you need. For other, you will need to ask them for it. The two rules are don’t be shy and let them know no one else is going to get the information.
Don’t worry; you don’t have to be a database expert to make this work. You just need to be organized. Also you don’t need all of the suggested data points for each contact. You will start to scare them away. Concentrate on the pieces of information that are critical for you to communicate with each of them.
Data points to be collected on members of your contact list can include:
- Name
- Address
- City
- State
- Zip
- Phone number – land line
- Phone number – cell (important for text messages)
- Email address(es) – remember that many people have more than one
- IM handles – for AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger or MSN Messenger
- Social networking pages – MySpace etc. plus group affiliations
- Off line affiliations and groups
- High School Alumni
- College/University Alumni
- Employers – current and previous
What Do I Say?
Again, one of the most powerful forces in building voter turnout is the personal touch. People will vote if they think it is important to someone in their life. That is you. The most effective message will be one that is obviously from you and not from any form of prepared script.
Your enthusiasm for the candidate or cause will probably come across no matter how you are communicating with people on your contact list. But you want to make sure that you cover this information:
- ho the candidate is and/or what the cause is
- Why is it important to you and your world that the candidate and/or cause succeeds
- How it can be important for them to have the candidate elected or the cause be successful
- What needs to be done – meaning vote for the candidate on November 4, or vote yes on Proposition A
- Ask them to pass this information along – either informally or have them come to Project November and start their own contact list
Write up few short sentences covering these points and keep it handy. After awhile you won’t need any notes, but it never hurts to have something which can help you remember.
Click here to see an example.
And finally always, always thank them for their support. Let them know that you sincerely appreciate their time and support.
When Do I Do It?
While November may seem to be a bit far away it is much sooner than you think. You can get started right away.
One way to think of it is to picture what needs to happen on election day and those important few days leading up to. By being prepared and using the November Project to help you organize your efforts there is a much higher possibility of success.
For reference:
Last Word
We live in a very exciting time. We are going to have an election this year which will be talked about for years to come. We invite you become a part of it. So when you wake up November 5, 2008, you will have the feeling that you helped make a difference!
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