Project Payback: at the IndivisiText Team, our strategy for November starts in March!
As we urge you to get involved with text banking for Indivisible, you may be wondering: Why are we doing this in March when the election is still 8 months away? Shouldn’t we be saving it for November?
Here’s the thing: there’s now a ton of evidence that the more times in the election cycle we interact with voters, the more likely they are to be informed about the candidates, ready to go vote...and willing to get their friends and family to vote, too. And that also has a knock-on effect on other races up- and down-ballot. So we have a tiered approach of texting programs throughout the season:
Listening Programs: Well before Election Day, we start listening programs, asking “What do you want candidate X to fight for?” for candidates who have been endorsed by local Indivisible groups. We also do Payback Program texting, asking “Are you ready to get involved with local groups who are working to get Republican Senator X out of office?” for people in states with vulnerable Republican Senators.
Persuasion Programs: Later in the year, we’ll move on to persuading voters to support our candidate in their district. We ask “Can we count on you to support candidate X?” to voters on our list.
Ballot Chase/Early Voting: Once early voting begins, we’ll need to get people informed about their elections, polling places, and options. Ballot Chase/Early Voting programs ask “Have you voted early/ mailed in your ballot?” and “Can we help you find your early voting site/get your ballot?” to voters on our list..
GOTV: Finally, just in time for the election, we’ll dive into GOTV programs. We ask voters on our list: “Can we count on your vote for Candidate X?” and “Can we help you find/get to your polling place?” in the last few frantic days before the election and on Election Day itself.
At every stage, we’re cleaning the list of people who are opposed, offering information to people who are undecided, and activating enthusiastic supporters. That way, when November rolls around, we’re spending our valuable time and energy on the people who are most likely to support our candidate, help us turn out other voters, and work to support Indivisible values.
Questions? Come into the #voter-outreach channel on the Indivisible SF Slack and ask... or bring your laptop to one of our Sunday meetings and get hands-on help getting started!