Doctors triage patients. They divide pateints into those who don’t need treatment, those beyond hope and those they should focus on.
Campaigns should triage voters and focus limited resources on persuadable voters.
Geri Ventura, an organizer with several local Indivisible groups and Josephine County Democrats uses this approach to encourage Non-Affiliated Voters (NAV) to register their party affiliation in order to vote in the primaries. She used free software to create a canvassing app and a video to encourage voters to register their party preference.
Background
Non-Affiliated Voters (NAV) are a key group. They may want to vote in the primaries but cannot without registering their party preference. Voters are directed to the Oregon Secretary of State website. Geri believes that persuading NAV voters to register their party preference is the first step in engaging them to vote.
Josephine County in Oregon has a closed primary where only registered voters of a political party can vote for candidates of that party. Twelve states have closed or semi-closed primaries including Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, District of Columbia, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming.
Canvassing app creation
Geri first filtered the voter file to identify Non-Affiliated Voters (NAV). She desigend a mobile app with help from DemLabs using Glide, a free app. Canvassers use the app to contact voters and record their comments which are automatically saved in a Google Sheet.
Creating an outreach video
Geri wanted to reach as many Non-Affiliated Voters as possible, but had no budget. She created a 35 sec video with a little guiance from DemLabs using the free Lumen5 app. Her video encourages NAV voters to record their party affiliation and was shared on Facebook and Twitter.
Takeaway
Triage voters to focus on those who can be persuaded. Use free apps like Glide and Lumen5 to organize canvassing efforts and reach and persuade more voters.
Deepak
Co-Founder, DemLabs
Please share this bulletin. DemLabs is a SF-based, progressive hub for ongoing technology and creative innovation with free and affordable apps. Donate here to support our work.
