TheBallot.org Gets It Right

Fifty-two Tuesdays from today, Americans will go to the polls.  As the campaigns and other big institutional players spend hundreds of millions to get us to vote, there are lessons from past cycles that we hope they keep in mind:  that they don't need to reinvent the wheel, that effective electoral initiatives should support lasting infrastructure and...in the Living Liberally spirit...that some of the best ways to get people to vote are social.

Below are a few projects that got it right.  These programs in particular aren't necessarily the right ones for 2008, but they each had elements that make voter engagement and turnout effective, lasting and fun.

I'd also love to hear projects you all recommend that aren't included below.

Democracy in the Park - In 2004, a New York-based group realized that phonebanking didn't have to take place in a union hall or law office...you could organize your own call-in campaign from your cell phone.  Volunteers used weekend minutes as they hung out in Central Park.  It expanded, to include Democracy in the Quad (the campus version).  The positive energy generated from these sessions kept volunteers involved after the '04 race, as Democracy in the Park joined New York's ACT-Now, which still continues to mobilize activists (unlike ACT, the national group from which ACT-Now originally took its name, which disappeared soon after the election).

When MoveOn created a brilliant tool to allow anyone to phonebank from their own phone in 2006, they did another smart move:  they empowered anyone to host Calls for Change house parties.  While the freedom to phone voters on your own time is great, the opportunity to do so in the company of others helps commit you further.  Nothing wrong with a little positive re-enforcement and maybe some snacks while you work.

TheBallot.org - Just as ActBlue has allowed anyone to become a fundraiser, this program allows anyone to become a vote-getter -- giving you the tools to create your own voter guide.  Created by the League of Young Voters, it's a fun idea -- in San Francisco yesterday, someone handed me their personalized ballot for today's city elections and initiatives.  When there's a candidate or issue the major organizations are overlooking, a passionate individual can create her own guide...and help educate friends along the way.  (You can also find other guides that folks have created on the site).  When it comes to voting, peer encouragement goes a long way.  And shaping the voter guides shouldn't be left to large advocacy organizations and political clubs anymore.

It's a project that hasn't been too widely used yet, but has great growth potential.  And hey, it told me why Prop A is good and Prop H is bad in today's election.

Parties at the Polls - Community-oriented celebrations can boost voter turnout.  That's the concept behind this project that Working Assets (now CREDO Action) helped pilot last year, which organized social events with food, entertainment, guest speakers and kids games near polling stations on Election Day.  The idea is to draw people out, create a positive environment around the election and give them every incentive to vote.

In test precincts, it has worked, boosting turnout among unlikely voters and giving community groups a non-partisan way of engaging in Election Day.  If you want to poke around at the resources and rationale behind last year's pilot program, check out the 2006 site.

Do More Than Vote - Volunteering needs to be easy.  Furthermore, with so many organizations out there doing great work, sometimes the best thing you can do is point people to the right outlet rather than creating a new structure yourself.  That philosophy powered this simple, direct menu of volunteering opportunities that pointed you directly to campaigns and organizations in your area.  In the final days of the '06 race (which the website still shows), the effort was to plug people into field operations.  But throughout the summer and fall of '06, each page promoted a range of ways to get involved:  whether you had one hour (Calls for Change), one evening (a local phonebank), one weekend day (trips to contested areas) or longer, there were ways you could Do More Than Vote.

I was directly involved in DMTV and the Poll Parties, and big fans of the other programs.  All of them got it right.  Whether they should be created again for '08 is a separate question, but empowering individuals, making volunteerism fun and easy, and supporting infrastructure that will last beyond 52 weeks from now should be priorities for everyone.

So go ahead and use these ideas.  Bring them to your effort, your campaign.  Let's make this election year work for the progressive movement.