Former attorney Thomas J. Westgard contacted Rogers Park in 1,000 Words early this morning with the threat of a lawsuit because of a public election prediction that did not favor longtime 49th Ward incumbent alderman Joseph A. Moore.
A copy of the twitter.com link to prediction is as follows:
RogersPark1000 Rogers Park
Bold #49thWard #Alderman #race #prediction from #RogersPark in 1,000 Words http://rp1000.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-49th-ward-prediction.html
Westgard, recently being linked to the James Ginderske aldermanic campaign-fold-for Alderman Joe Moore, stated that "Rogers Park in 1,000 Words is a participant of a growing effort to overthrow Alderman Joe Moore in the coming 2011 Aldermanic election".
Additionally linked to the former The Urban Coaster newspaper with James Ginderske, Westgard's Mountain of Evidence blog has also been utilized in a pro-Moore fashion, bashing those whom are not under the direct control or direction of the incumbent 49th Ward alderman, including the former Don Gordon aldermanic campaign, the current Brian White aldermanic campaign, the current Blane Roberts aldermanic write-in campaign, the Rogers Park Chamber of Commerce (note: not the Rogers Park Business Alliance), Lorraine Swanson's Lake Effect News and members of the Park Advisory Councils (located North of Howard Street).
Bill Morton of Rogers Park in 1,000 Words stated that " rather than just a prediction of a run-off in the upcoming 2011 election... After all of these threats and injustices, I am now dedicated to making the run-off a reality. Someone has to take a stand for the our community, and apparently my bold prediction for a 2011 run-off election was not enough".
Ward 49 of the City of Chicago includes most of Rogers Park and parts of West Ridge.
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
49th Ward voting
Bill Morton, registered voter in the 49th WardIt is important to be a registered voter and vote in every election.
•Because your activism, including in reforming the system, will be more powerful if you have voted.
•Because your monitoring of the fairness of the election must begin with voting in it.
•Because there is a real value in not allowing things to get any worse than they have.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Registered Voter
It is important to be a registered voter and vote in every election.
•Because your activism, including in reforming the system, will be more powerful if you have voted.
•Because your monitoring of the fairness of the election must begin with voting in it.
•Because there is a real value in not allowing things to get any worse than they have.
- Bill Morton
Friday, December 31, 2010
Registered Voter
It is important to be a registered voter and vote in every election.
•Because your activism, including in reforming the system, will be more powerful if you have voted.
•Because your monitoring of the fairness of the election must begin with voting in it.
•Because there is a real value in not allowing things to get any worse than they have.
- Bill Morton
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Registered Voter
It is important to be a registered voter and vote in every election.
•Because your activism, including in reforming the system, will be more powerful if you have voted.
•Because your monitoring of the fairness of the election must begin with voting in it.
•Because there is a real value in not allowing things to get any worse than they have.
- Bill Morton
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Registered Voter
It is important to be a registered voter and vote in every election.
•Because your activism, including in reforming the system, will be more powerful if you have voted.
•Because your monitoring of the fairness of the election must begin with voting in it.
•Because there is a real value in not allowing things to get any worse than they have.
- Bill Morton
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Registered Voter
It is important to be a registered voter and vote in every election.
•Because your activism, including in reforming the system, will be more powerful if you have voted.
•Because your monitoring of the fairness of the election must begin with voting in it.
•Because there is a real value in not allowing things to get any worse than they have.
- Bill Morton
Monday, December 27, 2010
Registered Voter
It is important to be a registered voter and vote in every election.
•Because your activism, including in reforming the system, will be more powerful if you have voted.
•Because your monitoring of the fairness of the election must begin with voting in it.
•Because there is a real value in not allowing things to get any worse than they have.
- Bill Morton
Friday, December 24, 2010
Registered Voter
It is important to be a registered voter and vote in every election.
•Because your activism, including in reforming the system, will be more powerful if you have voted.
•Because your monitoring of the fairness of the election must begin with voting in it.
•Because there is a real value in not allowing things to get any worse than they have.
- Bill Morton
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Registered Voter
It is important to be a registered voter and vote in every election.
•Because your activism, including in reforming the system, will be more powerful if you have voted.
•Because your monitoring of the fairness of the election must begin with voting in it.
•Because there is a real value in not allowing things to get any worse than they have.
- Bill Morton
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Registered Voter
It is important to be a registered voter and vote in every election.
•Because your activism, including in reforming the system, will be more powerful if you have voted.
•Because your monitoring of the fairness of the election must begin with voting in it.
•Because there is a real value in not allowing things to get any worse than they have.
- Bill Morton
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Political campaign staff
Political campaign staff
The staff of political campaigns are the people who formulate and implement the strategy needed to win an election. Many people have made careers out of working full-time for campaigns and groups that support them, in other campaigns much of the staff might be unpaid volunteers. Information on political consultants, people who do not work for the campaign full-time but still provide assistance in the form of advice and creative expertise, are discussed in the political consultants article.
This article provides a generic description of a campaign's staff and organization. Different campaigns have different structures.
Structure of a campaign
Campaigns are usually overseen by a campaign manager. The campaign manager coordinates the campaign making sure that the rest of the staff and the campaign's consultants are focused effectively on winning the election. In small local campaigns, the campaign manager will often be the only paid staff member and will be responsible for every aspect of the campaign that is not covered by the candidate or volunteers. In larger campaigns, such as an American presidential campaign, hundreds of staff members will cover the required tasks. While campaign managers are often the lead strategists in local campaigns, in the United States larger campaigns hire consultants to serve as strategists and the campaign manager focuses mostly on coordinating the campaign staff. Campaign managers will often have deputies who oversee various aspects of the campaign at a closer level.
Directly below the campaign manager on the organization chart is the deputy campaign manager and directly below them are department directors who coordinate specific aspects of the campaign. These staff members often have deputies as well.
Below the department level, campaigns vary widely in their structure. On larger campaigns, there will be various coordinators for certain functions within each department. For example, within the fundraising department, there might be a staff member who focuses only on direct mail fundraising.
At the bottom of the totem pole are the interns and volunteers who perform the least glamorous tasks of the campaign. These can include addressing envelopes, entering data into databases, and canvassing voters on behalf of the campaign.
Departments and their respective purposes
Field/Ground Department
The field department focuses on the "on-the-ground" organizing that is required in order to personally contact voters through canvassing, phone calls, and building local events. Voter contact helps construct and clean the campaign's voter file in order to help better target voter persuasion and identify which voters a campaign most wants to bring out on election day. Field is generally also tasked with running local "storefront" campaign offices as well as organizing phone banks and staging locations for canvasses and other campaign events.
On the state level, field departments are generally organized by geography with an overall state field director who oversees the efforts of several regional field directors who in turn manage several local offices. Other field workers below this level include:
In addition to voter persuasion and voter identification, field staff will often provide information for the campaign headquarters as to what is going on in the communities they work in. Field staffers are the primary liaison between the campaign and local influentials such as interest group leaders and prominent community activists. Field departments are also often primarily responsible for the local distribution of "chum" i.e. lawn signs, bumper stickers, buttons, and other such materials.
Communications Department
The communications department oversees both the press relations and advertising involved in promoting the campaign in the media. They are responsible for the campaign's message and image among the electorate. Press releases, advertisements, phone scripts, and other forms of communication must be approved by this department before they can be released to the public. The staffers within this office vary widely from campaign to campaign. However they generally include:
Policy Department
Researching and developing a set of policies requires a large team to research and write each plank. Researchers also provide information to the campaign on issues and the backgrounds of candidates (including the candidate they work for) in order to be aware of skeletons in the various candidates' closets. The latter practice is known as opposition research. On smaller campaigns this is often folded into the communications department. Most campaigns for a seat in a legislature will not have a full policy department, as party platforms are worked out by the central campaign office. Other races, such as a presidential or mayoral race will require a wide array of policy positions to be developed in-house.
Fundraising Department
The finance department coordinates the campaign's fundraising operation and ensures that the campaign always has the money it needs to operate effectively. The techniques employed by this campaign vary based on the campaign's needs and size. Small campaigns often involve casual fundraising events and phone calls from the candidate to donors asking for money. Larger campaigns will include everything from high-priced sit-down dinners to e-mail messages to donors asking for money.
Compliance and Legal Departments
The compliance and legal departments makes sure that the campaign is consistent with the law and also makes sure that the campaign files the appropriate forms with government authorities. In Britain and other Commonwealth countries, such as Canada and India, each campaign must have an official agent, who is legally responsible for the campaign and is obligated to make sure the campaign follows all rules and regulations.
This department will also be responsible for all financial tracking, including bank reconciliations, loans and backup for in-kind donations. They are generally required to keep both paper and electronic files. Small campaigns will often have one person responsible for financial disclosure while larger campaigns will have dozens of lawyers and treasurers making sure that the campaign's activities are legal. After the election, the compliance and legal department must still respond to audit requests and, when required, debt retirement.
Technology Department
The technology department designs and maintains campaign technology such as Voter File and websites. While small campaigns might have a volunteer or two who know how to use computers, large campaigns will have armies of computer professionals spread across the state or country handling everything from websites to blogs to databases.
Scheduling and Advance Department
The scheduling and advance department makes sure that the candidate and campaign surrogates are effectively scheduled so as to maximize their impact on the voters. This department also oversees the advance people who arrive at events before the candidate to make sure everything is in order. Often, this department will be a part of the field department.
On small campaigns the scheduling coordinator may be responsible for developing and executing events. The scheduling coordinator typically:
a) manages the candidate's personal and campaign schedule b) manages the field and advance team schedules c) gathers important information about all events the campaign and candidate will attend
Candidates and other members of the campaign must bear in mind that only one person should oversee the details of scheduling. Fluid scheduling is one of the many keys to making a profound impact on voters.
See also
Political consultant
Election campaign
The Role of the Campaign Treasurer
The staff of political campaigns are the people who formulate and implement the strategy needed to win an election. Many people have made careers out of working full-time for campaigns and groups that support them, in other campaigns much of the staff might be unpaid volunteers. Information on political consultants, people who do not work for the campaign full-time but still provide assistance in the form of advice and creative expertise, are discussed in the political consultants article.
This article provides a generic description of a campaign's staff and organization. Different campaigns have different structures.
Structure of a campaign
Campaigns are usually overseen by a campaign manager. The campaign manager coordinates the campaign making sure that the rest of the staff and the campaign's consultants are focused effectively on winning the election. In small local campaigns, the campaign manager will often be the only paid staff member and will be responsible for every aspect of the campaign that is not covered by the candidate or volunteers. In larger campaigns, such as an American presidential campaign, hundreds of staff members will cover the required tasks. While campaign managers are often the lead strategists in local campaigns, in the United States larger campaigns hire consultants to serve as strategists and the campaign manager focuses mostly on coordinating the campaign staff. Campaign managers will often have deputies who oversee various aspects of the campaign at a closer level.
Directly below the campaign manager on the organization chart is the deputy campaign manager and directly below them are department directors who coordinate specific aspects of the campaign. These staff members often have deputies as well.
Below the department level, campaigns vary widely in their structure. On larger campaigns, there will be various coordinators for certain functions within each department. For example, within the fundraising department, there might be a staff member who focuses only on direct mail fundraising.
At the bottom of the totem pole are the interns and volunteers who perform the least glamorous tasks of the campaign. These can include addressing envelopes, entering data into databases, and canvassing voters on behalf of the campaign.
Departments and their respective purposes
Field/Ground Department
The field department focuses on the "on-the-ground" organizing that is required in order to personally contact voters through canvassing, phone calls, and building local events. Voter contact helps construct and clean the campaign's voter file in order to help better target voter persuasion and identify which voters a campaign most wants to bring out on election day. Field is generally also tasked with running local "storefront" campaign offices as well as organizing phone banks and staging locations for canvasses and other campaign events.
On the state level, field departments are generally organized by geography with an overall state field director who oversees the efforts of several regional field directors who in turn manage several local offices. Other field workers below this level include:
- Organizer : generally responsible for the operations of a single office serving a county or several counties, the local organizer works to build a local organization, mostly of volunteers, that will be used to fill out campaign events, contact voters, and ultimately to provide ground troops for election day efforts.
- Volunteer coordinator : tasked full time with recruiting, retaining, and scheduling volunteers
- General Field Staff : the lowest level of field staff, these paid workers generally do direct voter contact full time as well as assisting the organizers
- GOTV coordinator : generally either brought in in the last few months of the campaign or a re-tasked staffer, GOTV coordinators plan the local "Get Out the Vote" efforts.
In addition to voter persuasion and voter identification, field staff will often provide information for the campaign headquarters as to what is going on in the communities they work in. Field staffers are the primary liaison between the campaign and local influentials such as interest group leaders and prominent community activists. Field departments are also often primarily responsible for the local distribution of "chum" i.e. lawn signs, bumper stickers, buttons, and other such materials.
Communications Department
The communications department oversees both the press relations and advertising involved in promoting the campaign in the media. They are responsible for the campaign's message and image among the electorate. Press releases, advertisements, phone scripts, and other forms of communication must be approved by this department before they can be released to the public. The staffers within this office vary widely from campaign to campaign. However they generally include:
- A press secretary who monitors the media and coordinates the campaign's relations with the press. Press secretaries set up interviews between the candidate and reporters, brief the press at press conferences, and perform other tasks involved in press relations.
- A rapid response director who makes sure that the campaign responds quickly to the attacks of the other campaigns. They and their staff constantly monitor the media and the moves of their opponents, making sure that attacks are rebutted quickly.
Policy Department
Researching and developing a set of policies requires a large team to research and write each plank. Researchers also provide information to the campaign on issues and the backgrounds of candidates (including the candidate they work for) in order to be aware of skeletons in the various candidates' closets. The latter practice is known as opposition research. On smaller campaigns this is often folded into the communications department. Most campaigns for a seat in a legislature will not have a full policy department, as party platforms are worked out by the central campaign office. Other races, such as a presidential or mayoral race will require a wide array of policy positions to be developed in-house.
Fundraising Department
The finance department coordinates the campaign's fundraising operation and ensures that the campaign always has the money it needs to operate effectively. The techniques employed by this campaign vary based on the campaign's needs and size. Small campaigns often involve casual fundraising events and phone calls from the candidate to donors asking for money. Larger campaigns will include everything from high-priced sit-down dinners to e-mail messages to donors asking for money.
Compliance and Legal Departments
The compliance and legal departments makes sure that the campaign is consistent with the law and also makes sure that the campaign files the appropriate forms with government authorities. In Britain and other Commonwealth countries, such as Canada and India, each campaign must have an official agent, who is legally responsible for the campaign and is obligated to make sure the campaign follows all rules and regulations.
This department will also be responsible for all financial tracking, including bank reconciliations, loans and backup for in-kind donations. They are generally required to keep both paper and electronic files. Small campaigns will often have one person responsible for financial disclosure while larger campaigns will have dozens of lawyers and treasurers making sure that the campaign's activities are legal. After the election, the compliance and legal department must still respond to audit requests and, when required, debt retirement.
Technology Department
The technology department designs and maintains campaign technology such as Voter File and websites. While small campaigns might have a volunteer or two who know how to use computers, large campaigns will have armies of computer professionals spread across the state or country handling everything from websites to blogs to databases.
Scheduling and Advance Department
The scheduling and advance department makes sure that the candidate and campaign surrogates are effectively scheduled so as to maximize their impact on the voters. This department also oversees the advance people who arrive at events before the candidate to make sure everything is in order. Often, this department will be a part of the field department.
On small campaigns the scheduling coordinator may be responsible for developing and executing events. The scheduling coordinator typically:
a) manages the candidate's personal and campaign schedule b) manages the field and advance team schedules c) gathers important information about all events the campaign and candidate will attend
Candidates and other members of the campaign must bear in mind that only one person should oversee the details of scheduling. Fluid scheduling is one of the many keys to making a profound impact on voters.
See also
Political consultant
Election campaign
The Role of the Campaign Treasurer
Lawn sign
Lawn sign
Lawn signs are one of the most visible features of an election campaign in some countries. They are small signs placed on the lawns of a candidate's supporters. Signs are also often placed on lamp posts and larger signs may stand next to busy intersections. Lawn signs are often also placed near polling places on election day, although in most jurisdictions, there are legal restrictions on campaigning within a certain distance from a voting facility.
Lawn signs are considered an important element of any local campaign. They are a cheap and effective method of making a candidate known in their district. As a rule of thumb it is said that each lawn sign in a district represents six votes. A campaign's field staff are usually responsible for coordinating a campaign's lawn signs.
In the United States, lawn signs are an effective means of campaign advertising, with each well-produced sign and wicket costing the campaign between US $3-5. In Canada, which has very different campaign finance laws that put strict limits on media advertising, winning the "sign war" is considered an essential part of a successful campaign and a significant portion of a camapign's resources are dedicated to this end.
Lawn signs generally contain the name of the candidate, their party, and the office for which they are running. Extras like slogans or the date of the election are sometimes added; these tend to distract the viewer from the main message, however. Symbols of the party are also popular. Whether a sign should have the photo of the candidate is an important concern. An attractive photo can lead voters to identify with the candidate; on the other hand, signs with photos are usually more expensive to produce, and are far more likely to be vandalized, which can have a negative effect. Most signs also have a notice stating who paid for it, but it is usually in small text that is much less noticeable. This notice is often required by campaign finance laws.
To draw the attention of passersby, lawn signs feature bold, high contrast colors and large fonts. The colors are usually those of the candidate's party. Choosing colors is important: white signs do not work well in winter, and green signs on lawns will be far less visible.
Generally, it is important not to pick the same colors as an opponent. However, there may be a value in creating confusion especially for a challenger.
Lawn signs are one of the most visible features of an election campaign in some countries. They are small signs placed on the lawns of a candidate's supporters. Signs are also often placed on lamp posts and larger signs may stand next to busy intersections. Lawn signs are often also placed near polling places on election day, although in most jurisdictions, there are legal restrictions on campaigning within a certain distance from a voting facility.
Lawn signs are considered an important element of any local campaign. They are a cheap and effective method of making a candidate known in their district. As a rule of thumb it is said that each lawn sign in a district represents six votes. A campaign's field staff are usually responsible for coordinating a campaign's lawn signs.
In the United States, lawn signs are an effective means of campaign advertising, with each well-produced sign and wicket costing the campaign between US $3-5. In Canada, which has very different campaign finance laws that put strict limits on media advertising, winning the "sign war" is considered an essential part of a successful campaign and a significant portion of a camapign's resources are dedicated to this end.
Lawn signs generally contain the name of the candidate, their party, and the office for which they are running. Extras like slogans or the date of the election are sometimes added; these tend to distract the viewer from the main message, however. Symbols of the party are also popular. Whether a sign should have the photo of the candidate is an important concern. An attractive photo can lead voters to identify with the candidate; on the other hand, signs with photos are usually more expensive to produce, and are far more likely to be vandalized, which can have a negative effect. Most signs also have a notice stating who paid for it, but it is usually in small text that is much less noticeable. This notice is often required by campaign finance laws.
To draw the attention of passersby, lawn signs feature bold, high contrast colors and large fonts. The colors are usually those of the candidate's party. Choosing colors is important: white signs do not work well in winter, and green signs on lawns will be far less visible.
Generally, it is important not to pick the same colors as an opponent. However, there may be a value in creating confusion especially for a challenger.
Canvassing
Canvassing
Canvassing is the systematic contacting of individuals in a target group, often in a particular geographic area. It is commonly used before or during elections by political campaigns. Similar techniques are used by non-governmental organizations, labor unions, churches, poll takers, and even commercial enterprises.
A "canvass" can be organized with different desired goals:
In some cases a given canvass will attempt to achieve outcomes across some combination of these goals. For example a canvass focused on persuading people to vote for a particular candidate or ballot issue may also solitcit funds and sign up new members to an organization.
A key concept in canvassing is to target the population that is being contacted. For example if the goal of a canvass is to turn out voters on election day for a Democratic candidate then knocking on Republican doors may not be a great use of time and resources. Targeting can be quite complex and sophisticated and may employ voting history data, census data, and consumer habits. Part of an overall field strategy may be to do a canvass focussed on identifying likely supporters who will then be approached at a later date by another canvass for GOTV.
Even if sophisticated data is not available, most field operations professionals will spend energy trying to reduce randomness in their contacts in an attempt to optimize their use of time and resources.
While converting voters would ideally be a central goal, it is difficult, requiring knowledgeable and charismatic canvassers, and time-consuming. To reach every voter in a district a canvasser cannot spend more than one or two minutes per person, rarely enough time to have a significant discussion. Persuasion canvassing will often involve the dropping of literature and campaign marketing materials like lawn signs, window signs, and bumper stickers (given to supporters).
As canvassers work a population they will often make careful notes and use classification codes to record their interaction with the public.
There are two basic types of canvassing: field canvasses and phone canvasses.
Field canvasses
Field canvasses are done by going door to door to every home and apartment in a district, a ZIP code or some other unit of geographic measurement. They have the advantage that people are generally more open to talking to someone in person and literature can be delivered and lawn signs put up at the same time as the canvass. A field canvass can also guarantee completeness as each house can be accounted for. A field canvass is usually done by one or two individuals, either both at one door, or one on each side of the street.
For Contractors utilizing "Field Canvassing" it works best when working around a current or previous jobsite. Otherwise called Jobsite Radiation.
There are Consultants available for Contractors interested in learning more about this type of Canvassing. For more info, please check your search engine or call the Procanvasser for more information.
Candidate canvasses
A variation of the field canvass is a candidate canvass; these are done with the actual candidate in a district. These have great potential as people are far more likely to vote for a candidate they have seen in person. With only one candidate, however, time is a valuable commodity. The candidate is thus usually accompanied by a half dozen or more volunteers who knock on doors.
If they find no one home the candidate does not go to that home. If they find a person the volunteer finds out if they would like to meet the candidate. If they would the volunteer signals the candidate.
This technique optimizes the amount of time a candidate spends speaking to potential voters.
Phone canvasses
Phone canvasses can reach more people more quickly than a field canvass; messages can be left on answering machines and there is far less exertion on the part of volunteers. A phone bank environment also means knowledgeable coordinators can keep far closer track of what the volunteers are doing. In rural areas phone canvasses are the only method efficient enough to reach most voters. Apartment buildings are also often better reached by phone canvasses as residents there are unused to and discomfited by opening the door to strangers. There are a number of disadvantages, however. Many voters are put off by anything resembling telemarketing. Getting an accurate and up-to-date list of phone numbers for everyone in a district is very difficult with a considerable percent of numbers becoming out of date in only a few months.
Based on the experience of the Procanvasser, when done the right way, Phone Canvassing can be very effective. The Important thing to remember is to have the right script, and attitude when contacting prospects.
See also
List of democracy and elections-related topics
Political campaign staff
Progressive Action Network - trains and develops canvass leadership for progressive organizations in the US
Canvassing is the systematic contacting of individuals in a target group, often in a particular geographic area. It is commonly used before or during elections by political campaigns. Similar techniques are used by non-governmental organizations, labor unions, churches, poll takers, and even commercial enterprises.
A "canvass" can be organized with different desired goals:
- Identifying supporters
- Distributing information
- Persuasion
- Fundraising
- Signing up new members
- Voter registration
- Encouraging people to vote (Get Out The Vote, GOTV)
In some cases a given canvass will attempt to achieve outcomes across some combination of these goals. For example a canvass focused on persuading people to vote for a particular candidate or ballot issue may also solitcit funds and sign up new members to an organization.
A key concept in canvassing is to target the population that is being contacted. For example if the goal of a canvass is to turn out voters on election day for a Democratic candidate then knocking on Republican doors may not be a great use of time and resources. Targeting can be quite complex and sophisticated and may employ voting history data, census data, and consumer habits. Part of an overall field strategy may be to do a canvass focussed on identifying likely supporters who will then be approached at a later date by another canvass for GOTV.
Even if sophisticated data is not available, most field operations professionals will spend energy trying to reduce randomness in their contacts in an attempt to optimize their use of time and resources.
While converting voters would ideally be a central goal, it is difficult, requiring knowledgeable and charismatic canvassers, and time-consuming. To reach every voter in a district a canvasser cannot spend more than one or two minutes per person, rarely enough time to have a significant discussion. Persuasion canvassing will often involve the dropping of literature and campaign marketing materials like lawn signs, window signs, and bumper stickers (given to supporters).
As canvassers work a population they will often make careful notes and use classification codes to record their interaction with the public.
There are two basic types of canvassing: field canvasses and phone canvasses.
Field canvasses
Field canvasses are done by going door to door to every home and apartment in a district, a ZIP code or some other unit of geographic measurement. They have the advantage that people are generally more open to talking to someone in person and literature can be delivered and lawn signs put up at the same time as the canvass. A field canvass can also guarantee completeness as each house can be accounted for. A field canvass is usually done by one or two individuals, either both at one door, or one on each side of the street.
For Contractors utilizing "Field Canvassing" it works best when working around a current or previous jobsite. Otherwise called Jobsite Radiation.
There are Consultants available for Contractors interested in learning more about this type of Canvassing. For more info, please check your search engine or call the Procanvasser for more information.
Candidate canvasses
A variation of the field canvass is a candidate canvass; these are done with the actual candidate in a district. These have great potential as people are far more likely to vote for a candidate they have seen in person. With only one candidate, however, time is a valuable commodity. The candidate is thus usually accompanied by a half dozen or more volunteers who knock on doors.
If they find no one home the candidate does not go to that home. If they find a person the volunteer finds out if they would like to meet the candidate. If they would the volunteer signals the candidate.
This technique optimizes the amount of time a candidate spends speaking to potential voters.
Phone canvasses
Phone canvasses can reach more people more quickly than a field canvass; messages can be left on answering machines and there is far less exertion on the part of volunteers. A phone bank environment also means knowledgeable coordinators can keep far closer track of what the volunteers are doing. In rural areas phone canvasses are the only method efficient enough to reach most voters. Apartment buildings are also often better reached by phone canvasses as residents there are unused to and discomfited by opening the door to strangers. There are a number of disadvantages, however. Many voters are put off by anything resembling telemarketing. Getting an accurate and up-to-date list of phone numbers for everyone in a district is very difficult with a considerable percent of numbers becoming out of date in only a few months.
Based on the experience of the Procanvasser, when done the right way, Phone Canvassing can be very effective. The Important thing to remember is to have the right script, and attitude when contacting prospects.
See also
List of democracy and elections-related topics
Political campaign staff
Progressive Action Network - trains and develops canvass leadership for progressive organizations in the US
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