Hey precinct captains, I need some advice!

[wildeyed]

I am planning a 1st time precinct get together. My precinct is basically unorganized. I am precinct captain, and I did a little canvassing on my own last year, but this is my first effort at recruiting additional volunteers. I have a list of register dems who voted in the last local election. I asked for primary records, but somehow those were unavailable, so last year's low turnout election is the best I have to go on as far as who in my precinct is a committed dem.

My first question, what type of gathering should this be? Would an afternoon get together on the weekend with coffee and snacks be best, or should I go all out and try to do a meal? Maybe an after dinner event on a weeknight? I dunno, I am hesitant to do a full meal, and I wonder if people want to dedicate that much time to a new organization. Also, should I try to get a few candidates to speak?

Second, what type of invite should I do? I was thinking maybe postcards with a hand written hello if I have time.

How should I word the invites? Hi, come over and I will make you do work and try to get your money, or would something about talking about local politics be better?

Finally, once I succeed in enticing a few brave souls into my den of local politics, how should I word my pitch? What I really want is to recruit block captains. My second goal would be to raise some money for the local party.

I know this is a lot to answer, but I figure that any number of you have done this before and can give me the 411. Thanks in advance! I have cross posted this in the Precinct-level Politics Group, but I though I would post here so a wider group of folks might see it and be able to help.

[demnan]

1. I don't know and you didn't say where you are from

but I just got through participating in a grass-roots effort for Andrew Hurst for Congress here in Northern Virginia. You don't even need the niceties if you have the candidate there as we had. The parking lot and some bottled water suficied,

The lists of what and how to do were most important. You need to contact your county and state organizations for advice. They have databases and information on who you should canvas. Contact them first before doing anything locally.

Good Luck! Fight the good fight! :)

[wildeyed]

2. I have a list of voters in my precinct already.

Now I am trying to build up a base of volunteers who will be willing to canvass just a few blocks every year before the election. This year we don't have any compelling candidates in my district. The most interesting races, IMO, will be the at-large County Commissioners races. I am more thinking ahead to 08. I want to have a good team in place and be really prepared. What I learned in 04 was that an organization doesn't just materialize over night, no matter how hard you work.

Thanks for the encouragement! Sounds like you did good in your race, too. :)

[Emit]

3. wildeyed

I have been team building my entire district with the help of about five dedicated section coordinators over the previous few months. Our experience shows that bringing people together for a party/dinner/etc. is not as successful as other techniques. What has been most successful for us instead is taking the same sort of list you describe and, in the evening b/w 6-8 pm, walking and knocking and talking to potential volunteers. If you can find just one other person to do this with you, it is better for a few reasons: safety, camaraderie, and it gives the person your trying to recruit the sense that you already have a team to build on. If you can't do it with another person, do it alone until you find someone to go with you -- I have walked alone in many cases. Or, you can make phone calls and see if you can just bring one person on board.

For example, since we've been doing that, in the last two weeks alone, we have added 8 new members to our team. This is in contrast to a previous attempt at e-mailers (which yielded 0 -- repeat -- 0 responses) and calls, which was somewhat successful, but less personal. Also to note, one of my section coordinators did something similar to what you are planning -- first she called from a list of about 30 previous Dem activists in her section (a section holds about 5 precincts). 5 people showed up to her party -- 2 agreed to volunteer -- only one so far has remained committed.

When I go out with my team members, we just tell the person who we're targeting that we're volunteers, that we're going door to door talking with registered Dems, and we ask them whether they have questions or issues about the upcoming election -- and at this point, if they do and they talk as if they are as disgusted by things as we are, we ask them to volunteer.

Also, and I discussed this on a thread in the Precinct-level Politics group, I hosted a party for a Dem Assembly candidate a couple of months ago -- I sent out 53 personal invites to 106 people. 24 people RSVP'd saying they would come. 8 people showed. 4 of the 8 were my own team members who knew the candidate personally. 4 were my next door neighbors.

Anyway, if you do still plan to do this, I would call people first, introduce yourself, tell them what you're planning, announce the party, send an invite, follow up with a phone call a week before the party, as well as a phone call a day before or the day of the party. I know it sounds like too much, but, I wish I had done that for my party. $300 worth of food went to waste (I had a salad party--unfortunately, it's not the kind of leftovers that last long), and I was kinda' embarrassed for myself and the candidate.

Which ever way you go, good luck to you and thank you, thank you for doing this. We need more like you!!

Edited to add, we have had, as a team, several dinners and pot lucks to discuss team goals and expectations. These can be very effective -- we continue to add to our invite lists the new comers to these parties/team meetings.

[wildeyed]

5. I will think on this.

Great ideas, and that is why I am posting, to find out other's experiences and find the most efficient way to proceed. I guess I could take one evening a week and walk the neighborhood. If it is not working out, I could always go to plan B.

[Emit]

6. If I had received an invite in the mail in 2000, '01, '02, '03 or '04

inviting me to join a team, I would've shown up for sure -- in a heart beat. It never ceases to amaze me, though, how some people, even those who are as fed up as I am, just do not get involved. Instead, I had to seek the party out out on my own. I don't know why they are hesitant to get involved, especially at this point.

From our calls and door knocks, we have had people thank us for reaching out -- they say, "Thanks for doing this..."

To me, that is why the face to face discussion is so much more effective -- or even phone calling. Once you have a group of interested people, then having a successful meeting/dinner party is more likely. I think in my neighborhood, people probably thought 'who the heck is this person and how did they get my name and address!!?'

Anyway, again, good luck and let us all know how it goes for you.

[WhiteTara]

4. we are horribly disorganized as well

we have monthly meetings at a local bank conference room (it's free and a public place). We set our meetings for the 3rd Tuesday of each month. We have a working meeting at 6 and a general meeting at 7pm. We chose evening because so many people work. Once monthly give some continuity and is doable for most people. We are setting up an email system (slow going and like pulling teeth)

We send out a monthly newsletter before our meetings so that people know what we have been doing and what we are trying to acheive.

We are working this from the local angle with national tie in. Good luck.