I'm not gonna lie, I really like it when people ask me for advice! I especially like when they ask me for advice about GOTV because that, ladies and gentlemen, is my jam. Yesterday I had a conversation with a strapping young man with whom I had GO'dTV before. He is running GOTV on his own for the first time and he wanted to know what questions he should be asking himself. I knew he had been through enough campaigns to know about volunteer recruitment, staging location roles, etc, but needed to hear details that might slip through his fingers. Behold! A list of twenty frequently overlooked questions you should be asking yourself when planing a campaign-wide GOTV operation:
1)Who will be staffing my candidate on election day? (Should be someone he trusts and likes a lot who can keep him on time, keep him calm, make sure he eats, but will dutifully check in with and take instructions from the campaign.)
2)Who is responsible for answering the phones in the office on election day? Campaign staff and Team Leaders can't be taking attention away from their jobs, but someone needs to answer when voters call asking where to vote (and a myriad of other questions). This person should be a trusted and strict friend of the campaign who can restore order under chaos and be comfortable directing traffic.
3)If there are family members/activists who will need a role on election day, but who you do not want running a location or in the headquarters, what will their role be?
4)Who will be allowed in the boiler room?
5)Who is authorized to talk to the press on election day?
6)When is my candidate going to vote?
7)When am I/is my staff going to vote?
8)How will we get volunteers/resources/food between staging locations? (Van, drivers, gas cards?)
9)What unions/organizations/electeds are endorsing us, can they give us bodies or lend us staff on election day?
10)What are endorsing electeds doing on election day, can they stump with or for your candidate?
11)What is our election protection plan?
12)What is the phone number to call if a site does not open on time?
13)Do we need to hold a training for poll watchers?
14)Do our poll watchers need credentials?
15)What is our system for getting numbers back from the polls on election day?
16)Who has phone numbers for the other candidates (in God forbid case that your candidate needs to call and concede)?
17)If we will have a paid canvass for the first time during GOTV, how will they pick up their paychecks after the election?
18)What happens if we run out of phone lines?
19)Do my staging locations have internet access?
20)Where and when will printing for walk and phone packets happen?/Do we have ink?
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