Anyone who has ever knocked on doors or phone banked for a candidate knows just how important voter identification (ID) is to political campaigns. Most campaigns spend months identifying supporters door-by-door (I’ve spent a few cold Chicago winters this way) but miss out on a great opportunity to also ID supporters on their campaign website.
Below are 3 easy steps your campaign can take to ID voters and increase sign-ups on your political website.
1) Engage Users with a Simple Yes or No Question. Are You In?
Start by creating a popover with a simple yes or no question for new website visitors like “Can Congressman Smith Count on Your Vote?” If the user clicks “No” they return to what they were doing but if they click “Yes” they are prompted to enter their name, email, phone and zip in order to commit to vote. The entire process takes about 15 seconds but it gives you all the data you need on your new confirmed supporter aka plus.
FYI – Don’t be worried about constantly annoying website visitors; it is easy to cache a visitor so they only see the message on a single occasion before Election Day.
2) ID Your New Supporter in the Voter File
Now that you have a name, phone number and zip you should be able to easily track down your supporter in the voter file and mark them for GOTV outreach. You also have everything you need to email your supporter voting instructions, their polling place location or a voter registration form.
FYI – Don’t be worried if this all sounds like a lot of work; most voter files include APIs that will allow your website developer to automate this entire process.
3) Knock On Your New Supporter’s Door and Make Sure They Vote Early or on Election Day
There’s no cutting corners on this part, get out there and pound the pavement or the dial pad to get your supporter out to vote early or on Election Day.
BONUS STEP: Make the Process Social
After your new supporter has made the big commitment give them the tools to easily tell their friends about it via social networks. This will give your supporter something interesting share on Facebook (they can save the picture of last night’s dinner for another time) and it will double as a personal endorsement for your candidate across social networks.
