campus election volunteer guide

8/14/2019 CAMPUS ELECTION VOLUNTEER GUIDE

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ORGANIZING A CAMPUS TO VOTEA CONCISE GUIDECampus Compact's2008 Campus Vote Initiative has some great voter engagement

resources. It and Your Vote, Your Voice offer schools all they need to conduct anonpartisan effort to register their students to vote, help them think through relevant

issues, and encourage them to volunteer in the campaigns, whatever their political beliefs.

But how do people at any given campus start the process? And how do staffers orvolunteers, like at a state Campus Compact, engage other schools? Here are suggestions

for organizing your own and othercampuses:

FOR YOUR OWN CAMPUS

Use existing organizing resources. Skim the 2008 Campus Vote Initiative's resources: It

offers great examples, explanations, and templates so you won't have to reinvent the

wheel. Use the concise CampusChecklist, which draws on both theCampus VoteInitiativeand the complementary Your Vote, Your Voice to summarize key approaches

and list key offices or departments to contact.

Integrate into current activitiesthen expand your efforts. Find out what's alreadyhappening on your campus. Plan so you can fill gaps and strengthen existing efforts.

Build a team involving as many of the key offices and departments as possible, plus

anyone else who wants to help. Most campuses have some logical starting placesthecommunity service center, the office of student affairs. But anyone who is enthusiastic

enough can help enormously, whatever their position. Some schools have full-scale voter

engagement efforts launched by top administrators or senior professors. At others theinitiative came from a campus librarian, counselor, secretary, or engaged student. You

may not know all the key people at first, but one office can usually lead you to another. If

you get enough energetic people involved, together you can engage all the necessaryoffices and departments, and follow up to ensure they're doing all they need to.

Help your school fulfill its legal mandate. Campus Compact'sCampus Vote Initiative is

based on tried and tested approaches, so engaging your school should be straightforward.If a key department or office resists, remember that postsecondary institutions are legally

required to do their best to distribute voter registration forms to each degree- or

certificate-seeking student they enroll, so you're helping them to take that mandateseriously. Most state registration deadlines are the week of October 6: See the League of

Women Voters election site, Vote411.Org, which is also a great resource on national and

statewide candidates and campaigns.

Help students volunteerwhatever their political views. As you're ensuring that every

possible student is registered, create opportunities for them to reflect on their political

choices. The2008 Campus Vote Initiative and accompanying CampusChecklist offerexcellent nonpartisan ways to do that. These sites andYour Vote, Your Voicealso give

useful tips for encouraging students to volunteer with whichever campaigns they choose

to support. This involvement can be particularly important, because once students startvolunteering in these kinds of efforts, they tend to continue throughout their lives. You
http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.yourvoteyourvoice.org/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.yourvoteyourvoice.org/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://yourvoteyourvoice.org/nandb.htmlhttp://yourvoteyourvoice.org/nandb.htmlhttp://www.vote411.org/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.yourvoteyourvoice.org/http://www.yourvoteyourvoice.org/http://www.yourvoteyourvoice.org/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.yourvoteyourvoice.org/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.yourvoteyourvoice.org/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://yourvoteyourvoice.org/nandb.htmlhttp://yourvoteyourvoice.org/nandb.htmlhttp://www.vote411.org/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.yourvoteyourvoice.org/


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can help by giving out the websites and phone numbers of relevant national and local

campaigns, and helping students connect with groups like the College Republicans and

College Democrats, or other on-campus efforts of the McCain orObama campaigns. Ifstudents feel that the winner of their state is a forgone conclusion, they can volunteer with

these same national campaigns by calling voters in other states. While your first priority

is to make sure your school works to register all eligible students, your second is toengage students with this election in all other ways you can, while respecting their

diversity of political beliefs. The more you reach out, the more you'll make it likely that

both aspects succeed.

Start NOWdon't wait till fall. Organizing may be difficult during the summer,

because many faculty and staff and most students are away.But to register and engage as

many students as possible, schools will need a structure inplacebefore students returnfor Fall classes. Thats particularly true if you want to engage them (and register them to

vote) during programs like first-yearorientation. So start as quickly as you can, draw in

more people as you go, and plan easy ways for entering and returning students to jump in

as soon as they arrive on your campus. You might even give the project an official name,like Campus Election Engagement Team, so people who participate can get credit for

their service to the campus.

A few more suggestions:

Establish communications. To coordinate within your Election Engagement group, setup regular mechanisms to share information through email, phone calls, meetings, and

online interactive tools.

Contact Campus Compact. Tell your localState Campus Compactthat you're working

on this, so they can pass on relevant information and help you work with nearby schools.

Sign up to connect with others. Soul of a Citizen author Paul Loeb, who's consulting

through Illinois Campus Compact for the 2008 Campus Vote Initiative, has created an

interim campus engagement form you can fill out to connect with other people at yourschool or nearby campuses.

Use the mapping tool. A more comprehensive mapping tool is also being created like the

one that helped FocusTheNationorganize 1900 campus global warming teach-ins thisyear. Data from the interim form will be transferred to the mapping tool when it goes live

in mid to late July. The new tool will let interested people at any given school connect

with others to work together. This tool will be particularly useful for connecting themultiple higher education electoral-involvement efforts. For instance, if a service learning

director takes the lead at your campus, they'll be able to link with a political scientist who

finds out through their national association, and with a student affairs vice president orcampus union director who gets engaged through theirs. The tool will be housed at

www.campusvotemap.org, letting you enter your own information and see who else on

your campus can help. Don't wait for the mapping tool to be available, though. If it's not

yet up and running when you check, log in your information using the interim formand
http://www.johnmccain.com/http://www.barackobama.com/http://www.compact.org/state/listhttp://www.compact.org/state/listhttp://www.compact.org/state/listhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.focusthenation.org/actionmaphttp://www.focusthenation.org/actionmaphttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.campusvotemap.org/http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.johnmccain.com/http://www.barackobama.com/http://www.compact.org/state/listhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.focusthenation.org/actionmaphttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.campusvotemap.org/http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3d


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start organizing your campus to engage its students. The sooner you begin, the more

impact you'll have.

Start now:

Use the summer to prepare for fall, building structures and procedures for when

students return. Skim through thechecklist andwebsites to get ideas for your campusThey have

all the tools, models and templates you need.

See what's already going on and who's involved.

Work with existing efforts and enlist other strong allies to help.

Identify gaps and consider ways to fill them, either through new initiatives or

strengthening existing ones.

Contact faculty and administrators in charge of relevant offices or departments

Involve student leaders.

Share existing online resources and any new ones you find.

Coordinate by email, phone calls, meetings, and online tools.

Sign in first using our interimform, and then the Google mapping tool. Keepyour

state Campus Compact posted.

Follow-up to make sure key aspects don't fall through the cracks.

Work where useful with other nearby schools.

Forward creative initiatives not already on the Compactsiteto webmasterKaren

Partridge, so she can add them.

When it's over, pass on relevant lessons to your campus service learning office

and yourstate Campus Compact, so they'll know what worked and what didn't for

next time.

Have funyou're engaging students in the core work of democracy.

Thanks again for taking on this task.
http://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.campusvotemap.org/http://www.campusvotemap.org/http://www.compact.org/state/listhttp://www.compact.org/state/listhttp://www.compact.org/state/listhttp://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.compact.org/state/listhttp://www.compact.org/state/listhttp://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.campusvotemap.org/http://www.compact.org/state/listhttp://www.compact.org/state/listhttp://www.compact.org/vote/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.compact.org/state/list


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FOR PEOPLE ORGANIZING OTHER CAMPUSES OR WORKING

STATEWIDE

Here are some additional suggestions if you're organizing other campuses or workingstatewide. Start with the suggestions above, since they'll tell you what needs to happen on

the campuses you work with.

Pick schools to engage. Once you have a sense of the available resources and useful

approaches, figure out which schools you want to engage. A group from several St. Louis

community colleges, for instance, will be collaborating with the Washington Universityservice learning office, working to involve all the two- and four-year campuses in that

city.

Identify potential contacts. Your initial contact list might be just the people you know at

nearby campuses. But you can also draw on suggestions from your local CampusCompact state office, since they'll work with people at most schoolsoften service

learning directors. If no one knows anyone at a particular campus you want to engage,start with the community service, student affairs, or student government office, which are

most likely to respond. Check (and recheck) who else might have volunteered to help at a

particular campus, using the mapping tool that will be atwww.campusvotemap.orgstarting in mid to late July. The national efforts to engage campuses are less connected

than they might be. This tool will help people connect who come in through any of these

efforts. Don't forget nearby community colleges, whose students may be moreovercommitted and less connected to their campuses, so often vote at lower rates than do

those at four-year schools. If you can help them involve their students, they may be

particularly well-positioned to engage their non-college peers.

Approach the schools and build a plan. After you've drawn up your initial contact list,

and skimmed the resources available on the campus checklist,2008 Campus Vote

Initiative, and Your Vote, Your Voice, startcontacting people. See what efforts are alreadygoing on,which offices are already involved, and which need to be engaged. Sharethe

checklist and the companion section of this guide to show the engagement tools to those

involved. Identify gaps in current efforts and figure out together what would be feasibleand effective for each particular campus you work with. Ideally, you'll find a key

individual or group to help get things going at each school, and can brainstorm with them

on how they can best navigate the bureaucratic hurdles and enlist the support they'll need.

You want to make one individual your prime contact person, but having a backup in caseyou can't reach them. This person could have an obvious campus role: for instance, the

service learning director ora sympathetic staffer in thepresident's or provost's office. But

it could also be any faculty or staff member (or key student leader) who know enoughabout how the campus works and has the enthusiasm to make something happen. Use

your intuition and remember that if you want to build actual relationships, you need

direct conversations, although email and other online tools can be enormously useful. Tolet additional potential allies find them, participants should enter their info into
http://www.compact.org/state/listhttp://www.focusthenation.org/actionmaphttp://www.campusvotemap.org/http://www.campusvotemap.org/http://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.yourvoteyourvoice.org/http://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.compact.org/state/listhttp://www.focusthenation.org/actionmaphttp://www.campusvotemap.org/http://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.yourvoteyourvoice.org/http://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.compact.org/vote/checklist


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www.campusvotemap.org or ourinterim form if the map is not yet available Suggest that

people assemble a broad enough team so they really can contact all the key departments

and officesand so if one person falters, another will pick up the slack.

Stay in touch. Then you can move on to other schools, but remember to send reminders

to those taking the lead--persistently enough to move things forward, but gently enoughnot to annoy people. Make sure those who've offered to engage their campus are actually

proceeding along the path they've mapped out.

Don't delay. This willbe a major scramble with so many people away for the summer.

Then you and your team will have an all-out sprint before the voter registration deadlines

(in most states, the first week in October)--and then a month later, the actual election. The

more you can help set in motion before students return, the easier things will be whenthey're back. Encourage schools you contact to pay particular attention to time-

dependent opportunities like voter registration efforts that are tied to first-yearorientation

or to the period when students are registering and reregistering for classes. These must be

ready before students return.

To sum up your challenge:

INITIATE

Familiarize yourself with what campuses can do, using thechecklistandwebsite

resources.

Pull together your initial contact list from your state Campus Compact's

suggestions and from people who sign up via the Google mapping tool.

Contact key administrators, faculty, and student leaders at each campus.

Share online resources with them, so they know they're available. Identify current initiatives and respond to potential gaps.

Help participants develop an action plan, using the wealth of available resources.

Get them to sign in using the mapping toolorinterim formso others know to

contact them.

Brainstorm on how they can best navigate campus bureaucracies.

Move on to the next school.

ENCOURAGE

Follow up with earlier contacts to see how things are developing.

Check back on the mapping tool to look for new allies.

Help refine ideas and programspass on ideas from other campuses.

Spread relevant new materials, such as candidate and initiative information.

Funnel innovative ideas to post on the national Campus Compact website.

Keep touching back with people who are involvedcoach them through the

home stretch.
http://www.campusvotemap.org/http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.campusvotemap.org/http://www.campusvotemap.org/http://www.campusvotemap.org/http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.campusvotemap.org/mailto:[email protected]://www.campusvotemap.org/http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.compact.org/vote/checklisthttp://www.compact.org/vote/http://www.campusvotemap.org/http://www.campusvotemap.org/http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rL8c0mUyR0W4w9zqC4W8eA_3d_3dhttp://www.campusvotemap.org/mailto:[email protected]


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REFLECT

After the election, collect useful information and particularly effective practices

from participating schools.

Pass reflections to your State Campus Compact and to the national office, so they

can improve their outreach for next round.

Remember, start early and engage as many schools as you can--even while many staff

members and most students are gone during the summer. By fall, many schools' effortsshould be off and running on their own, and all you'll need to do is keep encouraging

them. You'll then have an all-too-brief two months to engage those that havent gotten

into gear, and to do what you can to help them. Remember that the official Florida marginin 2000 was 537 votes, in New Mexico 368 votes, and the margin in the 2004 Washington

State Governor's race, 129 votes. Whoever the students you help get engaged end up

supporting, you never know the difference that they might make.

campus election volunteer guide

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