“How to Organize & Reach Your Precinct” by David Whitehead Jr.

This presentation has been created specifically for new Republican Precinct

“How to Organize & Reach Your Precinct” by David Whitehead Jr.

This presentation has been created specifically for new Republican Precinct

Chairmen who have little or no experience at working their Precinct, with the

purpose of providing a simple but working knowledge of Precinct Outreach, without

overwhelming them with too much information and complicated details all at one

time.

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Click to the next slide to begin the presentation.

(Presenter: This is just the “bona fides” page, you need not go through it with your

audience.)

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Goals of the Precinct Chairman

Most worthwhile endeavors have clear and concise goals that must be

Goals of the Precinct Chairman

Most worthwhile endeavors have clear and concise goals that must be

accomplished. The task of the Precinct Chairman is no different.

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Maximize Republican Votes

When it comes to reaching your Precinct, there are basically two goals. The first

Maximize Republican Votes

When it comes to reaching your Precinct, there are basically two goals. The first

and most important of the two goals is to rally every Republican Voter for every

election cycle; you should consider it to be your Prime Directive to do everything

you can to MAXIMIZE the number of Republican votes in your Precinct.

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Increase Number of Republican Voters

The second goal, increasing the number of Republican Voters in your Precinct, will

Increase Number of Republican Voters

The second goal, increasing the number of Republican Voters in your Precinct, will

be far less critical during the campaign season, but will be of significant importance

over the long haul.

In short, your goals are to constantly strengthen the Republican Base in your

Precinct and to constantly make it bigger.

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Four Steps to Fulfilling those Goals

There are basically four steps to keep in mind when fulfilling your goals as you

Four Steps to Fulfilling those Goals

There are basically four steps to keep in mind when fulfilling your goals as you

reach out to your Precinct:

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Confirmation – You will need to confirm that all Republicans in your Precinct are

registered to vote and are equipped with everything they need to actualize their vote.

Confirmation – You will need to confirm that all Republicans in your Precinct are

registered to vote and are equipped with everything they need to actualize their vote.

(Presenter: You might need to stop here and show your viewers how your county

office requires them to confirm voters, and show them what they will need.)

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Education – You will need to educate all Republican voters in your Precinct on the

issues, candidates, propositions, and when and where to vote.

Education – You will need to educate all Republican voters in your Precinct on the

issues, candidates, propositions, and when and where to vote.

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Mobilization – You will need to get all Republican voters in your Precinct to the

polls on Election Day, or do everything you can to make certain they vote; either on

Mobilization – You will need to get all Republican voters in your Precinct to the

polls on Election Day, or do everything you can to make certain they vote; either on

Election Day, or before by early voting.

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Propagation – You will need to propagate the Republican message, Republican

ideals and Republican values in your Precinct by Grass Roots conversions of non

Propagation – You will need to propagate the Republican message, Republican

ideals and Republican values in your Precinct by Grass Roots conversions of non

Republicans in your Precinct, and by bringing up and educating young Republicans in

your Precinct.

This one clearly takes place over a long period of time, but the difference it will

make is inestimable.

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Direct Outreach Strategies

Different Precincts have to be worked differently, but the basic strategies usually

Direct Outreach Strategies

Different Precincts have to be worked differently, but the basic strategies usually

apply to most Precincts.

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Block Walking“Face to face contact increases voter participation over other methods by as much as eight “Face to face contact increases voter participation over other methods by as much as eight

to twelve percent.” (“Getting Out the Youth Vote: Results from Randomized Field Experiments” by Donald Green and Alan Gerber, Yale University, 2001)

When it comes to being a successful Precinct Chairman, Block Walking is absolutely necessary to your success. There are a number of reasons to Block Walk your Precinct, and you can usually take care of most of them in one visit:•To confirm registered voters•To welcome new Republican voters to your precinct•To distribute voter registration cards to Republican voters•To distribute applications for early voting ballots!•To campaign for Republican candidates•To answer questions concerning issues•To make certain they know where the polls for your precinct are•To mobilize Republican voters to the polls•To prospect for Republican volunteers

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Flyers/Handbills

If you simply have little time for Block Walking and meeting and talking to Voters,

Flyers/Handbills

If you simply have little time for Block Walking and meeting and talking to Voters,

the next best thing is to leave flyers or handbills at their door.

A Flyer or Handbill is simply a circular for mass distribution. It announces an event

and calls for immediate action. Flyers are perfect for announcing events that anyone

and everyone can attend, and work well for reminding Republicans to vote on

Election Day. When designing Flyers, remember:

•A Flyer is a Billboard on Paper

•Flyers are for immediate impact only

•Remember to limit the piece to one objective

•Have a straightforward message

•Remember that less is more

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Direct Mail

Direct mail is another excellent way to reach your Precinct, though it has several

Direct Mail

Direct mail is another excellent way to reach your Precinct, though it has several

immediate drawbacks. First, it is not as cost effective as most other ways of reaching

your Precinct. The cost of postage alone can be very daunting, especially for those

Precinct Chairmen who are operating on a shoestring. Second, there is no real

guarantee your letters are being read.

However, a one time introduction mailing can be very effective if it is followed up

by phone calls and door to door Block Walking, as it provides an excellent lead in for

the contact: “My name is John Doe, I am your new Precinct Chairman, did you

happen to receive the letter I sent you….”

If you choose to do some limited target mailing, here are some helpful hints to

insure it gets opened and read:

•The more personalized the piece, the better

•Address it by hand

•Use a pretty stamp! (Go with something Republicans will like, such as the Ronald

Reagan stamps or something from the Revolutionary War!)

•A longer letter gets read more often than a short one

•Don’t send it at the same time bills arrive

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Calling/TextingThe Successful Precinct Chairman is certainly not afraid of the telephone; he/she makes dynamic and effective use of the

telephone to prospect, recruit, inform, coordinate, and mobilize the troops. The Successful Precinct Chairman is certainly not afraid of the telephone; he/she makes dynamic and effective use of the

telephone to prospect, recruit, inform, coordinate, and mobilize the troops. Mastery of effective phoning will put you ahead of the competition and as with all else, practice is the mother of mastery.

Everything you do to optimize that mastery will guarantee a freer nation and a more Republican political climate.Here are some effective fundamentals for phoning:

•Create a clean quiet place for yourself to do your calling where you won’t be interrupted•Always smile when calling! The smile will carry over to the person on the other end who will more than likely respond in kind•Try standing up when you call! Believe it or not this makes you feel stronger, and it adds power to your voice and demeanor•Use a timer! One major obstacle to effective phoning, especially when it comes to politics, is valuable time wasted on long conversations. Even though the long conversations are on topic, it cuts down on the time you have to speak to other importantcontacts. Five to ten minutes should be all you need to accomplish your goals with each prospect, ten to twenty with recruits –no more than that if you have an entire evening of calls to make•Write out and practice what you are going to say! Nothing takes the place of practice, and having a script in front of you will also keep you from forgetting what you want to say, and what you want to accomplish from this call•If you are prospecting for voters or recruits, make note of the objections you get, and try out different answers when you come across those objections till you find answers that are successful•Keep a record of your calls and any information you glean from them – you never know when a bit of information about a prospect like the names of their children or certain interests or hobbies of theirs might end up being useful or pertinent•Never argue•Remember to thank them at the end of the conversation

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Social Media

Let’s face it; social media has become the main mode of entertainment, personal

Social Media

Let’s face it; social media has become the main mode of entertainment, personal

connections and interactive networks for this generation. The Precinct Chairman that

ignores social media does so at his own peril. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are

three of the best ways to form and maintain relationships with the Voters in your

Precinct.

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Networking

Community networking can also be very effective when it comes to reaching your

Networking

Community networking can also be very effective when it comes to reaching your

Precinct and being visible in it. Join the local organizations; attend church, join the

trade and professional organizations, join the civic groups. Become active in these

organizations by serving on committees, participating in activities, taking on

leadership roles in such organizations as the Rotary Club, or Lions Club, or the

Chamber of Commerce.

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Follow Up Outreach

Once you have made initial contact with your Voters, there are things you can ask

Follow Up Outreach

Once you have made initial contact with your Voters, there are things you can ask

them to do that will help win more Republican votes in your Precinct.

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Yard Signs

Some of your Voters will agree to put up signs in their yard for the campaign

Yard Signs

Some of your Voters will agree to put up signs in their yard for the campaign

season; you can get yard signs from the Candidates themselves, and from your local

Republican County Office. Often, it can be doubly effective if you can put up signs at

the traffic choke points entering and exiting your neighborhood.

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Meet and Greets

Possibly the best way to introduce a Candidate to your Precinct is to host a “Meet

Meet and Greets

Possibly the best way to introduce a Candidate to your Precinct is to host a “Meet

and Greet” at your home or local meeting hall. If you wish to host it in your home, be

certain your home is large enough to comfortably accommodate the number of

guests you are expecting. Be mindful of the calendar, and don’t schedule the meeting

when it could clash with a holiday or other important event. Use every method

possible for inviting your neighbors and announcing the meeting to your Precinct.

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Email

Upon your first contact with your Voters offer to keep them in the loop and ask

Email

Upon your first contact with your Voters offer to keep them in the loop and ask

them for their email address. Send them a monthly or bi-monthly email message to

keep them updated on the Candidates and issues that affect them. This is also a soft

way to keep them interested and involved.

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Newsletter

Once you begin sending emails to your Voters you can improve upon your updates

Newsletter

Once you begin sending emails to your Voters you can improve upon your updates

by turning them into a newsletter. A monthly newsletter for your Voters will not only

keep them in the loop, but if you add a monthly calendar of events and perhaps even

an article or two, they might actually look forward to receiving them. It is not unheard

of to add recipes and other personal interest columns to keep it fresh and

entertaining.

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Website

If you find your emails and newsletter to be successful, then perhaps you might

Website

If you find your emails and newsletter to be successful, then perhaps you might

venture to set up a webpage where your Voters can go to get your information and

see your calendar of events at their leisure. It would also be a great way to introduce

new neighbors to the community and get them plugged in right away. Offering a blog

and a place for your Voters to interact would also be a great addition.

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Structuring Your Outreach

How are you going to organize and structure your Precinct Outreach in order to

Structuring Your Outreach

How are you going to organize and structure your Precinct Outreach in order to

optimize the time and labor it takes to reach it? Will you do all the work yourself?

Will you build a volunteer staff and organize according to the geography of your

Precinct – that is, appointing Block Captains and Street Coordinators and such, or will

you organize according to the types of tasks, appointing someone in charge of Block

Walking, and another as a phone bank leader? Or will you organize according to

chronological events and projects, charging each volunteer with a different project on

the calendar?

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Task Centered Outreach

Perhaps the easiest structure to begin, keep, and maintain, is the Task Centered

Task Centered Outreach

Perhaps the easiest structure to begin, keep, and maintain, is the Task Centered

Structure. Most large companies are run with this structure because it is the easiest

to manage. Simply put, the occupation of reaching your Precinct is divided among

your volunteers according to the different types of tasks required. Each and every

volunteer attempts to reach your Precinct according to the task they are given.

In an optimal scenario, each and every major task is carried out by a volunteer or

number of volunteers, and they carry out this same task for each and every event. For

example, one volunteer always carries out the task of Block Walking, and another

always handles the task of telephone prospecting. Another always takes care of all

mail outs, and even another always handles all computer work. For each and every

event that comes along, these volunteers continue to handle and maintain the same

task every time.

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Event Centered Outreach

The Event Centered Structure is exactly that – a structure centered on

Event Centered Outreach

The Event Centered Structure is exactly that – a structure centered on

chronological events sponsored in your Precinct. From elections to parties and from

meetings to mobilizations, each type of event is handled by a different volunteer or

group of volunteers. The weakness of this structure is that the event crew must be

able to capably handle each and every task associated with that event. On the other

hand, each particular crew only handles one event each year, or each election cycle;

other crews handle the other events.

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Geography Centered Outreach

The old “Street and Block” method is the widest used of all the structures when it

Geography Centered Outreach

The old “Street and Block” method is the widest used of all the structures when it

comes to how Precinct Chairmen reach their Precincts. The Precinct Chairman simply

find volunteers to put in charge of one or more streets or blocks in his Precinct, and

leaves it up to them to act as “little precinct chairs” of their own set of streets or

blocks. They see to it every Republican on their street is registered, informed, and is

mobilized to vote on Election Day. The weakness of this concept is that some leaders

may not be pulling their weight, and that in larger Precincts, some leaders may have

too many residents to effectively manage. The strength of this approach is of course

that as long as the leaders are doing their jobs of phoning, Block Walking, and

mobilizing, the Precinct Chairman needs only deal directly with the leaders most of

the time.

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Finding Help/Recruiting

Going it alone isn’t easy. The task of reaching your Precinct becomes much easier

Finding Help/Recruiting

Going it alone isn’t easy. The task of reaching your Precinct becomes much easier

and much more fun when you find people to help you get the job done. But where do

you find people to help reach your Precinct?

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Friends/Family/Neighbors

Don’t overlook the obvious! Spouses, teens, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers;

Friends/Family/Neighbors

Don’t overlook the obvious! Spouses, teens, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers;

they can all lend a hand! Get your best friends together for a Saturday of block

walking and then have a barbecue afterward!

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Precinct Convention Attendees

You know those folks who showed up for your Precinct Convention at the end of

Precinct Convention Attendees

You know those folks who showed up for your Precinct Convention at the end of

Election Day? There are your Block Captains right there!

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Meet and Greet Attendees

The Voters who care enough to attend your Meet and Greet are a cut above!

Meet and Greet Attendees

The Voters who care enough to attend your Meet and Greet are a cut above!

Perhaps they will be receptive to holding a Meet and Greet at their home too!

Sometimes you can send them straight from your meeting to pass out flyers to their

immediate neighbors! Even if they don’t want to actually be a Block Captain, you can

often get them to work their block anyway.

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Local Republican Club Members

Don’t overlook the grass roots folks who attend the various Republican Clubs and

Local Republican Club Members

Don’t overlook the grass roots folks who attend the various Republican Clubs and

Conservative Groups in your area. Most of these good people are a great untapped

reserve of help and backup. The Young Republicans are full of energy and the retired

Republicans have more free time than most and are a source of wisdom and

experience.

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Tips for Recruiting

Once you have decided on an organizational structure and put your structure in

Tips for Recruiting

Once you have decided on an organizational structure and put your structure in

place, you will want to begin populating it with people to help you in your task.

Remember to have your structure in place, and jobs waiting to be filled before you go

prospecting.

For many of us, few things can be as daunting as recruiting volunteers. It’s not easy

asking others to work for free, even when that work serves a worthy cause.

Fortunately there are many ways to overcome this problem, and many more small

things you can do to make it easier, and even enjoyable.

Another problem that many of us deal with is the feeling that we are employing

manipulation or coercion when attempting to convince a prospect to volunteer, and

that makes us nervous. But recruiting volunteers doesn’t have to involve such tactics;

otherwise, all recruitment would be a sneaky and underhanded business.

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Be Prepared at all Times to Recruit

Volunteers are found in a variety of ways. Often you can find volunteers just by

Be Prepared at all Times to Recruit

Volunteers are found in a variety of ways. Often you can find volunteers just by

going about your daily business and bumping into people who are interested in

helping. Other times it requires work on your part to locate and sell prospects on the

positions needed. Be ready at a moment’s notice to recruit.

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Know Your Message

Write your recruiting message down and memorize it. You want it to be short and

Know Your Message

Write your recruiting message down and memorize it. You want it to be short and

pithy; if it can’t fit on a three by five card then it’s too long. Example: “You seem like

someone who cares what’s going to happen…what would you do if you knew you

could affect our election? …That’s great, we just happen to need someone with your

talents…”

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Have Positions Clearly Spelled Out

Before going about your recruiting responsibilities, you should get organized, and

Have Positions Clearly Spelled Out

Before going about your recruiting responsibilities, you should get organized, and

have your organization ready to receive the volunteers. Nothing could discourage

your prospects and recruits more, than finding that after you have so deftly

persuaded them, you don’t know what to do with them! Therefore you should

already have your positions clearly defined and ready for them to step into.

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Be Crystal Clear

Have you ever worked with someone and found that after communicating with

Be Crystal Clear

Have you ever worked with someone and found that after communicating with

them they somehow got the wrong message from you and carried out the wrong

responsibilities, or worse, carried out their tasks in the wrong manner? After

delegating responsibilities to volunteers and recruits, always SHOW them what you

need by example, and then give them the opportunity to demonstrate it back to you,

just to make sure.

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ALWAYS Thank Them

Everyone needs to be appreciated. Thank your volunteers and recruits constantly;

ALWAYS Thank Them

Everyone needs to be appreciated. Thank your volunteers and recruits constantly;

thank them in writing, thank them in person, and thank them and recognize their

contribution in front of others.

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Bonus Strategies

Sometimes there are short cuts to reaching your Precinct, and certain people who

Bonus Strategies

Sometimes there are short cuts to reaching your Precinct, and certain people who

can make it far easier for you. One of the most overlooked methods of reaching ones

Precinct is the use of individuals with special and unique abilities to help you due to

their experience, contacts, and location.

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Mentor

Joshua had Moses. Luke Skywalker had Yoda. My Mother in Law had Satan.

Mentor

Joshua had Moses. Luke Skywalker had Yoda. My Mother in Law had Satan.

A Mentor is a person who already knows your responsibilities well, and can help

ease you into them. In your case, a good Mentor would be a former Precinct

Chairman of your Precinct, or a Chairman of another Precinct who already knows the

ropes. Often an Old Hand who volunteered often under past Precinct Chairmen in

your Precinct could be the most helpful of all!

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Protégé

Sherlock Holmes had Watson. Batman had Robin. Scooby Doo had Scrappy Doo.

Protégé

Sherlock Holmes had Watson. Batman had Robin. Scooby Doo had Scrappy Doo.

Every Precinct Chairman needs a protégé as a backup. You never know when you

might be sick and need someone who knows all the ropes to step in and take over for

a few days, or simply someone who adds moral support at all times.

Teach your protégé everything! Show them how to do every job, and make sure

they have access to all information and equipment. Then one day when you wish to

retire from your position, you have someone who can step in and take over without a

hitch!

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Gatekeepers

A person in your precinct or community who already knows the people you need

Gatekeepers

A person in your precinct or community who already knows the people you need

something from is a Gatekeeper. Gatekeepers can be very helpful in introducing you

to people you would otherwise have to track down yourself or take months or even

years to meet and become acquainted with! Can you think of some people in your

Precinct who could open some doors for you or introduce you to many of your

Voters?

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Key Masters

Where a Gatekeeper opens doors for you and points you to others, a Key Master is

Key Masters

Where a Gatekeeper opens doors for you and points you to others, a Key Master is

just the opposite; he points people to you. Are there people in your Precinct with the

distinct position of being in contact with a large number of your neighbors and

Voters? Someone such as a Barber or Hairdresser, or Veterinarian, who practices their

business right there in your Precinct, can be very effective in striking up conversations

with their local patrons on your behalf. Who do you know that can send the Voters to

you?

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Many of the photographs used in this presentation are used by the permission of

Bob Green and Bob Green Photography. Thanks Bob!

Many of the photographs used in this presentation are used by the permission of

Bob Green and Bob Green Photography. Thanks Bob!

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Final PageFinal Page

(Presenter: Please remain on this page while you continue discussion.)

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