With the holidays right around the corner, you’ll want to be sure that your voter’s focus remains on your ballot. Even though it’s not common, some organizations still run important votes at the end of the year. While this is good practice to prepare for next year’s initiatives, it also means that less people are in the office – which results in lower turnout. And as an election manager, you know that high turnout and meeting voting criteria is crucial.
To bring awareness back to your voting event, try these best practices for promoting your vote this holiday season:
Using social media is always a great way to grab your voter’s attention. If you’ve set up a Facebook Group or Company Page, you’ll want to make sure your organizational members join your group or follow you to receive your updates. Advertise your voting event by including an interesting image, as well as a captivating message to get your followers to click-through to your website.
Note: Limit the amount of information you share in Facebook posts to the event name, date and time of the event, and location. Never share passwords or sensitive voter data across social media platforms.
If your organization uses SMS updates, this is an easy way to target your voters with reminders and updates about your upcoming election. You can also include links to your company’s informational voting page (if you have one set up). Since voters can vote from anywhere with an online voting platform, text-based voter campaigns are also useful when reaching members that are out of town or traveling for the holidays. Remember to be mindful of costs to your voters, as some carriers may charge a fee to receive messages.
When you have a lot of information you want to share with your voters about your election, it may be worth it to create an election landing page. A good election landing page will explain the nature of the vote and its importance. It’s also good practice to feature your candidates along with a biography and/or resume. Election landing pages with a detailed FAQ section are super helpful if you’re concerned with voter indecision. Don’t forget to add a link to the voter portal!
An in-house awareness campaign simply means that marketing of your vote is done within your organization. For example, you can elect a group of ambassadors, otherwise known as a voter council, to educate and assist your constituents that are still in the office. Your ambassadors should represent a variety of departments and backgrounds and should be deeply familiar with the voting process and its importance to your organization. In the past, some organizations set up booths in a highly trafficked area to draw as much attention as possible to their upcoming vote. You may also want to have printed documentation about the voting process ready for them to take home and review.
Voter email campaigns are a standard best practice for informing and educating voters and should always be utilized, if nothing else. A good email campaign will consist of an educational email that is sent before the vote that includes the open and closing time of the ballot, a voter link, and voter credentials. You should also send a reminder email during the election, as well as a final reminder as the vote ends. Although these three emails are standard, we’ve found that our clients receive the most turnout success when emails are sent daily.
If your organization is tech-savvy and has an app, then why not try push notifications? Push notifications can be sent any time of day and can bolster your social media announcements and text-based campaigns depending on how mobile-friendly your voters are. With a push notification campaign, you can send voters updates up-to-the-minute as well as reminders before and during the events.
If you’re still not getting the response you need out of your voters, you may need to incorporate the holiday into your voter awareness campaign. It doesn’t hurt to give your voters as much information as possible about your vote and with a holiday themed informational session, you can make it enjoyable too! Informational sessions usually consist of a voter process walk-through or system demo to familiarize your voters with vote submission. This is also an excellent opportunity to explain your role as an election administrator and how you and your voting partner are working together to achieve a positive outcome. Take this time to make sure they know what to expect and who to contact should any troubleshooting need to occur.
These tips aren’t just useful for getting more voters to the polls this holiday season, they can be used any time of year to boost turnout.