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October 25, 2007
Calling voters is a key part of campaign strategy
I am writing in response to a letter which appeared in the Oct. 22 Sun and numerous BackTalk postings that have complained about being called by campaigns in the recent special election to succeed Marty Meehan. Voters need to realize that aside from actually casting a ballot, which is of course secret, electioneering is in fact a very public exercise. The democratic process is largely one of persuasion and getting people to the polls. This is especially true in a special election in which part of the message has to be the basic fact of what day the election is being held.
Campaigns do not like leaving much to chance, and both survey and anecdotal evidence suggest that, contrary to the "BackTalkers" many people actually do bother to take time to vote precisely because they were asked to do so. Yes, that generally means they vote for the candidate whose campaign contacted them. One other thing, it is important to note is that political campaigns and charities are exempt from the provisions of the "Do Not Call" list.
Calling
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voters is an essential piece of any campaign strategy and is often done in three rounds. Not everyone is called, and it is up to each campaign to decide which voters to call based on the dynamics and variables of a particular race. First round of calls is to identify who will definitely or likely vote for the candidate, who is undecided, and who will definitely or likely vote for the opponent. You are of course free to decline to answer this question, but please do so politely. Those who are calling you are most likely volunteers just working for a candidate they favor, and may even be your neighbor. They are not telemarketers and will generally be gracious about taking a moment of your time. Campaigns create their own internal "do not call" lists for their own purposes and you are welcome to ask to be put on that when they call. The second round is to try to persuade those who identified as undecided to come on board for the candidate. The third round is what is called GOTV (get-out-the-vote), which is to remind identified supporters, especially those who don't always vote, to come vote on Election Day. This was even more important in the recent congressional race, being that it was a special election.
I want to turn and address campaigns for a moment. You need to uphold your end of this deal also and show that what I have written is true. There was a particular campaign in the primary which called several times to ask if the candidate could count on my support, despite the fact that I made it very clear I was volunteering for another candidate. As a citizen and a political junkie it did not bother me too much personally, but as someone who has experience on the campaign side I was starting to wonder whether this campaign had its act together. Lists need to be constantly updated and cross-referenced and the technology now exists to do this very effectively.
Those of you in Lowell and other communities with local elections next month may very well continue to get calls. There are some ways to make you less likely to be called, such as consistently voting, which will tell a campaign you don't need to be reminded to vote. In partisan elections being registered in one of the parties will also cut down on the calls as both sides will likely make some assumption about your voting habits. Voting is every citizen's civic duty, and achieving victory in an election means contacting voters personally. I'm sure we all prefer to live in a democratic rather than dictatorial system and this is part of the deal.
CHRISTOPHER JENKINS
Dracut
Posted by Admin at October 25, 2007 2:25 PM
