How Outreach and Deep Canvassing Can Change Rural Politics

Through the Better for Democracy campaign, which is organized by Greater Cleveland Congregations, neighborhood “captains” are tasked with contacting low-propensity voters in their area at least five times each with phone calls, door-knocking, texts, a printed voters’ guide, and a follow-up thank you call. This relational approach to organizing resulted in 56 percent of those who were contacted showing up to vote in 2022, as compared to a 30 percent turnout rate for the city as a whole.

Organizations in politically divided states like Arkansas, Idaho and Ohio are hard at work to protect direct democracy through community organizing and education. These groups have rallied to pass measures like minimum wage increases, medical marijuana and have even organized voters to fail ballot measures like Ohio’s recent Issue 1.

In an effort to fix the climate movement’s voter turnout problem, the Environmental Voter Project’s 6,000 volunteers use behavioral and data science in their outreach campaigns to encourage environmentalists to become consistent voters so the issues they care about are prioritized by politicians.

Leaders from Lancaster Stands Up, an independent political organization, are bridging the gap between Democrats and Republicans in small, rural, conservative towns. They are building a progressive base by going back to the basics: door knocking and having conversations with voters. Their membership has grown to 800 people, and they’ve closed the gap between a progressive candidate and the Republican incumbent.

In Michigan, a group of people decided they were done with gerrymandering: a political process in which district maps are redrawn to favor one party over another. They formed a group called “Voters Not Politicians,” and did what no one thought they would be able to do. “The crowdsourced campaign held 33 town-hall meetings in 33 days, wrote a ballot proposal to give redistricting powers to a citizens’ commission” and “collected 425,000 petition signatures in four months to secure a spot on Michigan’s ballot—a rare feat, usually accomplished only by hiring paid signature gatherers.”

Groups such as Texas Organizing Project are focusing on reaching out to voters year-round rather than just during election season, with the goal of reaching people who are often not a priority for traditional campaigns and political parties.

Unite Here, a 300,000-member labor union of hotel and restaurant workers, has organized mass protests to pass voting rights legislation. In 2020 they ran a huge door-knocking operation with 500 full-time paid canvassers. The weekly salary helped canvassers, many of whom were hotel workers that lost their jobs due to the pandemic. And the well-organized ground campaign that encouraged over 48,000 infrequent voters in Arizona to vote for Biden, likely helped push Biden to a narrow and surprising victory in that state.

The Sequim Good Governance League (SGGL) formed in response to right-wing agitators taking over positions of power and spreading misinformation. SGGL recruited progressive and moderately conservative candidates who successfully defeated incumbents with the help of dozens of volunteers they trained. Volunteers worked around the clock, sent out emails, put up signs around the town, and used their most effective tool: having one-on-one conversations with other residents. SGGL-backed candidates now hold the majority of government offices.

The Environmental Voter Project (EVP) is a nonpartisan nonprofit working to increase voter turnout among irregular voters who care about the environment. The EVP has 6,000 volunteers who contact infrequent voters in 17 states via text, phone, postcards, and door-knocking. Volunteers identify would-be voters who care about the environment but don’t actually talk about the environment. Instead, their goal is to engage voters and get them to vote regardless of whether anything related to environmental regulation is on the ballot. EVP uses peer-pressure and sends many reminders to get people to the polls.

Libya’s Electoral Outreach Ambassadors program aims to increase women’s trust in the political process and register new voters. The female ambassadors are experienced in civil society participation but are not affiliated with any political or religious group, which is key to building trust given the country’s recent civil war. Ambassadors are trained in many tactics and left to tailor their own strategy so that it is best suited for their own district. Outreach efforts include a combination of house visits, workshops in private and public institutions, and talks with women in public spaces.