With under a hundred days to go until Election Day 2014, we thought it would be helpful to re-emphasize some of the best GOTV practices going into the heart of the campaign season.

1. If you’re going to actually take the time to send people door-to-door, or you yourself are going door-to-door, remember that the most impactful part about the doors is actually knocking and having a live conversation with voters. To go door-to-door and just leave a door hanger or palm card is to essentially ruin a good walk and kill trees for no purpose. And while walking is good for you, please don’t let the trees have sacrificed in vain. Have live conversations with voters. Give and get information. We released a white paper on door-to-door work a few months back. If you’ve not basked in the brilliance of George Hawley, please do so now.
2. Please don’t think that robo calls are going to turn people out to vote. No, no, no. In fact in the last few weeks of a campaign, all you’re really doing is helping fund vendors’ retirement accounts and helping them buy really cool toys for themselves; and driving voters insane in the process, so not exactly a win-win. If you want to do robo calls, do IVRs (robo surveys) a good 6 weeks out from the election to help gather more data on voters.
3. Emphasize live calls if you’re going to use phones for GOTV. Stats show that it runs a strong second best to live conversations on doorsteps.
4. Use the data you collect at the doors or on the phones to be better informed moving forward. The data you collect from voters should educate and inform you on how a message is resonating, what demographics are responding the strongest, and even where you should be spending money, whether on mail or other messaging channels.
5. And last but not least, don’t kick voters’ cats. Or dogs. They don’t appreciate it and neither do the voters.
6. Oh, and a freebie(s): Don’t tear down opponent’s yard signs and don’t get all crazy in putting out yard signs at polling places the night before (pretty sure people showing up to vote actually already have a purpose for why they got in a car, drove however many miles, to go in and vote; I’ve never heard of people driving to a polling place undecided.)