Table of Contents
Introduction
Phase 1: April of the Year Before the Election (First Preliminary Stage)
Phase 2: May through July of the Year Before the Election (Second Preliminary
Stage)
Phase 3: Whenever Your Local Election Authority Posts the Relevant Forms (Floating/Waiting
Stage)
Phase
4: August and September of the Year Before the Election (First
Information-Gathering Stage)
Phase 5: October of the Year Before the Election (Second Information-Gathering
Stage)
Phase 6: November of the Year Before the Election
(Third Information-Gathering Stage)
Phase 7: December of the Year Before the Election (Surveys and Endorsement
Stage)
Phase 8: Some Time Between January and March of the Election Year
(Floating/Waiting Stage)
Phase 9: February and March of Election Year (Endorsements and Policy Study
Stage)
Phase 10: Mid- to Late March of Election Year (Printing and Beginning Petitioning
Stage)
Phase 11: Early April through Mid- June of Election Year (Ending Petitioning and Prepping for Final Push Stage)
Phase 12: Late June of Election Year (Post-Petitioning Stage)
Phase 13: July of Election Year (Signs, Planning Events, and Planning
Publicity Drive Stage)
Phase 14: August and September of Election Year (Meet-and-Greets
and Debates Stage)
Phase
15: October of Election Year (Final Planning Stage)
Phase
16: Election Day
Phase 17: The Day or Two After Election Night
Phase 18: After the Election Has Concluded
Introduction
It may be helpful to skip some tasks, in terms of saving time; especially if this is your first time running, and/or your campaign is short-staffed. Even if you don't do all of these things, you should at least complete the tasks that will officially put you in the running (for example, filling out and turning in forms to declare your candidacy). You may be able to complete all of the tasks below in a future campaign, after growing your support base and staff.
[Note: Future calendar information for candidates running in Lake County, Illinois will be available at the following link: http://elections.il.gov/Default.aspx?fbclid=IwAR2ezfUJbTAzVdHpEitFjjQSU-K_tvr8gIloAG2mmSOM4xj6Psh4EbULT3g]
Phase 1: April of the Year Before the Election (First Preliminary Stage)
2. Talk to friends about running, and start a list of
potential volunteers, and their e-mail addresses. Ask people you know if they would volunteer
for your campaign if you declared candidacy. If people are receptive, then make a list of 100
people who you think would vote for you, or volunteer for or donate to your
campaign. Ask those people whether they’d like to receive e-mails about your campaign, and then create an e-mail list, and start sending those people updates about your campaign.
3. Make a
preliminary, tentative decision (not a final one, unless you're already certain) regarding which party ticket
you’ll run under, or whether you'll be an independent, and/or whether you’ll
be a write-in candidate.
4. Decide
whether to become a precinct committee-person/committeeman for your party (or whichever party whose nomination you think you’re going to run for),
and go through that process (in preparation to represent the party and the
precinct's voters at the same time).
5. Ask
the chairperson of your party’s chapter, how you can make the party aware that
you’re interested in running. Attend whatever meetings, phone conferences, and
Zoom calls are necessary, which connect the party to prospective candidates. Try
to get “dibs” on running for your specific position in your specific district, to avoid the uncomfortable situation of having to run in a primary against people in your own party (whom you may admire or feel pressure to get along with).
6. Assemble your team of core assistants and advisors. Find a campaign
manager, and hire them. Then have them find you a campaign committee treasurer, a
communications director, and a volunteer coordinator. Hire people to fill those positions. This will help you delegate duties to people other than yourself, to avoid overburdening you (the candidate) with too many tasks.
7. Decide how you want to manage your other campaign assistants, and your volunteers. Ask volunteers which tasks on this list they think they could do well and do easily. Then start delegating tasks to your volunteers based on who does what best. Aside from a treasurer for finances, a communications director for public relations, and a volunteer coordinator, you may also wish to appoint someone to create literature for the campaign, someone to create buttons and signs and bumper stickers, and someone to plan events such as press conferences and protests. You may also wish to hire a policy advisor who can give you advice on how to craft your platform, and how to write a proposal for a bill in a way that it could actually be implemented and achieve the effect you desire.
Phase 2: May through July of the Year Before the Election (Second Preliminary
Stage)
9. Start planning the petitioning stage. Download the petition forms if they're already available. These should be available through your county or state’s election board website. If they’re not available yet, make a note to yourself to keep checking until they are posted online.
10. Gather maps of the district, the logo of the party, any texts you’ve written about your platform that you want voters to read, and other basic information about your campaign such as contact information, and set it aside for use later, creating pamphlets for your campaign.
11. Make lists of towns in district, and make and print and hang up maps of the
district in your campaign office and/or home.
12. Figure out what your social media strategy will be. Make a short list of sites on which you want your campaign to be active - for example, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok - and get an account as soon as possible. Create a username associated with either: 1) the legal name of your campaign or campaign committee, or 2) a catchy phrase that is related to your most important issue or the issue that you protest about the most often.
Phase 3: Whenever Your Local Election Authority Posts the Relevant Forms (Floating/Waiting
Stage)
13. When
your state or county’s election board posts information about signature collection
dates and dates of primaries, add that information to your schedule
and/or make a note about it below. Adjust your remaining plans according to that schedule.
[Note for Lake County, Illinois candidates only: Future calendar information for candidates running in Lake County will be available at the following link: http://elections.il.gov/Default.aspx?fbclid=IwAR2ezfUJbTAzVdHpEitFjjQSU-K_tvr8gIloAG2mmSOM4xj6Psh4EbULT3g]
14. Download and file the appropriate forms which declare your intent to run and will ask you to provide information about which party ticket you’re running under. These forms may include declaration of intent to run as a write-in candidate, and/or declaration of intent to form a new party. Fill out these forms, keep copies for your records, and send them in. You will need to find forms for each county in which your district sits.
Phase 4: August and September of the Year Before the Election (First
Information-Gathering Stage)
Phase
5: October of the Year Before the Election (Second Information-Gathering Stage)
17. Gather information:
17a. Collect any photographs of you with friends, family members, and/or pets. Include photographs of you with people in the community, that show you helping others or communicate that you are an admired, respected, and trustworthy person who is engaged in your community.
17b. Make a list of your past addresses. This may be useful outside of your campaign as well.
17c. Make a more general list of where you’ve lived, based on that list of past addresses; and include a list of your past jobs. Include any personal information you think media and voters would want to know about you.
17d. Make a list of honors and awards that you’ve received in the past (especially those relevant to politics and community engagement).
17e. Update your resume. Create a resume that includes your past work on other people’s campaigns, and your own; and create a separate resume that does not include your own campaigns. On the campaign version of your resume, list any groups you’ve been involved with, such as activist groups, political parties, or community organizations.
17f. Make a list of locations where you often see political campaign signs; especially those that were clearly put up by businesses. Use that information to make a list of businesses who might display your sign (for use in Phase 12).
17g. Make a list of potential locations where
you could drop literature, for use later in the campaign (in Phase 15). These will likely
include:
- Little Free Libraries (the birdhouses full of books that you might have seen in your community)
- Mall parking lots
- Large grocery store parking lots (Wal-Mart, etc.)
- Grocery stores’ bulletin boards (you may have to ask the owner for permission)
- Tables at train stations (and benches, provided they’re indoors or it’s not windy)
- Benches at bus stations and bus stops
17h. Make a list of potential locations where you could hold signs up and be seen by lots of potential voters, for use in the several months leading up to the election (in Phase 15).
17i. Make a list of newspapers and other media sources that are active in your district; especially those which you think would cover your campaign, interview you, or publish your press releases. This list should include news directors and editors at newspapers, reporters, editors at television stations and news wire services, and podcast and YouTube channel hosts and other independent media.
17j. Make a list of all of the towns and cities that comprise your district. If necessary, create a document for your volunteers explaining who is eligible to vote for you and sign petitions supporting your campaign.
17k. Create a list of political party chapters, interest groups, activist groups, unions, business alliances, or political action committees, in your district, with which you’d like to meet. Find out whether they endorse. Start building that list, so you can decide from which groups you will seek endorsement.
17l. Disseminate the above-mentioned lists to whomever in your campaign needs them.
18. Do your first phase of self-promotion:
18a. Get hair and makeup done,
and then have a professional photo shoot; then choose all final photographs
which will be used for campaign signs and literature. Place those photos with your platform, party logos, and other
things you’ll need for putting literature together.
18b. Look into having a campaign website built, if you think it necessary. Start that process and set a target date for completion no later than the following spring.
18c. Look into starting a blog, if you think it would be helpful for you and prospective voters. Think about whether you want to publish campaign updates, your writing about your platform, and other information, on that blog.
Phase 6: November of the Year Before the Election (Third
Information-Gathering Stage)
19. Use voter rolls information to create canvassing routes and maps for
collecting signatures.
20. Fill out forms and do financial tasks:
20a. File with the F.E.C.
(Federal Election Commission), so you can pay volunteers.
20b. File Social Security /
EIN (Employer Identification Number) forms, so you can pay volunteers.
20c. Start planning your fundraising strategy, especially as it pertains to
social media and your e-mail list. Start
planning fundraising events as well.
20d. Consider getting a prepaid card (such as
Bluebird) at Wal-Mart, to fund targeted ads seeking donations.
For example, start a CrowdPAC account, attach the card, and start a campaign.
20e. Create a fundraising
kit, consisting of information regarding how to donate to your campaign. Make
sure that your staff and voters know how donations will be processed.
21. Look into getting nominations from parties, and study their nomination
processes and rules. Learn about the business meeting notes, and ballot review
rules, which are involved in party nominating processes; and be ready to
challenge the results of a nominating election in case you’ll have a primary opponent.
22. Make decisions about nomination requests and
acceptance:
22a. Make final decision about
which party ticket you’ll run under.
22b.
Submit applications for party nominations (if required)
22c. Find out when and where
the party’s nominations will be held, and add that information to
your schedule.
Phase 7: December of the Year Before the Election (Surveys and Endorsement
Stage)
24. Find out who's running in your race, and meet the other people in your party who are running, and also attempt to meet candidates from other parties if you support them. Decide as soon as possible which candidates you want to support and endorse, and think about which of them might be willing to do the same for you by endorsing your campaign. Start building a list of every past and present candidate and public official and prominent person who has endorsed your candidacy.
Phase 8: Some Time Between January and March of the Election Year (Floating/Waiting
Stage)
Phase 9: February and March of Election Year (Endorsements, Policy
Study, and Printing Lit Stage)
34. Create a set of instructions, for campaign volunteers, regarding how to inform voters while collecting signatures properly. You can model those instructions after the document linked at the following address: http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2020/07/guide-for-volunteers-collecting.html
35. Write letters to the editor, which are tailored especially to certain topics of recent community concern. Send them to newspapers to see if they'll publish them. Send some as yourself, but write additional letters to serve as examples of what you’d like your supporters to write to newspaper editors. Share those with friends and volunteers, and suggest that they write to newspapers in support of your campaign and/or your issues.
36. If you want to expand the level of detail in your campaign literature, develop the previously mentioned policy articles and positions into a platform for the run. Start planning pamphlets and other campaign literature around whichever key subjects you think will dominate the narrative of your race.
37. Design QR codes that link to all important websites about voter registration, voter information, and to the web addresses that pertain to your campaign and platform. Plan to include these QR codes in your campaign literature.
38. Do any last edits to your platform, before updating it again as news stories develop between March and November.
39. Get an account with a printing service (such as FedEx-Kinko’s or Shutterfly), and find deals on ordering campaign literature, flyers, signs, etc..
40. Order prints of all the campaign literature that you will need during the next three months of petitioning / signature collection. Make sure the prints will arrive before petition collection begins.
Phase 10: Mid- to Late March of Election Year (Beginning Petitioning Stage)
41. Find out how many signatures your petitions will need in order for your name to be included on the ballot. Crunch whatever numbers are necessary to come up with goals or quotas for your volunteers.
42. Tell volunteers about the signature collection goals. Give them instructions or train them to collect signatures, and provide them with maps, routes, campaign literature, etc.
43. Stay informed – and keep your volunteers informed - about early voting and mail-in voting, and voter registration, so that you and volunteers can keep petition signers informed about the election in the process.
44. Start petitioning / canvassing neighborhoods, and giving out
free literature.
Phase 11: Early April through Mid- June of Election Year (Ending Petitioning and Prepping for Final Push Stage)
45. Design, and
order for mass-printing and delivery, the following items:
- Buttons
- Stickers
- Yard signs
- Business cards
- Door hangers (hooked pieces
of paper and/or plastic bags containing literature)
48. Two weeks before you plan to announce your candidacy, send the press kit and the press release to your media list.
49. Contact newspapers and radio stations, etc., to ask if they'll publish the press release, and/or interview you about your campaign, or about a specific issue.
50. Find a location at which you can hold a press conference. Once you have done that, schedule a press conference for some Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday between 10 A.M. and 11 A.M.; to take place two weeks after your press kit has been created and sent out.
51. Gather your staff, and members of the community, to practice the
press conference announcing your candidacy in a “dress rehearsal”, about a week
before it takes place.
52. Hold the press conference.
Phase 12: Late June of Election Year (Post-Petitioning Stage)
53. Based on how many signatures you got, and whether you got on the ballot, decide whether you’ll continue your campaign. If you’re going to drop out or suspend your campaign, consider announcing that fact. If you’ll continue your campaign, keep following the steps below.
56. Order new sets of campaign literature, and distribute it to
volunteers to hand out to prospective voters.
Phase 13: July of Election Year (Signs, Planning Events, and Planning Publicity
Drive Stage)
59. Create a short questionnaire, which is small enough to fit on an index card, asking which of your issues voters are most interested in helping you promote. Allow voters to check boxes indicating that whether they'd like to receive campaign updates via e-mail, or prefer to be contacted by phone, or are interested in volunteering and/or donating.
60. Book events for your campaign that can function as meet-and-greets as well as fundraisers. Make plans to detail your policy positions in speeches, and give out free literature (including questionnaires about what voters think you could do to improve your campaign, if you think it necessary). Set up tables for your volunteers to attend during the event, and invite people to sign up for e-mail updates, volunteering, etc.. Give out buttons and stickers, yard signs, etc., and leave a jar out for donations.
61. Make list of all of your events between this point and Election Day; and write campaign updates and create images containing this information, which you can e-mail to people or share on social media. This will let voters in your district know when and where they can meet you in person without traveling too far in order to do so.
62. Let friends and family know that you'll have to prioritize campaign-related communications until November, and that you can't take many social calls until after the election is over. Get any necessary social calls out of the way as much as possible, so you have more time to focus on your campaign during the final three months of the race.
63. Try to get on television, whether on your own behalf, or for/with a party, or as part of a protest. At the very least, look for reporters who want to talk to a “man in the street” or a person qualified to comment on an issue they’re covering, or just try to photobomb journalists. Get in touch with independent news outlets, and see if YouTube shows, podcasts, and news radio stations will cover your campaign.
Phase 14: August and September of Election Year (Meet-and-Greets
and Debates Stage)
64. Hold the meet-and-greet fundraisers you planned. Engage your audiences to obtain feedback on policy ideas, and to obtain contributions. Give a speech about what you will do when elected, take questions, and give out free literature (including questionnaires about what voters think you could do to improve your campaign, if you think it necessary). Set up tables for your volunteers to attend during the event, and invite people to sign up for e-mail updates, volunteering, etc.. Give out buttons and stickers, yard signs, etc., and leave a jar out for donations. If you like, film your speeches at these events, and publish them on YouTube.
65. Find a video of the debate from the last race for the office for which you’re running, and make a note of who sponsored the debate. Contact any and all groups which have hosted or sponsored debates for your position in the past. These may include organizations such as the League of Women Voters (and for candidates in the Chicago area, they may include the Union League Club of Chicago). Find out if that organization is going to hold that debate again. Contact multiple organizations if it seems likely that more than one debate will be held. Find out the rules to qualify for the debates, and plan the remainder of your campaign based on accomplishing those goals. Also ask whether any the organizations involved in the debate, endorse candidates.
66. Provide proof of your candidacy to the organizations holding debates. Document all of your communications with debate-holding organizations in your attempts to try to get into the debates. If possible, find out what the group’s bylaws and rules are regarding inviting candidates to debates, and see if you can find out whether they can be held legally accountable for violating their own bylaws. Government ethics boards might have this information.
69. If the debate hosts cancel on you, then go public with it, inform all of your media contacts and supporters, government ethics boards, the Better Business Bureau, or whomever you think could help.
70. If you are unable to get into the debates for whatever reason, then consider calling independent media, and calling third-party candidates together, to organize independent debates, in which your voice can be heard. Invite the major-party candidates as well, and as many media outlets as will cover the event. Invite members of the public to ask questions, whether by voice or on comment cards. Film the event and publish it to YouTube.
Phase 15: October of Election Year (Final Planning Stage)
Phase 16: Election Day
76. Find the victory speech and concession speech that you wrote earlier. Go to an election results viewing party, held by the party that nominated you, to wait for the results to come in. If the results of your election come in before the party is over, make a speech.
Phase 17: The Day or Two After Election Night
78. Decide whether to contest the results, or to concede defeat. If the results are close, then be careful to announce victory until you are sure that you won.
79. Make a post-results announcement - either televised or published - about what you decided (and whether you are conceding defeat, declaring victory, or contesting the results). Whatever happened, thank your volunteers for their efforts.
80. End your campaign formally, by notifying the Federal Election Commission, the I.RS., and/or your county or state board of elections, that your campaign has ended.
Phase 18: After the Election Has Concluded
Created Between March 12th and April 13th, 2021
Published on April 13th, 2021
Edited and Expanded on April 28th and 30th, 2021
Title Changed on April 28th and 30th, 2021
(from "How to Run for Congress (in Seventy-Five Easy Steps)"
No comments:
Post a Comment