Periodic Evaluation: Quantitative

We recommend conducting quantitative evaluations three times before Election Day. But you won't look at the same things when election's still four or two weeks away as you will on the eve of the get-out-the-vote weekend

The election is one month or two weeks away. You need to know if your meeting your quantitative targets. Here is what to look at:

How many voters have we contacted? How many were contacted by phone, in person or in a mailing? How many voters were contacted twice, three times, four times...?
How many voters have we registered?
In an initiative campaign, how many poistive IDs have been made? (That is, how many votes are pledged for your side?) How many contacts were needed, on average, to get the positive ID?
How many volunteers are working on the campaign?
How many phone-banks and door-knockings are we running?
How many lawn signs have we distributed?
How much money have we raised?

If you can answer these questions — or whatever questions pertain to the goals of your project — then you will know the areas where you're on track and those where you need to put in extra effort. For instance: you have particularly enthusiastic and effective volunteers working in one district and you're seeing excellent results there, but another district is lagging behind. Redeploy the troops — but don't abandon the first district completely. Remember them when get-out-the-vote time comes!

No matter how far you seem to be from hitting your targets, the mid-project review should not be reason to panic and drastically change tactics. Rather, use the opportunity to inspire staff and volunteers to do what they're doing, but more so. In the final weeks of Sage Council's Stop Tax Waste campaign, organizers pushed hard to raise money to pay for advertising slots for their televisions commercial. The commercial debuted about five weeks before Election Day, which put them in a prime, attention-grabbing position, but also depleted their coffers. As Bineshi Albert remembers it, the incentive was a great motivating factor for campaign fundraisers: "It was like, each week, 'Ok, we need to put the commercial out! We need $10,000 by the end of the week!'"

It's the Friday before Election Day and you're staring get-out-the-vote weekend in the eye. You need to focus the final push to maximize results. Here's is what to look at:

How many voters do we need to re-contact? (In most projects, this should be all of them or all who've pledged to vote for your issues.)
In an initiative campaign, how many "soft" and "hard" positive IDs have been made?
How many voters do we need to call over the weekend and/or on Election Day?
How many voters do we need to visit over the weekend and/or on Election Day?
How many voters have we promised rides? How many phone lines do we have access to?
How many volunteers do we have? How many hours have they pledged to work?

Share these numbers with electoral organizers, precinct/neighborhood leaders and core volunteers to get them motivated for the hard work of the last weekend. We'll discuss ways to make the most of get-out-the-vote efforts in the Voter Turnout section of the Techkit.

Planning

Periodic Evaluation: Quantitative

We recommend conducting quantitative evaluations three times before Election Day. But you won't look at the same things when election's still four or two weeks away as you will on the eve of the get-out-the-vote weekend

The election is one month or two weeks away. You need to know if your meeting your quantitative targets. Here is what to look at:

It's the Friday before Election Day and you're staring get-out-the-vote weekend in the eye. You need to focus the final push to maximize results. Here's is what to look at: