Precinct Chair Training: 1. Building and Training Your Precinct Team

1. Precinct Chair Training:1. Building and Training Your Precinct Team Bexar County Democratic Party http://bexardemocrats.org Carla Vela, County Chair

2. Bexar County Precinct Statistics • 622 Total Precincts • 898,663 Registered Voters • 1,445 Voters per Precinct (average)

3. Democratic National Committee (DNC) Strategy • In All 50 States: • Identify and Motivate Democratic Voters • Identify Independent Voters who could support Democratic Ideals • Identify Republicans • Target persuadable and GOTV voters

4. Why Targeting? • In a perfect world of unlimited resources and unlimited time, we would contact every voter and hope to get their vote. • In the real world, we have to use targeting.

5. Voter Identification Matrix Always Vote Democratic Swing Voters Always Vote Republican Always Vote Turnout Sometimes Vote Ken Strasma - NCEC 1997 Never Vote

6. Voter Identification Matrix Always Vote Democratic Swing Voters Always Vote Republican Always Vote B Turnout Sometimes Vote B Never Vote B Ken Strasma - NCEC 1997 B: Don’t waste your resources on people who are going to vote Republican no matter what you do.

7. Voter Identification Matrix Always Vote Democratic Swing Voters Always Vote Republican Always Vote C Turnout Sometimes Vote Never Vote Ken Strasma - NCEC 1997 C: Don’t waste persuasion and GOTV resources on people who are going to vote and are going to vote Democratic no matter what.

8. Voter Identification Matrix Always Vote Democratic Swing Voters Always Vote Republican Always Vote C B Turnout Sometimes Vote B Never Vote A A A/B Ken Strasma - NCEC 1997 A: Don’t waste your resources on people who will never vote. B: Don’t waste your resources on people who are going to vote Republican no matter what you do. C: Don’t waste your resources on people who are going to vote and are going to vote Democratic no matter what.

9. Voter Identification Matrix Always Vote Democratic Swing Voters Always Vote Republican Always Vote C D B Persuasion Turnout Sometimes Vote B Never Vote A A A/B Ken Strasma - NCEC 1997 Don’t target for persuasion or GOTV: A: People who will never vote B: People who always vote Republican C: People who always vote and always vote Democratic Do target: D: Swing voters who always vote – Use Persuasion

10. Voter Identification Matrix Always Vote Democratic Swing Voters Always Vote Republican Always Vote C D B Persuasion Turnout Sometimes Vote E B GOTV Never Vote A A A/B Ken Strasma - NCEC 1997 Don’t target for persuasion or GOTV: A: People who will never vote B: People who always vote Republican C: People who always vote and always vote Democratic Do target: D: Swing voters who always vote – Use Persuasion E: Democrats who only sometimes vote - for GOTV

11. Partisanship Always Vote Democratic Swing Voters Always Vote Republican Always Vote C D B Persuasion Turnout Sometimes Vote E F B GOTV Persuasion #2 Ken Strasma - NCEC 1997 Never Vote A A A/B Don’t target for persuasion or GOTV: A: People who will never vote B: People who always vote Republican C: People who always vote and always vote Democratic Do target: D: Swing voters who always vote - for persuasion E: Democrats who only sometimes vote - for GOTV F: Swing voters who only sometimes vote - 2nd persuasion

12. Battleground 2004

13. If We Had 10 More Democratic Votes per Precinct… VICTORY

14. If We Had 50 More Democratic Votes per Precinct…

15. If We Had 100 More Democratic Votes per Precinct…

16. Precinct Chair Role: Challenging • Represent Precinct as voting member of County Executive Committee (CEC)* • Serve Democratic Party • Provide Voters with Candidate and Party Information • Canvass Precinct** • Register new voters • Initiate Precinct Convention • Get Out the Vote (GOTV) *Precinct Coordinators cannot vote on the CEC until they complete an Precinct Chair Application and are approved by a quorum at the monthly CEC meeting. **VAN accounts are not available for Precinct Coordinators. However, the party office can assist by providing blockwalking lists.

17. Build Your Precinct Team

18. First, Get to Know Your Precinct • Know your Precinct Map: http://www.bexar.org/elections/maps/Precinct/pct1001.pdf • Know the number of Registered Voters • Know the number of Democratic Voters • Know the number of Republican Voters • Estimate the number of unregistered voters • Survey your precinct’s most important issues

19. Set a Goal for the Size of Your Precinct Team

20. Determine the number of Voters per Team Member

21. Partition Your Precinct

22. Partition Your Precinct

23. Partition Your Precinct

24. Find Your Precinct Team • Start at Home: Family Members • Friends, Neighbors, Congregational members • Recruits from your Precinct Convention • Community Leaders • Local Democratic Organizations http://www.bexardemocrats.org/Clubs.html • Voter Activation Network (VAN) • Union Members • Bexar County Democratic Party (BCDP) Office • www.BexarDemocrats.org

25. Some Local Democratic Organizations • Bexar County Tejano Democrats, Charlie Urbina-Jones, Chair • Bexar County Texas Democratic Women, Ruth Stewart, President • College Democrats of UTSA, James Gill, President • Democratic Leadership Council, Connie DeLuna, Chair • New Era Democrats, Ann FitzGibbons & Robert Wurzbach, Co-Chairs • Northeast Bexar County Democrats, John Courage, Chair • Northwest Democrats, Joyce Dorrycott, Chair • Bexar County Young Democrats, Jessica Ramos, President • Southside Democrats, Gina Castañeda, Chair • Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio, Roberto Flores & Lynne Armstrong, Co-Chairs • Trinity University College Democrats, Maxwell Fisher, President • Eastside DemocratsNEW!

26. Precinct Team Building Contact Methods • Phone • E-mail • Mail • Blockwalking • Party • Social Event Invitation

27. Precinct Team Organization • Assign areas of the Precinct to your Team Members

28. Precinct Team Organization • Assign areas of Responsibility to your Team Members

29. Precinct Team Organization • Keep track of who is on your team • Make a spreadsheet or write a chart, including

30. Precinct Team Training

31. Precinct Team Training • Schedule a Team training session as soon as you can (after the March primary)

32. Voter Matrix Always Vote Democratic Swing Voters Always Vote Republican Always Vote C D B Persuasion Turnout Sometimes Vote E F B GOTV Persuasion #2 Ken Strasma - NCEC 1997 Never Vote A/B A A Don’t target for persuasion or GOTV: A: People who will never vote B: People who always vote Republican C: People who always vote and always vote Democratic Do target: D: Swing voters who always vote - for persuasion E: Democrats who only sometimes vote - for GOTV F: Swing voters who only sometimes vote - 2nd persuasion

33. Precinct Canvassing (NOW!) Record the following information…

34. Record Canvassing Information

35. Canvassing script for blockwalkinghttp://www.bexardemocrats.org/CanvassScript.html Hi, I’m ________________ and I’m a volunteer with the Bexar County Democratic Party in our neighborhood. May I talk with _____________? 1.  Are you or anyone in the household going to vote in the November Election? (Yes / No / Maybe) If no, respectfully thank them and leave.  If yes, continue:2.  Do you plan to vote mostly Democratic or Republican? (Democratic / Republican / Independent)If Not Voting or Republican, respectfully thank them and leave. Otherwise, continue:

36. Canvassing script for blockwalkinghttp://www.bexardemocrats.org/CanvassScript.html 3.  Does anyone living here need to register to vote? (How many voter registration cards will you need?)4.  Does anyone living here need Vote by Mail application form? (Name of voter)(65 or older, disabled, in a nursing home, confined to jail, or expect to be out of the county for the period of the election) 5.  Would you be interested to display a yard sign on your property? (Candidate) 6.  Would you like a Democratic Candidate Sheet? THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!

37. Timeline of precinct chair duties • CEC Meeting (Every month!) • Canvassing (Now through August) • Campaign signs (August) • Persuasion (September and October) • Get Out the Vote (September and October) • VICTORY (November) • … • … • Precinct Convention (March 2010)

38. Candidate Signs – August • While canvassing, ask voters to post yard signs • Get signs from candidates’ campaign offices • Post the sign that day • Set up sign perpendicular to the street • Target key locations • Busy streets, entrance to neighborhood • Priority to President, Senate, House, State candidates • Observe sign laws and restrictions Vote

39. Campaign Sign Laws Vote • By state law: • Signs can be posted on private property up to 90 days before election, and 10 days after • Homeowners associations cannot prohibit signs • No signs on trees, telephone polls, traffic signs, fire hydrants, or public right-of-way • San Antonio ordinances: • Campaign signs limited to 90 consecutive days • Must be at least 2 feet within the property line • On corner lots, observe the “triangle law”

40. Triangle Law (San Antonio only?) In suburban cities, check at the city hall for information on local ordinances. Property line 25 feet No signs in this 25-foot triangle 25 feet Curb No signs less than 2 ft inside property line • By San Antonio ordinance: • No signs within a triangle whose two sides include the first 25 feet of curb from the corner

41. How to get signs from the campaigns • Barack Obama for President • Yard signs are $ 5 at the alamObama office (Third St at Broadway, 569-1206) and the Northeast Bexar County Democrats office (7122 San Pedro, 3 blocks south of North Star Mall, 979-7070) • Rick Noriega for U.S. Senate • Yard signs will be available soon, cost still unknown; call 675-7425 or send e-mail to Jonathan@ricknoriega.com • Chip Haass for County Commissioner, Pct. 3 • Yard signs at no charge; call 535-6011 or send e-mail to Chip@chiphaass.com • Other campaigns: will likely let us know soon

42. Get Out the Vote (GOTV) Sept.-Oct. • Get voters to Vote Early. This allows campaigns to use their resources more effectively. • Election Day is October 20 (through October 31, then November 4) • Some GOTV ideas: • Register Democratic Voters at least 30 days before election day. • Send postcards with election day and early voting schedule and polling locations. • Blockwalk with handouts of this information. • Identify elderly and disabled voters and provide them with mail-in ballot applications. • Find ride services to get voters to the polls.

43. Precinct Convention (March 2010) • The Election Judge will give the Convention packet to the Precinct Chair. • The Precinct Convention (Caucus) begins on Primary Election Day at 7:15 pm after everyone is finished voting. • After everyone has signed in, the next item on the agenda is to elect the Convention Chair, which may or may not be the Precinct Chair. • Specifics of the Precinct Convention are included in Precinct Chair Training, Part 3.

44. Thank You for working for democracy!