Voting Early, Voting Easily,

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• Voting Early, Voting Easily,
• Voting Safely

October 3, 2006
Paid for by Democracy for America,
www.democracyforamerica.com, and not authorized
by any candidate.
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Tonights Trainers
Arshad Hasan Democracy For America Training
Director DFA Night School Host
Hon. Deb Markowitz Vermont Secretary of State
Pres. of National Association of Secretaries of
State DFA-List Candidate
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Questions? Email training_at_democracyforamerica.com
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Agenda and Goals

• Importance of early voting
• The different methods of early voting
• Incorporate early voting into your campaign

Disclaimer Election laws vary from state to
state. Check with your secretary of state or
county elections official to determine current
laws you will need to follow.
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Questions? Email training_at_democracyforamerica.com
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Reasons

• For voters
• Convenient
• Able to volunteer on election day
• For the election
• Mail programs increase turnout
• Paper trail
• For the campaign
• Votes in the bank
• Provides more time to GOTV

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A Direct Impact
I can tell you with certainty that winning the
popular vote on election day does not guarantee
you the win unless you win the mail-in vote. If
the Democratic campaigns waged a strong mail-in
campaign, we would have had a very different
result in Florida in 2000. DFA Chair Jim Dean
DFA activist Colleen Condon ran for Charleston
County Council in South Carolina in a Republican
stronghold in June, 2005.
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Questions? Email training_at_democracyforamerica.com
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Different Votes for Different Folks

• Early voting polling stations
• Early mail balloting
• Absentee and permanent absentee

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Limited time offer, some restrictions may apply

• Age
• Window of time
• Occupation and commute
• Health and disability status
• Location at time of Election Day
• Registration deadlines
• Ballot application deadlines
• Who can send and submit applications

www.CanIVote.org
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Questions? Email training_at_democracyforamerica.com
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Every State is Different

• Under the U.S. Constitution, states determine
  their own election procedures and administer
  these rules as they see fit
• Most states then delegate this responsibility to
  the County, making the County Clerk the most
  powerful official in election law
• Do your research

• - Your Secretary of State website
• - National Association of Secretaries of State
  www.CanIVote.org
• - Election Assistance Commission www.eac.gov
• - Election Reform Information Project
  www.ElectionLine.org

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Questions? Email training_at_democracyforamerica.com
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Case Studies

• Some states have very restrictive Early Vote laws
• Some states have very accessible Early Vote laws
• Oregon is in a class all by itself

PA
OR
FL
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Questions? Email training_at_democracyforamerica.com
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Striving for the Ideal

• Making our elections transparent, accessible, and
  fair is an on-going process
• Advocacy is long-term and local
• Confidence in our system means high turnout, low
  problems

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Where to Start

• Start early in your own precinct
• Look up how many people voted early during the
  2002 midterm and beat it!
• Get to know your County Clerk County Elections
  Officers

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Questions? Email training_at_democracyforamerica.com
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Working with Early Voting

• Four steps of early voting programs
• Research
• Integration
• Outreach
• Follow-up

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Targeting

• ID your voters
• Target by demographic
• Target by geography

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How To Do It

• Three basic steps
• Ballot application (for absentee and mail-in
  voting)
• - Who gets one? How? By when?
• - How can you get them the ballot application?
  Who can handle it?
• Actual ballot
• - When people receive the application? When do
  they return it?
• - Will the voter need help? Who can provide
  assistance?
• Follow through
• - How do you determine whos submitted their
  ballot?
• - Whats the plan for reminding those who
  havent submitted ballot?

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Questions? Email training_at_democracyforamerica.com
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Homework Assignment

• Research How, Who, When?
• Volunteer Vote early, get others to vote early
  and increase the early vote in your neighborhood.
  Target those who voted early, absentee, or
  mail-in in 2002
• Vote This election is important we need you
  all day on Election Day so

MAKE SURE YOU VOTE EARLY!!
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Questions? Email training_at_democracyforamerica.com
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Thank you for joining us!
Last session Getting Out the Vote on Tuesday,
October 10 with Robby Mook, Maryland Democratic
Coordinated Campaign Director

• Learn more about the DFA Training Academy at
  www.democracyforamerica.com/training

Need to catch up on earlier Night School
presentations? Order previous semesters on DVD
(and help keep Night School free) https//contrib
ute.democracyforamerica.com/nightschool
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Questions? Email training_at_democracyforamerica.com