Precinct Captains Program

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Precinct Captains Program
Why Precinct Captains? Some Results from the
Field by California Grassroots Champions
Coalition (Santa Cruz, San Diego, and Santa Clara
Counties)
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Presentation Outline

• What is a Precinct Captains Program?
• Program Goals
• Why Precincts Capts?
• Results
• 1 - Academic Research
• 2 - November 2004 Election Results
• 3 - November 2005 Election Results
• References

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What is Existing System?

• Leadership and Existing System of Politics(good
  ideas control assumed to flow from top to
  bottom)

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The Precinct CaptainsParadigm Shift

• Precinct Captains Enliven the Process(good ideas
  and control happen neighbor-to-neighbor)

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What is a Precinct Captains Program?

• Local Democratic Grassroots Action
• One on One
• Person to Person
• Face to Face
• Community Building
• Talk Neighbor to Neighbor
• Discuss issues together
• Permanent, Full-Time
• Don't Start Over Againfor Each Election
• Don't DisappearBetween Elections

Community
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Program Goals

• Encourage Democrats to Vote
• Improve Democratic Election Turnout(get higher
  proportion to vote than Republicans)
• Increase Voter Registration
• Convince likely Democratic Voters to Register
• Inspire Voters to reRegister as Democrat
• Highlight Democratic Values Issues
• Promote Democratic Candidates
  Measures
• Win Elections!

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Why Precinct Captains?

• Politics has Radically Changed for the Worse
• Remote Impersonal
• Big Politics (like big business)
• Run by Consultants
• Politics Produces Voter Dissatisfaction
• Election Campaigns --gt mass marketing
• Political phone banking --gt telemarketing
• Political mailings --gt junk mail
• Political emails --gt spam
• Shown to be ineffective
• Voter turn-out results not improved

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Why Precinct Captains?Because it Works!

• Evidence
• 1 - Academic Research
• 2 - November 2004 Presidental Election
  Results
• 3 - November 2005 Special Election Results

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1 - Academic Research

• Book "Get Out The Vote - How to Increase Voter
  Turnout"
• by Donald P. Greene
• and Alan S Gerber
• professors of political science at Yale
  University
• conducted experiments in real elections
• examined effectiveness of campaign tactics
• did research in over a dozen states
• studied a wide range of types of
  elections(federal, state, and municipal)

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"Get Out The Vote Results
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2 - November 2004Presidental Election Results

• Santa Cruz County Precinct Captainsas an Example
• one of the earliest most active programs
• this program was only change there in 2004
• Precinct Captains did
• Improved Dems Voter Registration
• helped reverse downward trend
• Improved Dems Voter Turnout
• helped reverse historical gap vs. Repubs

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The BEFORE Picture for Dems
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Accomplishments - AFTER
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Accomplishments AFTER
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Nov 04' - Precincts with Captains
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3 - November 2005Special Election Results

• Santa Cruz County Precinct Captainsas an Example
• 40 of walking effort was Precinct Captains
• can program improve already great results?
• Santa Cruz County 3rd best County in State!
• Precinct Captains did
• Improved Nix the Six Vote Margins
• 6 to 11 better than County average
• Improved Voter Turnout
• 2 better than County average

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November 2005 Propositions

• 73 Minor's Pregnancy
• 74 Teacher Tenure
• 75 Public Union Dues
• 76 Spending/Funding
• 77 Redistricting
• 78 Rx Drug Discounts
• 79 Rx Drug Rebates
• 80 Electric Regulation

Nix the Six
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Results California State
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Results SCruz County vs. State
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Ranking of SCruz County Results
Ranking out of all 58 California Counties

• 73 3rd Place (72 No)
• 74 3rd Place (70 No)
• 75 3rd Place (66 No)
• 76 4th Place (75 No)
• 77 6th Place (69 No)
• 78 3rd Place (70 No)

Nix the Six
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Precinct Captains Resultsfor Prop 73 Parental
Consent
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Precinct Captains Props Results
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Results Summary

• County Results much better than State
• County Turnout much better than State
• Precinct Captains made a big difference
• Largest block of volunteers
• 6-11 better results 2 better turnout than
  even County Average
• Let's ALL do it on November 2006with Precinct
  Captains!

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References

• Grassroots Champions Coalition http//www.Precinct
  Captains.org/
• Santa Clara Volunteer Mgnt Systemhttp//sccdp.org
  /volunteer_comm.php
• Get Out the Vote! How to Increase Voter Turnout,
  by Donald Green and Alan Gerber.
• CONTACT Barbara Graves,PO Box 1682, Capitola,
  CA 95010831-462-4303Captains_at_dancin.biz