Post by Keith on May 27, 2007 21:40:22 GMT -8
Voter apathy is indeed nothing new and is getting to be highly detrimental to the political process. At times, just spreading the messing isn't enough. In order to combat voter apathy, one is going to have to go the extra mile. Current conventional methods such as grassroots campaigning and phone banking can only take you so far nowadays in elections. This is from personal experience from working the John Kerry campaign around fall of '04.
I did plenty of phone banking such as calling houses of registered Democrats. We had to go by a script. It made us sound like a bunch of automated telemarketers. When we were blunt and talked about some mishap and telling them they need to go out to vote, it would scare them. One supervisor said not to scare them and the other supervisor said they need to be scared enough to go out to the voting areas and vote. Of course fear is one way to combat voter apathy. But that's going to take you so far.
First thing is first is do literature drops. Talk with people about the various issues that each candidate is representing. Candidates are going to have to do their part on winning the hearts and minds of the voters. Conventional ways work to an extent. But however, even though you address their concerns, is it going to be enough? Ideally, it should. Still, you're going to have to do more than that.
There are reasons for voter apathy such as votes not being counted, the feeling they're not being represented, all their hard work done in vain because the other candidate won, or members of the house hold with different political affiliations resulting in votes being cancelled out. Those are pretty logical reasons. But they are the major factors that contribute to voter apathy.
On that extent, the extra mile has to be taken. And no, don't go doing anything illegal. You're going to have to entice the voters to go out and vote. There are very unconventional methods which surprised me when I learned of one such way on the evening news.
One of the candidates for a seat in one of the counties in Florida happens to be an owner of a strip club. He made this announcement for anybody that goes out and vote, they go to his club wearing a sticker saying that they voted, they are admitted into his club for free. Meaning, they don't have to pay the cover charge. Getting into such clubs, cover charges can get pricely such as paying 20-30 at least. That happened to be a very ingenious idea on the man's part.
What makes it more interesting that it's perfectly legal. As long as you vote, doesn't matter the candidate, you don't have to pay the cover charge. You have to be 18 to vote. When people go out and vote, the line's going to be extremely long that can go on for hours. You can entice people to vote by offering drinks and refreshments. It's basically an effort on just about everybody's part to get people to vote.
For example, if you're a manager of a movie theater, you can offer tickets at a discounted price to people that vote. That also includes a discount on drinks and refreshments at the movie theaters. Being to the movie theater enough times, I can definitely say that ticket prices and the price for snacks and drinks are pretty much highway robbery. Or they can make the movie tickets free.
Logically, in order to get a free movie ticket, you just have to go out and vote. Voting is your right. Vote for the candidate you want to win and get a free movie ticket. People are always up to getting free stuff and getting into places without having to pay a cover charge. That's perfectly legal too. You vote and you get to see a movie for free. Definitely nothing wrong with that.
If you own a bar, you can offer half-off drinks to people that vote. People in this country enjoy alcohol. The price of alcohol is getting pretty expensive by the year. So half-off drinks is definitely a good incentive to use to get people to go out and vote. Basically, all they have to do is show the people at the bar an "I Voted" sticker. That too is perfectly legal from what I heard on the news.
Restaurants can give discounts and free stuff to people that go out and vote. Basically, the best way for combatting voter apathy is by incentive. Of course at public gatherings such as bars, restaurants, clubs, and other places, people are going to talk about the candidates and what they represent. Give out the incentives and get people out to the polling areas. People are going to talk while they're in line. When people start talking, they're going to get interested.
One of the biggest hangouts during election night was the bars. We went to this one bar after a long day on election night of '04t. It was very busy that day such as driving people to the polls, doing food runs, literature, drops, and other tasks. Democrats and Republicans ended up sharing the same bar. But we were outnumbered by the Republicans, which gave me an uneasy feeling. Though it didn't matter much, I was drunk at the time. But that just proves that bars are some of the places people gather for election night.
The younger generation of voters are into videogames. A local arcade and offer a certain amount of freeplay for anybody that voted. If I was able to play games for free for the day and all I had to do was vote, I'd certainly go for it. With an incentive like that, I sure wouldn't be apathetic.
This is by far the most unconventional means and by far the best means to combatting voter apathy. To combat voter apathy, you're gonna have to think outside of the box.
People are going to want something out of it, especially having to wait in line for hours.
www.helium.com/tm/312262/voter-apathy-indeed-nothing
I did plenty of phone banking such as calling houses of registered Democrats. We had to go by a script. It made us sound like a bunch of automated telemarketers. When we were blunt and talked about some mishap and telling them they need to go out to vote, it would scare them. One supervisor said not to scare them and the other supervisor said they need to be scared enough to go out to the voting areas and vote. Of course fear is one way to combat voter apathy. But that's going to take you so far.
First thing is first is do literature drops. Talk with people about the various issues that each candidate is representing. Candidates are going to have to do their part on winning the hearts and minds of the voters. Conventional ways work to an extent. But however, even though you address their concerns, is it going to be enough? Ideally, it should. Still, you're going to have to do more than that.
There are reasons for voter apathy such as votes not being counted, the feeling they're not being represented, all their hard work done in vain because the other candidate won, or members of the house hold with different political affiliations resulting in votes being cancelled out. Those are pretty logical reasons. But they are the major factors that contribute to voter apathy.
On that extent, the extra mile has to be taken. And no, don't go doing anything illegal. You're going to have to entice the voters to go out and vote. There are very unconventional methods which surprised me when I learned of one such way on the evening news.
One of the candidates for a seat in one of the counties in Florida happens to be an owner of a strip club. He made this announcement for anybody that goes out and vote, they go to his club wearing a sticker saying that they voted, they are admitted into his club for free. Meaning, they don't have to pay the cover charge. Getting into such clubs, cover charges can get pricely such as paying 20-30 at least. That happened to be a very ingenious idea on the man's part.
What makes it more interesting that it's perfectly legal. As long as you vote, doesn't matter the candidate, you don't have to pay the cover charge. You have to be 18 to vote. When people go out and vote, the line's going to be extremely long that can go on for hours. You can entice people to vote by offering drinks and refreshments. It's basically an effort on just about everybody's part to get people to vote.
For example, if you're a manager of a movie theater, you can offer tickets at a discounted price to people that vote. That also includes a discount on drinks and refreshments at the movie theaters. Being to the movie theater enough times, I can definitely say that ticket prices and the price for snacks and drinks are pretty much highway robbery. Or they can make the movie tickets free.
Logically, in order to get a free movie ticket, you just have to go out and vote. Voting is your right. Vote for the candidate you want to win and get a free movie ticket. People are always up to getting free stuff and getting into places without having to pay a cover charge. That's perfectly legal too. You vote and you get to see a movie for free. Definitely nothing wrong with that.
If you own a bar, you can offer half-off drinks to people that vote. People in this country enjoy alcohol. The price of alcohol is getting pretty expensive by the year. So half-off drinks is definitely a good incentive to use to get people to go out and vote. Basically, all they have to do is show the people at the bar an "I Voted" sticker. That too is perfectly legal from what I heard on the news.
Restaurants can give discounts and free stuff to people that go out and vote. Basically, the best way for combatting voter apathy is by incentive. Of course at public gatherings such as bars, restaurants, clubs, and other places, people are going to talk about the candidates and what they represent. Give out the incentives and get people out to the polling areas. People are going to talk while they're in line. When people start talking, they're going to get interested.
One of the biggest hangouts during election night was the bars. We went to this one bar after a long day on election night of '04t. It was very busy that day such as driving people to the polls, doing food runs, literature, drops, and other tasks. Democrats and Republicans ended up sharing the same bar. But we were outnumbered by the Republicans, which gave me an uneasy feeling. Though it didn't matter much, I was drunk at the time. But that just proves that bars are some of the places people gather for election night.
The younger generation of voters are into videogames. A local arcade and offer a certain amount of freeplay for anybody that voted. If I was able to play games for free for the day and all I had to do was vote, I'd certainly go for it. With an incentive like that, I sure wouldn't be apathetic.
This is by far the most unconventional means and by far the best means to combatting voter apathy. To combat voter apathy, you're gonna have to think outside of the box.
People are going to want something out of it, especially having to wait in line for hours.
www.helium.com/tm/312262/voter-apathy-indeed-nothing