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No doubt about it: Our democracy is on the line on November 3. So we’re using all the tools in our digital organizing toolbox to work toward fair and safe elections this year.
One important element is getting the vote-by-mail out. But we know that millions of people will see in-person voting as their best (or only) option. And even the best-run, most well-resourced GOTV operation is doomed to failure if there aren’t enough open polling sites for safe in-person voting on Election Day.
It’s not enough to just encourage people to vote—many nonprofits are also determined to recruit poll workers to help ensure in-person voting runs smoothly. These efforts can help protect our democracy—and, in the process, support your own recruitment goals. We’ve found poll worker digital ads to be particularly effective, driving substantially lower than average CPAs and significant volume.
Here are 4 things to keep in mind to make your poll recruitment campaign a success:
- Draw clear connections to your brand, mission, and values: Motivate your audience to help at the polls by showing how increased engagement, well-run elections, and a healthy democracy support your cause. While your state or municipality is likely doing their own outreach, your brand has associations and relationships with voters that are different from those of officials. You can help increase credibility and diversify the audience that applies for poll worker positions by using your social properties to promote poll worker jobs and reaching out to your own supporters over SMS or email, in addition to paid poll worker recruitment.
- Feature the pay rate for being a poll worker prominently in your communication: We’ve found from our own work that featuring the daily pay predominantly in the ad performed particularly well. With unprecedented unemployment rates across the country, people are looking for work wherever they can and putting this front and center helps draw attention to the opportunity.
- Make sure you are able to capture interested applicants’ information: If you promote the application to people outside of your existing supporter list through ads, ensure you have a way to collect their contact information before directing them to the Secretary of State or local election clerk’s application page, in order to be able to follow up with them.
- Follow up with applicants to make sure they actually apply: Tap into your digital organizing capacity by sending SMS reminders to your poll worker leads or following up with them through peer-to-peer messaging to provide support or answer questions, ensuring a higher rate of follow through.
Are there other questions you’re pondering as we head into the final stretch of this wild election? Send ‘em our way, too! From ads strategies to creative inspiration to organizing tips and tricks, we’ve likely got something up our sleeves to help you out.
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Sofia is a Media Director on our digital ads team. When she’s not deep-diving into the best GOTV or persuasion strategy to reach voters, she’s hanging out with her cat Bella or exploring and plotting her post-COVID travel plans. You can reach her at sbennett@mrss.com.