Knock on Wood: Tips for Quality (and Quantity) Door-to-Door Operations – Part I

“Is this Poplar Avenue or Poplar Street?”

“Wait, when did we cross Main Street?!”

“Fine, I’m pulling over at this gas station to ask directions!”

If this blog was about marital counseling, you’d probably already know where I’m going with this, but this is a political blog that talks about political subjects.  Anyone who has ever done a significant amount of door-to-door campaigning has probably, in exasperation, made similar comments.

One of the most important (if not the most important) components of any grassroots campaign is an effective door-to-door operation.  In the beginning of a campaign, door-to-door efforts are critical for raising name identification.  In the middle of the campaign, hitting doors is crucial for sustaining the momentum and identifying key supporters for the campaign.  At the end of the campaign, door-to-door operations can be what makes or breaks voter turnout.

In my decade or so of working in politics, I have never been employed by a campaign, but I have led hundreds volunteers who together have knocked on tens of thousands of doors across the country.  I have worked both under the direction of highly organized campaign operations and the not so highly organized campaigns.  Most importantly, I’ve seen first-hand how an effective door-to-door operation is essential for success at the polls.  This is part one of the strategies I’ve learned along the way:

WHAT YOU NEED BEFORE YOU GO OUT

The Right People

A grassroots campaign is not a grassroots campaign unless it has committed volunteers.  Before engaging in any door-to-door effort a campaign needs to build up its volunteer database.  A campaign can never have too many volunteers, so at every public event, speaking engagement, campaign staff should constantly be inviting others to join their campaign.

When it comes to door-to-door operations, tapping the right volunteers is key.  While it is true that nearly anyone can hit doors, levels of enthusiasm, age and physical condition are all factors for a campaign to take into account before assembling teams of door knockers.  People with low stamina, heart or respiratory conditions, bad knees or feet are generally not going to be as effective as those with higher stamina and healthier bodies.  In my experience, teenagers and young adults make the best door knockers because their enthusiasm is high, their bodies are stronger, and their stamina is higher.  Those who are not physically able to handle the rigors of door-to-door campaigning can be assigned to other tasks like team drivers, phone banking and mailing operations.

Campaigns should assemble their volunteers in teams of seven (7).  See more on this in the transportation section.

Lists, Literature and Maps

Every team of door knockers needs accurate lists.  The less time a team has to spend interpreting the list, the more time they can spend knocking on doors.  Sometimes this means that a campaign may need to edit their lists to remove extraneous data or households that the campaign is not interested in reaching.  Every team should have multiple clipboards and pens (preferably, one for each group of two) so that the information can be easily distributed and recorded.

Campaigns should provide teams with more doors than they expect them to get to in a given time.  This ensures that the time of volunteers is being maximized.  If a team finishes a precinct earlier than expected, they can start on the next precinct rather than needing to return to campaign headquarters to pick up a new list.

Toward this end, campaigns should supply teams of volunteers with more literature than the precinct(s) requires.  The type of literature is also important.  Door hangers are the easiest to leave at a door if no one answers and are the least intrusive.  Other types of literature must be creatively placed inside storm/screen doors, under mats and other places, which wastes valuable time.  Personal notes like “Sorry I missed you!” should be written on the door hangers in advance by campaign staff or other volunteers to maximize efficiency.

Perhaps most crucial of all are local maps.  Some voter software automatically produces maps and walking directions from house to house, but it never hurts for each team to have a local map at their disposal.  Highlighting the streets that will be hit on the map in advance can save valuable time as a team plots its strategy.  GPS and other electronic devices can sometimes be helpful, however, team members should evaluate whether the team is spending more time inputting information the GPS than using a road map to navigate to the next street.

The Right Transportation

It may not be manly to drive one, but seven-passenger minivans are the key to a successful door-to-door operation.  Minivans can hold three teams of two door knockers plus a driver and allow quick and easy access out of both side doors.  In addition, literature can be stored in the trunk or near the front seats.

What about 12 or 15 passenger vans?  Some campaigns think they are maximizing efficiency by renting or using larger vehicles.  The reality is, these vehicles hinder operations because they hold more teams of two than one driver can handle, waste more gas, and are more difficult to get in and out of.

Five-passenger sedans are acceptable for smaller operations (one driver and two teams), but they are not as effective as minivans.

If campaigns have agreed to pay for gas, they should provide gas cards or offer to reimburse volunteers with receipts instead of having teams wait for a staffer with a campaign credit card to come and fill up their tanks.

Apparel

Team members should be encouraged to wear clothing that suits the activity they are about to undertake: a lot of walking.  They should also prepare for the elements in case the weather becomes windy or rainy, or hotter or colder than they expect.  All door knockers should wear sneakers (no open-toed shoes) and clothing that reflects well on the candidate (i.e. no camo, mini skirts, beat-up baseball caps, etc.).

The last thing a campaign can do to equip their door knockers for success is to effectively brand them.  Campaign tee-shirts or polos are a great way not only to represent the candidate to the public, but to create team camaraderie.  If a campaign cannot afford to provide tee-shirts, then they should ask their volunteers to wear one of the candidate’s colors and provide them with a nice visible sticker to wear on their shirt.

Campaigns can also cover campaign vehicles with bumper stickers (preferably magnetic) so that the  people in neighborhoods and in the towns that a team is working in can clearly identify what the volunteers are doing and who they are working for.

Stay tuned for Part II of this series where I will provide tips for maximizing the number of doors knocked after the team has been dispatched.