Blog
5 Ways to Take Back Your Community
June 7, 2013
The last three election cycles have demonstrated unequivocally that elections are won or lost not just by good ideas, but by good organization and hard work. We’ve also clearly seen that national and state parties can’t be relied on to organize and win, either elections or on matters of policy. If we want to see results, we have to produce them at the local level.
One of the best ways to start impacting your community is to develop a strategy to fill your local government with responsible leaders. Various local elections take place each year. If you want to have an impact on the next election cycle, put together your plan of action by following these steps:
1. Look at the recent issues that your local government (school board, town council, county commission, etc.) has faced and what action they have taken. Track down voting records. Some of this information will be available online, but you might also have to do some digging and request information from the board itself.
2. Find out how the election cycles run, and the requirements for getting a candidate on the ballot. Here is a helpful guide to where you can start looking for this information.
3. Make a list of the people you would like to see replaced, then research recent election results and find out how many votes would be needed to win. Our Ground Game presentation will help.
4. Start looking for people that you would like to see in these leadership roles. Don’t know where to start? Here are some ideas.
5. Once you’ve mapped out your plan, get the campaigns moving! There are many free resources available for candidates, campaign managers and volunteers at www.NewLeadersProject.org and our resource page.
Over 1,000 people have joined with the New Leaders Project to start taking back their local government. We are seeing the results, as many of those people have been trained to win, and are hard at work cutting wasteful government programs and helping the education system focus on children once again. There are probably elections of some kind in your community next year – won’t you start fighting for tomorrow today?