Wellstone Action!

posted by Sarah Scanlon

NOVEMBER 17, 2009

I have worked all over the country, and one of the many benefits is getting to know so many great people who are active in political efforts.  So when Jon Hoadley and Sarah Reece, both who I've known for a few years, called to ask me to join them in the campaign to pass an anti-discrimination ordinance in Kalamazoo, Michigan -- I jumped at the chance. 
 
What was particularly exciting was that this campaign, with its relatively small universe, allowed us to try some new tactics. And in the end, the vote was 7,671 (62%) to 4732 (38%) in favor of equality.  Our turnout prediction was about right.  What made the difference in turning out significantly more of pro-equality voters was our GOTV game. 

This ballot ordinance campaign started back in 2006, when a small group of dedicated citizens got together and formed KAFÉ (Kalamazoo Alliance for Equality).  One of the issues at the time was securing a domestic partnership registry and the other was securing employment rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people in the city of Kalamazoo.  For either of these issues to become law, the council would be required to pass an ordinance and if they did so then it was expected that there would be an effort to put that ordinance on the ballot for a vote of the people. 
 
In 2008, the city passed the ordinance, but then rescinded it because they knew it was going to be put on the ballot and the commission wanted to make sure it had the best chance possible of passing the popular vote. In May of 2009 the commission passed the ordinance again and in June of 2009 the opposition was able to submit enough signatures to place the ordinance on the November ballot.  Shortly before the passage of the ordinance in 2009, One Kalamazoo was created to be the campaign committee for the measure and the Yes on 1856 Campaign began.
 
Jon's campaign targeting math was simple: Out of 55,000 registered voters in Kalamazoo, he had estimated that 23% would turn out for the local election, based on previous years.  We would need to identify and turn out 6,500 voters (55,000 x 23% divided by 2 = 6,325, plus a cushion). 
 
Some campaign factors to consider: 1) there had also been a vote in 2001 on a domestic partnership ordinance on the ballot, and it had barely passed.  2) there were two universities within the city limits, each with an active GLBT base and very active student population, and finally 3) While it was initially difficult to get access to a database of registered voters in the city, the early campaign efforts identified and registered 760 new voters in the city so that when they got the database and got the targeting complete they would have 760 fewer voters that needed to be identified.
 
 
 
The campaign folks accepted a number of recommendations based on some recently released data on best practices for Get Out the Vote strategies.  Here are a few of the innovations we piloted:
 
1. The "sticky note" GOTV canvass piece - based on polling Jon and Sarah knew that Kalamazoo and this campaign would allow us to do a number of things that we had been held back from in previous efforts.  Because there had been so much effort put into having the conversations with people in the community, on the doors and on the phones, using language like "Pro-Gay" and "Gay and Transgender" would be appreciated by voters.  So we did...

 
2. The phones - click here for a copy of the script that we used for phone banking our supporters during the three days leading up to the elections and a script that was used by paid callers the day before the election (that universe was identified undecided voters).  I have also included the data collected from the results of those paid calls.  The results showed that, unlike many gay and transgender issues, through a follow-up conversation we were able to persuade many of the undecided voters to support equality.  The biggest difference from traditional tactics is that we no longer allowed the caller to "remind" the voter to vote but instead focused on their "voting traditions" and encouraged them to think about how they would be voting.  (I'd also put something in how we let the voter talk through their hesitations around voting yes or no)
 
3. Robo call script - I hate robo calls for many reasons, but I agreed to write a script for a short call to a very specific universe, recorded by a respected member of the Western Michigan University faculty.  The student population that was turning out at a much smaller number than we expected would be necessary. 
 

" Hey this is Don Cooney.  By voting "yes on 1856" today you can take pride in knowing that you were part of the effort to make Kalamazoo fair and equal.  Polls close at the student center at 8.  Don't miss your chance to be on the winning side."

 
This call was recorded at 3pm, when only 150 students had voted.  But by 8pm, nearly 800 had voted.  I don't think all of the credit goes to the call but I think it might have helped remind people without reminding them.
 
The opposition was all fear and scare tactics.  Check out the particularly egregious literature that was sent out by the opposition (below).  It was an abject failure in every sense.  The committee on the other side was made up of religious leaders and representatives of national organizations like the American Family Association. For years they have used, effectively, the argument that this is about special rights and would allow cross dressing men to come into the women's bathrooms and prey on our children. 
 
They aired a number of dire commercials that showed predatory images regarding young children and sent out fliers with pictures of trans people from all over the US with descriptions that made them seem "crazy".  One Kalamazoo had built their campaign with the understanding that this would be an opportunity for education and they had been talking about transgender people and what this ordinance really meant for more than 2 years.  By the time the opposition started their campaign they had been already discredited and in some cases served to solidify our support within the straight and ally community.
 
It was incredible to be part of a campaign where we could win (and win big), while testing new tactics and building on best practices for cutting-edge GOTV strategies.  Congratulations to the people of Kalamazoo, Jon Hoadley, Sarah Reece, and Trystan Reece for leading such a great effort and thanks for letting me be included.