Campus Kit

So you want to run Trick or Vote on your campus? Well, we think that's a great idea, and we want to help.

 

The most exciting thing about this is that you'll be a pioneer of sorts. You see, for all it's life Trick or Vote has been a city-based project, going door to door in residential neighborhoods and youth-dense urban centers. We've never fully taken advantage of our potential on campus, but this year that's gonna change. Thanks to strong partnerships with the USSA, the Student PIRGs, Campus Progress Action, and the Energy Action Coalition, we're planning to take campuses across the country by storm. Thanks to you, your campus is gonna have the biggest, baddest, and spookiest event of them all.

 

This tool is designed to lay out tips to help you plan your campus' event, and to address some of the specific challenges you may face on campus. A lot of other useful planning and event information is available on the Trick or Vote wiki, so be sure to check that out. Also, since you're some of the first people doing this project on campus, feel free to edit this page or suggest new things to add. We want to learn from your experiences.

 

Goal Setting and Getting Started

All the content from the Overview and Start Your Planning sections of the wiki are completely applicaple on campus. Check those out.

 

Outreach & Promotion

What with the other Halloween ho-downs surely happening at your school, it's important to do a good job of outreach ahead of time. Here are some suggestions:

• Cross Promote your event with other campus events
• Poster and Flyer the heck out of your campus
• Create a School Club. Is funding available from your college or university?
• Take advantage of existing infractructure. No need to recreate the wheel. Are there ongoing or pre-existing campus programs that you could tie into?
• Get in the school paper. They should cover you like a rug
• Go on campus radio. Pitch trick or vote
• Check out our coordinated media & outreach calendar!

  

Recruitment & Partners

Partnerships with other student groups are a great way to grow your event. One great thing about Trick or Vote is how easily it integrates with most other groups' programs. Take advantage of that. Don't feel confined just to groups that are political in nature. Sure, college Democrats and Republicans should come, but so should all those damn a capella groups. Not to sing...to volunteer. Hey there, don't get all upset, we love a capella.

 

• Find a list of student groups and start contacting their student leaders.
• Ask them to commit to bring a certain number of people to Trick or Vote, then get those people's names and contact information once they're signed up.
• Think about starting a competition to see which student group can bring the most people. Get a sweet prize for the winner.
• Get groups to sign on as official partners; use their logos; get them to email their lists.

 

Dorm Storm

One great thing about college campuses, as they pertain to youth-directed voter turnout efforts, is that they've got these big buildings FULL of young people. These buildings are called "dorms", and they're built for "stormin". A popular tactic used widely in student voter registration drives, Dorm Storms are also one of the very best ways to drive peer-to-peer GOTV on campus.

 

So who's ready to storm some dorms?

 

The Party Predicament

Apparently Halloween is kind of a big party day at college...or so we heard.  If we take it for granted that talking to drunk voters is less effective than talking to sober voters, what's the best way to deal with this party predicament?

 

A few Ideas:

• Do your canvass early in the day on Halloween. You'll have a better chance of recruiting student volunteers, and you'll have better, less innebriated, contacts with your voters.
• Co-Opt someone else's party. Why spend a lot of time organizing your own event if you can find an existing party that's willing to partner? This will leave you with a lot more time to spend recruiting volunteers and planning your canvass.
• Do your Trick or Vote earlier in the week, before the madness ensues. The Sunday through the Wednesday before Halloween are perfectly good days for you to do your thing. Beat those partiers to the punch! (Careful though, we hear someone might have spiked it.)