GETTING OUT THE VOTE

There are too many mercenaries for hire in politics.

There’s too much money. There are too many people
hoping to reach into the pork-barrel after the
election. There’s too much technology and there’s
too much TV.

Yet, on election day, in many jurisdictions,

especially in the Parliamentary system, political
power is vested in ordinary people for a few hours.
Many of these are the people who put up signs,
staffed phone banks and stood at plant gates or bus
stops with the candidate during the campaign. Now
they staff their own kitchen table, basement or
rented campaign office in what was a failed pizza
parlor that nobody else wanted to rent.

On election day, it boils down to getting out the

vote. Calls, offers of a lift to the voting place and
watching over the democratic process as electors
vote are a high calling. This is the best homage to
that calling I can muster.
The process begins the minute the election is called. Campaigners
going door to door to start to identify the vote. Others are doing the
same by phone. In a winter campaign there may be more reliance
on the phone because of weather.
The main purpose of the door to door canvass and the candidate
canvass is not discussing policy or even introducing the candidate
to the electorate. Candidates have been all but irrelevant in North

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American elections for over 100 years. The purpose of the candi-
date canvass is to tell the people who are not home that the candi-
date was there. That voter will assume the candidate met almost all
the others in the neighborhood. The purpose of the other canvass,
minus the candidate, is just to identify the vote, not drop off
simplistic literature. The conversation at the door can be dressed
up with all kinds of falderal about issues, lawn signs, skateboards A N A M AT I C S
on sidewalks, the national campaign and so on, but the only
exchange that matters is:
“Have you decided how you’re gong to vote?”
Some voters tell you. Others signal that the secret ballot is impor-
tant to them. Others pretend to be undecided or perhaps really are.
The trick is to guess who is whom and mark it down on a form.
Competitive advantage can be achieved in a political
Election day volunteers in the campaign office call the voters who
are in their party and make sure the vote gets out. Volunteers offer campaign through better use of a blackboard and
a drive, if necessary. But, for the most part, committed voters will chalk, more phone lines for the phone bank, more
vote regardless. There’s often a lot of boredom on election day. volunteer drivers and/or better use of new technol-
There may be a few older people and shift workers at home, but the ogy. We’re never sure which technological wave will
real action starts about 5 p.m. and doesn’t end until the polls close.
stick and which one will affect the outcome of a
One big problem is that for the several weeks before voting day, it’s particular campaign. I speculated about such things
been a volunteer army that’s been creating these lists. In some
after reviewing candidate and party web pages for
campaigns, volunteers are lucky to have any list and to be able to
read the notations on the ones that exist. the network television program “Politics”, hosted by
Don Newman.
There can be 300 polls in a riding or district. Each party can supply
an inside and outside scrutineer. The inside scrutineer sits in the A recent all candidates’ debate during a national
polling place, marks off and sometimes challenges voters. A leaders’ campaign got me thinking about one of my
challenge occurs if the party worker thinks the voter has voted
pet peeves—research. Below, I offer some upgrades to
twice or is not registered. Outside workers can go in and check the
list to see who has voted. The Deputy Returning Officer & Poll the unscientific focus group—a mainstay of modern
Clerk are paid by the government and they often don’t like people research.
looking over their shoulders to find out who has voted.
I was just asked to review the performances of 11 politicians in an
However, party workers need to determine who has voted, in order all candidates’ debate months before voting. Since anything can
to tell their volunteer cohorts back in the campaign office, so the happen in even a month in politics, I struggled with what
ones who haven’t can be called and cajoled into voting. perspective I would offer on a TV show called “Politics”.
A typical riding needs two volunteers per poll and a phone bank Issues could change, candidates can drop out, scandals can hit and
of as many people as one can get. Rarely, if ever, does a campaign so on. I saw little point in reviewing content and policy so early in
have all the people it needs. A good team can get out several
a campaign. I remembered an old technique from focus groups. It
hundred votes or even up to a thousand.
sometimes pays to show a candidate talking on video with no
Only close ridings are affected by this so called “ground game”, but sound and get reactions to the body language only. The specific
a few close ridings can sometimes turn an election or beef up a information respondents produce, based on watching a silent
regional caucus.

116 GETTING OUT THE VOTE A N A M AT I C S 117