Precinct Captain and Delegate Information
Compiled by Marlene Chockley, former Grassroots Vice Chair, Michigan Republican Party
Revised April 13, 2009

 

Organizing and Analyzing your Precinct

 

After you have been elected or appointed Precinct Delegate your job is just beginning.  You are now the MANAGER of your precinct for the Republican Party. As the person responsible for managing your precinct, the first task you have is to acquaint yourself with your precinct.

 

Getting to Know your Precinct

 

The precinct is the political extension of your neighborhood.  Just from living in the neighborhood you should know the basic lay of the land: where the local schools are, the park, the churches or those new apartments on the corner.  But now you should learn more about your precinct.

 

The first step is to acquire a precinct map from your city, county or district Republican Chairman or from your city/township clerk's office.  Once you obtain this, you should secure the following information:

 

1. The number of registered voters in your precinct this information is available at your city/township clerk's office.  The maximum is 2,999 registered voters per precinct.

 

2. The precinct boundaries and the limits of the house numbers located within the precinct boundaries.

3. The number of streets and blocks within your precinct.

 

4. The number of homes and /or apartment buildings in your precinct.  Mark the location of each apartment and number of units in each one.

 

5. The location of new subdivisions (potential unregistered voters.)

 

6. The location of hospitals or retirement homes (they may need a special absentee ballot program).

 

7. The location of neighborhood shopping centers or grocery stores (maybe a good spot for literature distribution.)

 

8. The location of your precinct polling place.  Call your city/township clerk if in doubt.

 

Voter History

 

Once you have familiarized yourself with the geographic characteristics of your precinct, you should learn about the past voter history of your precinct. The two facts you want to learn are past voter turnout and past voter preference. To determine both pieces of information you must go to your city or township clerk's office and find the answers to the following questions:

 

1. When was the last time your precinct boundary lines were redrawn?

The only past voting history pertinent to your precinct is that of elections held since the last time the lines were redrawn (i.e., if the boundaries were changed in 1981, the only vote totals you can use are those from the 1982 primary and general election.)

 

2. What percent of the registered voters in the precinct usually turn out on Election Day?

 

Turnout in presidential election years is usually 20% higher than in non-presidential years.  However, if the turnout in your precinct is less than 60% in a non-presidential year and 70% in a presidential election year, you have a big job ahead of you to turn out the Republican vote.  You also have the opportunity to increase the overall Republican vote from past elections.

 

3. Approximately what percentage of the voters in your precinct are Republicans, Democrats and Ticket Splitters?

 

To find this information, find the highest and lowest Republican vote-getter in your precinct during the last three general elections.  (If your precinct boundaries were recently redrawn, you will only be able to use the 1998 results.)  The lowest vote-getter will be the base Republican vote.  The base GOP vote represents those voters who vote straight Republican. The highest Republican vote-getter represents the potential Republican vote.  The difference between the highest and the lowest represents the percent of ticket-splitters in your precinct.

 

Example:      GOP    Dem.

2000 Presidential Vote  700 (70%)  300 (30%)
1998 Sec. of State    400 (40%)  600 (60%)
Difference      300 (30%)  
Base Republican Vote    40%
Base Democratic Vote    30%
Ticket-Splitter       30%

 

The highest percent or potential Republican vote is a good goal to aim for in the next general election.  However, you can improve on that percentage if you can increase Republican voter turnout.

 

Organizing your Precinct

 

Now that you have familiarized yourself with the geographical layout and the political make-up of your precinct, you are ready to set up your precinct organization. The rule to follow in organizing your precinct is: get help build a team to work with you. 

 

Before you recruit your team you have to decide:

 

What the goals of your organization will be.

The number of people it will take to accomplish your goals.

 

The primary goals of your organization, in order of importance, are:

First Priority:  Achieve maximum Republican vote turnout on election day by:

 

1. Identifying the political preference of every potential (legally qualified) voter in your precinct.

 

2. Registering every favorable (Republican) voter in your precinct.

 

3. Assisting the favorable voter to vote by absentee ballot whenever possible.

 

4. Make sure every �registered favorable� votes on election day.

 

Second Priority: Assist the Republican Party and Republican candidates

to campaign in your precinct and pay special attention to the ticket-splitters/independent voters in your precinct.

 

To determine the number of team members you will need to accomplish your first priority goal divide your precinct into manageable areas.  A good rule to follow is one person for each 25-30 households or one per block.  You will want to personalize your organization by having one or more persons for an apartment building or senior citizen housing unit.

Therefore, if your precinct has 800 registered voters it will have approximately 500 households (there is an average of 1.6 voters per household) to cover.  This means you will need approximately 20 team members to cover your precinct.

 

The easiest way to build your team is find four who will find four.

However, you should remember that you will be the Precinct Leader.  Your team will be your Precinct Lieutenants working under your leadership.

 

Volunteer Recruitment

 

Ask!!

 

ASK is the most important word to remember in volunteer recruitment.  Most people dread having to ask people to volunteer their time.  However, the worst thing that could happen when you ask someone to help is that they will say no.  But if you don't ask, you will never build a winning precinct team. In fact, surveys have shown that 30-40% of the people would volunteer to work for a political organization if only they were asked.  Unfortunately, only 3% of the electorate have participated in campaign or political activity because only 6% have ever been asked.

We suggest following these steps in recruiting your volunteers:

 

1. Make a list of job descriptions and responsibilities

2. Make a list of potential recruits.

3. Contact each recruit PERSONALLY.

4. Appeal to the recruit's ego tell them of the importance of their assistance.  Tell them why you need them.

5. Ask each person to accept a specific assignment one they can handle.  Don't overburden any one volunteer or they will turn you down.

6. Continue your efforts until you have found one or more persons for each separate area (25-30 houses) or volunteer job.

7. Ask the person to fill out a volunteer card to keep a permanent record of your recruits.

Job Responsibility

The first positions you want to fill are those of your Precinct Lieutenants.  As mentioned before, these individuals will be responsible for all volunteer activities within their assigned areas.

Some of the activities that these people and the other volunteers will be needed for are:

a. compiling voter lists
b. voter identification canvass
c. voter registration drive
d. absentee ballot drive
e. distribution of literature
f. telephone callers
g. election day activities

� poll watchers
� election challengers
� literature distribution
� drivers, babysitters, etc.

 

Who to Recruit

 

You don't have to go through the phone book and call everyone in your precinct looking for volunteers.  There are many lists available of potential recruits.

Some of these lists are:

 

1. Former Precinct Delegates

2. Republican membership lists (i.e., women's clubs, youth clubs, county Party mailing lists)

3. Republican candidate volunteer lists

4. Identified Republican voters from past voter identification canvasses

5. Primary voter list

6. Subdivision association

7. Block clubs

 

8. Neighbors

 

9. Social clubs (bridge, garden clubs, etc.)

 

10. Service clubs (Jaycees, Rotary, VFW, Lions, etc.)

 

11. Professional organizations (Bar Assoc., Chamber of Commerce, etc.)

 

12. Church groups

 

13. PTA or PTO

 

14. High school civic and political clubs

15. Senior citizen groups

 

16. Individuals who write letters to the editor

17. Fellow employees

 

18. Neighborhood children (for literature distribution)

 

How to Recruit

 

When contacting people from one of these lists, here are a few tips you may want to use in your approach.

 

1. Appeal to the person's ego:  Mrs. Jones, I've noticed what a great job you have done over the past years on civic projects; we would be

honored if you would help us build our local Republican organization.

2. Appeal to their pride: Mr. Smith, I'm sure we can have the best precinct organization in our city with your help.  That's why I'm calling you personally.

 

3. Appeal to their sense of principle: The only way we are going to elect good candidates who will make government responsive to our needs is by getting involved ourselves.

 

4. Appeal to a possible existing unfulfilled ambition to get involved in politics.

 

Ms. Riley, you really seem like the kind of person who would want to get involved in our political and governmental process.

When you get a positive response, remember the four to get four formula and ask you new recruit to contact four of his/her friends (maybe from the same list you got their name from.)

Working with Your Volunteers

Once you have established your precinct team, you must keep them both interested and active.  Complacency on your part over an extended period of time will result in a loss of good people. 

 

To keep your volunteers interested, we suggest using some of the following methods:

1. Training

Perhaps to train a volunteer at the time of recruitment can be a real selling point.  Training in how the canvass, voter registration or election day activities work and why they are used will help them understand the importance of their role in the total scheme of Party organization and campaigning.  Hopefully, your county / district Party offers Precinct Delegate training seminars for you to bring your volunteers to.  If not, try and encourage your local committee to start having them.

 

2. Communication

 

You should try to keep in regular contact with your volunteers.  This can be done by holding coffees where your volunteers can get to know one another.  You may want to invite your County Chairman or one of your elected Republican officials to talk at the coffee. You should also add your volunteer names to your County / District mailing list. A short political update from you would also help keep them involved.

 

3. Thank them

Two words that can never be used enough with volunteers are THANK YOU.  Have your city / township and your county chairs send them a letter of thanks when they are recruited. Also, take the time out to let your volunteers know what the results of a particular project were, and how important their role was in completing it.  If your county has some sort of volunteer recognition program, make sure your volunteers are included.  If not, suggest that they start one immediately.
 

Web Sources of Information

Secretary of State            www.michigan.gov/sos

This site contains campaign finance rules and forms and searchable filings of all state level offices.

Campaign Finance Disclosure     www.opensecrets.org  or  www.tray.com

State of Michigan       www.michigan.gov
Main link to information on State Departments    

Michigan House of Representatives      www.michiganlegislature.gov
Michigan House Republicans     www.gophouse.com
Michigan Senate       www.senate.state.mi.us
Michigan Senate Republicans     www.senate.state.mi.us/gop/
Michigan Republican Party     www.migop.org
White House       www.whitehouse.gov
U. S. Senate       www.senate.gov
National Republican Senatorial Committee   www.nrsc.org
U. S. House of Representatives     www.house.gov
National Republican Congressional Committee          www.nrcc.org
Republican National Committee     www.rnc.org
Federal Elections Commission     www.fec.gov