Voter Registration
Voter Registration, Part 1One of our top priorities as committee members is to register Republican voters. There is no substitute for building the party through the recruitment of new registrants. Remember that most citizens, when asked, will want to exercise their right to vote. The requirements for voting are simple:
1. Must be an American citizen;
2. Must be 18 years old by the DAY AFTER the next election;
3. Must have lived in the election district for 30 days prior to the next election.
New voters must complete a form listing their name, address, and other information, and mail it to the County Election Board. Registration forms can be obtained from the County Election Board, at the RCAC office, or online at http://www.pagop.org. Voter registration forms should be used for the following reasons:
1. To register to vote for the first time.
2. To change your address whenever you move.
3. To change your name when your marital status changes.
4. To change your political affiliation (Republican, Democrat, Independent, etc)
5. To re-registered if you have not voted in 10 years. In order to vote in an election you must be registered at least 30 days before the Primary or General election. As you seek to register new Republicans in your neighborhood, here are some groups to target:1. Families that have recently moved into the area;
2. New citizens;
3. Families that have a son or daughter who recently turned 18.
Voter Registration, Part 2
Committee members can get a list of registered voters (street list) in their election district (precinct) from RCAC or from the County Election Board. RCAC distributes updated street lists for each local committee in the poll bags prior to the Primary and General elections. You can also obtain a free CD with information on all the registered voters in Allegheny County from the County Election Board located in Room 604 of the County Office Building, and extract the data for your municipality. With an electronic version of voter data on your computer, you can customize your lists for canvassing and phone banks.
Using the street lists, you can canvass your district for new voters. Those houses or apartments not shown on the street lists have unregistered voters. You must knock on these doors. The “blitz” is a popular technique for door-to-door canvassing. Begin by establishing a meeting place, have all volunteers assemble at a given time to receive their training, assignments, and street lists. Then “hit the streets” to register Republicans and gather information. After the canvass, all volunteers should report back to a designated meeting place to turn in material. Try to make the blitz as much fun as possible. For example, the Mt Lebanon Republican Committee holds a morning picnic before going on the blitz. And don’t forget to thank the volunteers afterwards.
A telephone canvass can work effectively in areas where door-to-door canvassing would be impractical. A central location of phones offers the advantage of supervising the telephone canvassing closely. The goal is to call unregistered voters in your district. Once you have completed the telephone canvass, be sure to follow up with those contacted by promptly mailing them voter registration forms.
You can also contact unregistered voters by direct mail or by setting up a booth in a mall or shopping plaza. One good source of unregistered voters is the real estate transfers in your local newspaper. Send a welcome letter with voter registration forms to those moving into your community. Always pre-mark the Republican box on the voter registration forms that you distribute. [Please feel free to share your nuggets of grassroots wisdom with the rest of us in future weeks by sending your tip to browand@adelphia.net]