11 Things I've Learned About Bond and Tax Measures
1. Never trust the numbers your phone bankers report. Voters can say ‘yes’ when asked if they support the measure because they think it's the quickest way off the phone. Every time a phone banker predicts a landslide my heart sinks.
2. With most voters, the battle is to get them to support the first nickel of the bond or tax measure. If you can convince them to support a measure for a nickel, fifty million dollars really is just a step away.
3. Of the top thousand reasons to support the bond measure, none of them concerns money. Lay out the financial specifics of the measure in black and white and make it available to all who asks - but spend your time and resources telling stories of how your bond or tax measure directly leads to student success or less traffic or modern career training.
4. There are a lot more payphones, per capita, in the Central Valley than the rest of the State.
5. You can try and convince a voter to support a measure. You can try and convince a voter to vote. You can't do both with the same voter.
6. Contrary to how I felt in college, one can have too much pizza.
7. In most of our bond and tax elections, how women between the ages of 50 and 65 vote decides if we win or lose.
8. In nearly all of our tax measures needing a super-majority for passage, the voter turnout of Democratic and Independent women under the age of 45 decides if the measures wins or loses.
9. A well planned, targeted and executed word-of-mouth campaign is the best way to persuade voters to support your measure.
10. Too many campaigns use their websites as billboards. A complete waste of time and money. Use your website as a tool to organize parents, teachers and volunteers.
11. Consider having one of your ballot argument signers be an accountant.
My Family
There are dozens and dozens of local funding measures throughout California. School and community college districts, cities, counties and other special districts all have needs to be met, and they are going to the voters for help. In our work of passing bond, tax and revenue measures, we have found that in general, there are three different types of voters in California's Central Valley and Inland Empire. You will actually find them in most parts of the state.
It just so happens that these voters' characteristics as family: my father, my mother, and my sister.
My father is a 77-year-old, Republican homeowner. He always votes. If the election were on Christmas Day he would go to church, pray for his children, and then go and vote. My father never has and never will vote for a tax increase in his life. There is no argument you can make to him that will change his mind. He was born the year the Great Depression started. He believes in the virtue of self-reliance. Tax increases go against that well-held belief.
My mother is a 68-year-old Independent homeowner. She always votes as well. But there are two things my mother needs in order to support a bond or tax measure. She wants to skim the War and Peace version of the measure. She's not going to read much of the facility plans or expenditure details, but she wants to know that the details are there if she did want to read them. She wants to make sure the funding measure was well planned and well conceived and necessary. When I talk with my mom, most of it has always been through each of us telling the other stories: stories about her grandkids first day of school, my dad's latest trip to the doctor's office, or her current favorite on American Idol. Stuff like that.
My family tells good stories. We've got dozens of great one's. Some are even true.
In running campaigns for local funding measures, we have found when communicating with voters in California's Central Valley and Inland Empire it helps to wrap the message of the measure around a compelling story --- a story that my mother can identify with, a story she will want to tell other voters. Those schools, colleges and communities that take the time to communicate a clear and relevant story to my mom are likely to earn her support. Those that hope she will do the research herself will often lose my mom's support.
Then, there is my sister.
She is a 40-year-old, single mother of two, who rents.
My sister will usually support a bond or tax measure. She has two kids in school, so she sees the direct benefit. Her kids are in local schools and they might take a computer class or swimming lessons at the local community college. She is a renter, so she does not think she has to pay for it.
My sister sees the direct benefit. Bull's eye.
The problem with my sister is that she votes only once every three to four years. If there is a Oprah marathon on Election Day, my sister will not vote. Local funding measure campaigns should consider different strategies and tactics for each different voter: With my dad, stick with the facts; do not try and stretch the truth. No pigs with lipstick. He is going to vote no, but you want it to be a quiet no. You do not want him writing letters to the editor or talking to his friends at the coffee shop about the measure. Persuade my mom with a compelling story about the measure through direct mail, radio, TV or new media advertising
Get my sister to the polls. Turn your entire volunteer operation into getting my sister to vote. Whether it is precinct walking door hangers, an absentee ballot campaign or a targeted and aggressive phone banking operation, you need my sister to vote.
1. Never trust the numbers your phone bankers report. Voters can say ‘yes’ when asked if they support the measure because they think it's the quickest way off the phone. Every time a phone banker predicts a landslide my heart sinks.
2. With most voters, the battle is to get them to support the first nickel of the bond or tax measure. If you can convince them to support a measure for a nickel, fifty million dollars really is just a step away.
3. Of the top thousand reasons to support the bond measure, none of them concerns money. Lay out the financial specifics of the measure in black and white and make it available to all who asks - but spend your time and resources telling stories of how your bond or tax measure directly leads to student success or less traffic or modern career training.
4. There are a lot more payphones, per capita, in the Central Valley than the rest of the State.
5. You can try and convince a voter to support a measure. You can try and convince a voter to vote. You can't do both with the same voter.
6. Contrary to how I felt in college, one can have too much pizza.
7. In most of our bond and tax elections, how women between the ages of 50 and 65 vote decides if we win or lose.
8. In nearly all of our tax measures needing a super-majority for passage, the voter turnout of Democratic and Independent women under the age of 45 decides if the measures wins or loses.
9. A well planned, targeted and executed word-of-mouth campaign is the best way to persuade voters to support your measure.
10. Too many campaigns use their websites as billboards. A complete waste of time and money. Use your website as a tool to organize parents, teachers and volunteers.
11. Consider having one of your ballot argument signers be an accountant.
My Family
There are dozens and dozens of local funding measures throughout California. School and community college districts, cities, counties and other special districts all have needs to be met, and they are going to the voters for help. In our work of passing bond, tax and revenue measures, we have found that in general, there are three different types of voters in California's Central Valley and Inland Empire. You will actually find them in most parts of the state.
It just so happens that these voters' characteristics as family: my father, my mother, and my sister.
My father is a 77-year-old, Republican homeowner. He always votes. If the election were on Christmas Day he would go to church, pray for his children, and then go and vote. My father never has and never will vote for a tax increase in his life. There is no argument you can make to him that will change his mind. He was born the year the Great Depression started. He believes in the virtue of self-reliance. Tax increases go against that well-held belief.
My mother is a 68-year-old Independent homeowner. She always votes as well. But there are two things my mother needs in order to support a bond or tax measure. She wants to skim the War and Peace version of the measure. She's not going to read much of the facility plans or expenditure details, but she wants to know that the details are there if she did want to read them. She wants to make sure the funding measure was well planned and well conceived and necessary. When I talk with my mom, most of it has always been through each of us telling the other stories: stories about her grandkids first day of school, my dad's latest trip to the doctor's office, or her current favorite on American Idol. Stuff like that.
My family tells good stories. We've got dozens of great one's. Some are even true.
In running campaigns for local funding measures, we have found when communicating with voters in California's Central Valley and Inland Empire it helps to wrap the message of the measure around a compelling story --- a story that my mother can identify with, a story she will want to tell other voters. Those schools, colleges and communities that take the time to communicate a clear and relevant story to my mom are likely to earn her support. Those that hope she will do the research herself will often lose my mom's support.
Then, there is my sister.
She is a 40-year-old, single mother of two, who rents.
My sister will usually support a bond or tax measure. She has two kids in school, so she sees the direct benefit. Her kids are in local schools and they might take a computer class or swimming lessons at the local community college. She is a renter, so she does not think she has to pay for it.
My sister sees the direct benefit. Bull's eye.
The problem with my sister is that she votes only once every three to four years. If there is a Oprah marathon on Election Day, my sister will not vote. Local funding measure campaigns should consider different strategies and tactics for each different voter: With my dad, stick with the facts; do not try and stretch the truth. No pigs with lipstick. He is going to vote no, but you want it to be a quiet no. You do not want him writing letters to the editor or talking to his friends at the coffee shop about the measure. Persuade my mom with a compelling story about the measure through direct mail, radio, TV or new media advertising
Get my sister to the polls. Turn your entire volunteer operation into getting my sister to vote. Whether it is precinct walking door hangers, an absentee ballot campaign or a targeted and aggressive phone banking operation, you need my sister to vote.
Bond and Tax Measures
