Dictionary of Terms

From Mobilize the Immigrant Vote

Absentee Ballot

ballot that a voter sends through the mail as opposed to voting at the poll site.

Base Voters

voters that can be counted on by the organization to turnout to vote and support its measure.

Catalist

a private vendor that sells enhanced voter files and lists (www.catalist.us).

Census

a count of the population including detailed data about that population. The U.S. government conducts a full census count every ten years.

Consistent Voters

also known as “frequent” voters, they are those who voted in at least three out of the past four elections.

Constituency Target

community members an organization is targeting to organize, educate and mobilize to win an issue by showing the decision-maker target the community’s support and power. It is different from a decision-maker target. For example, an organization’s constituency target could be South Asian youth or immigrant voters who support a state bill regarding drivers’ licenses for undocumented immigrants.

Contact

1:1 live conversation with a targeted voter. A contact can be made through phone calls, visiting a home, 1:1 conversations at a community event, etc. Mailers are not considered a “live” contact because the voter is not being engaged by another person.

Decision-Maker Target

person the campaign is targeting who can make the decision and produce the change desired. Decision-maker targets can be an elected official who the community is targeting to veto a bill or voters who can vote to defeat a ballot measure.

Direct-Action Organizing

method organizations use to build power and create positive social change in their communities. It also involves directly confronting and demonstrating an organization’s power to a decision-maker in order to win some sort of measurable change. Examples of direct-action activities include marches, sit-ins, hunger strikes, and accountability sessions.

Election Day Activities

different activities that groups can do on Election Day. For example: doorknocking and phonebanking to get out the vote (“GOTV”), providing a voter assistance hotline number, serving as a poll site, exit polling, poll watching, and organizing rides to the poll site for community members.

Electoral Organizing

activities an organization engages in that are related to a given election. It includes electoral field campaigns such as ballot measure campaigns or general GOTV efforts, voter advocacy, etc.

Evaluation

in terms of evaluating GOTV efforts, this refers to the process of analyzing which GOTV activities (phone banking, mailers, precinct walking, etc) are most effective in voter turnout. This involves working with a specialist to determine a control and treatment group, isolating these groups, and monitoring their voter turnout. Funders are increasingly encouraging, at times requiring grantees to include this type of evaluation in their civic engagement program. Evaluation also refers to qualitative evaluation of results that can’t be counted numerically, such as movement-building results.

Exit Polling

process of surveying voters as they exit the poll site to learn about their stances on specific issues. It often includes monitoring any voting rights violations. Exit polls usually asks voters who they voted for in a specific race, the top issues that helped them decide their candidates of choice, whether or not they are first time voters, their ethnicity and gender, etc.

Expected Voters

number of voters expected to turn out and vote in an election based on past election results.

GOTV

short for “get out the vote,” this refers to all activities where there is direct contact with voters in order to turn them out to vote. Activities include: forums, phone banking, precinct walking and robo calls. This can include activities several weeks leading up to the election. Some organizations only use the term “GOTV” for the final weekend leading up to Election Day and the actual Election Day.

GOTV Target List

list of voters your organization has identified to turn out. These voters may be in a specific geographic area where your organization is invested in building political power or may be infrequent voters who need extra contact. This group of voters that will receive GOTV tactics such as phone banking and precinct walking are called the GOTV target list.

Immigrant-Focused Electoral Campaign

electoral organizing campaign that registers, educates, and mobilizes immigrant communities in order to push forward an agenda that advocates for the issues and needs important to immigrant communities. Such campaigns utilize tactics above and beyond traditional electoral campaigns such as targeted work to engage those not eligible to vote, naturalization efforts, language advocacy and resources, etc.

Infrequent Voters

voters who voted in less than two out of the past four elections.

Issue

solution to a problem. For example, health care for all or just and humane immigration reform.

Issue Advocacy

efforts to address and propose a policy, action or solution to issues important to a community; includes lobbying, direct-action organizing, etc. E.g. fighting for legislation to provide universal healthcare for all or passage of the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act, tailored legislation that would provide a path to legalization for eligible immigrant students who grew up in the United States.

Lobbying

practice of influencing decisions made by government. Direct lobbying is the act of advocating directly with a decision-maker on an issue. Grassroots or indirect lobbying refers to advocacy that mobilizes members of an organization or the general public to influence a decision-maker. Direct and grassroots lobbying efforts by 501c3 nonprofit organizations are regulated by both tax and state/federal disclosure laws (State electoral laws in the case of ballot measures).

Media Campaign

campaign plan to produce recognition of an organization’s activities, events and achievements through media, whether it be through mainstream and/or ethnic media outlets. Activities include: press advisories about an event, press releases, press conferences, opinion-editorials, radio or T.V. interviews, etc. Unlike traditional election campaigns, movement-building electoral organizing utilizes media campaigns to shift the broader consciousness of the public and increase the visibility of grassroots organizations.

Media Hits

refers to when your organization, event and/or activity is covered in the media. It is very important to effectively pitch or sell the event to media and document all coverage. For all media hits, make sure you have documentation of the coverage and continue building relationships with the reporters who did cover your event by inviting them to future events, sending them press advisories and releases, etc.

Movement-Building Electoral Organizing

unlike traditional electoral campaigns, the movement-building approach is year-round; it is used to build community power and win larger community issues. It builds deep relationships with people before, during and after elections by connecting them to the organization’s issue campaigns and encouraging them to become more than just voters but advocates for immigration reform and health care reform, for example.

Naturalization

process of becoming a citizen; also referred to as gaining citizenship.

Phone Banking

GOTV activity where volunteers call registered voters in order to relay a GOTV message. Messages vary. Some example messages include: have they received their sample ballots, do they know where their poll site is located, educating them on a specific ballot measure and asking them to vote a certain way, or recruiting them to volunteer.

Political Education

workshops, classes and/or the development of education materials with the purpose of educating staff, volunteers and community members on the root causes of social problems, history, and current policy solutions. Example of political education topics are the history of voting and the Voting Rights Act.

Poll

location where a voter is assigned to vote.

Poll Monitoring

volunteers go to selected poll sites, usually sites where there is high density of voters from your community, and monitor if poll workers are doing an effective job, that no voters are turned away, and that the site is abiding by the Voting Rights Act, specifically sections that require qualifying precincts to provide in-language ballot materials. All cases of voter intimidation, discrimination and violations of the Voting Rights Act are reported to the County Clerk’s office immediately. This activity is listed under voter advocacy.

Precinct

geographic area that the government identifies and uses to administer an election. California cities are divided into precincts. Generally, all the residents in that precinct will be assigned the same voting location, or poll.

Precinct Walking

also called door knocking, this is a GOTV activity which involves volunteers knocking on doors of registered voters, constituents or members in a given electoral region, called a precinct, with a GOTV message. Volunteers usually have a prepared list of the voters in the precinct. Volunteers may also distribute voter education materials, ask if voters know where their poll site is located, and ask them to vote a certain way on a ballot measure. New volunteers can also be recruited through precinct walking. Precinct walking is the most effective method of getting out the vote for most communities; studies have found that precinct walking results in 1 vote per 14 contacts while phone banking results in 1 vote per 38 contacts.

“Raps” or Scripts

prepared statements that are given to volunteers who will talk to voters or the media to help them maintain a consistent message and achieve the purpose of the conversation. A “rap” is shorter and intended for a few-second conversation rather than a longer one.

Robo Calls

automated pre-recorded messages, usually lasting 30 seconds, which are sent to registered voters. They are a cost-effective way to distribute information or a GOTV message ? each robo calls range from $.03 to $.06, depending on the type of service and the vendor. They are not considered effective in getting out the vote ? 1 vote per 900 contacts ? however this varies depending on the community.

Science of Numbers

process of calculating how many voters you need to target to reach your ultimate contact or turnout goal and how many elections volunteers or paid walkers you will need to achieve that goal (please see “Sample Get Out The Vote Science sheet” handout).

Swing Voters

voters who are identified as “undecided” and who can be persuaded to vote a certain way.

Tracking

refers to the activity of monitoring and keeping track of voter contacts and the voters’ commitments to vote at every phone banking or precinct walking mobilization. You should keep daily and weekly records, and analyze your results on a regular basis.

Traditional Electoral Campaign

usually limited to an election cycle and concerned with short term results. For example, a traditional electoral campaign begins voter registration a few months before Election Day, does voter workshops in the weeks leading to Election Day, and implements a GOTV campaign a few days prior to Election Day. The campaign ends the day after the elections take place.

Training

refers to workshops or classes with the goal of building the skills of the volunteer or staff so that they are better equipped at performing well and becoming a real asset to the organization and campaign. Training topics can include: communications, how to talk to media, how to use technology for GOTV activities, how to facilitate a meeting, leadership development, team building, etc.

Treatment and Control

process of measuring impact by comparing the behavior of a group that is not engaged by a given campaign (the “control” group) and the behavior of a group engaged by the campaign (the “treated” group).

Universe

group of voters who share demographic, geographic, and/or voter history. For example, Group B’s GOTV universe are low-propensity Chinese voters living in Monterey Park.

Volunteer/Member Recruitment

efforts to involve new community members in the activities of an organization. Volunteer recruitment should accompany all activities for example, when precinct walking or giving a political workshop or tabling to register new voters, always have a sign-up sheet for volunteers to get more involved.

Voter Activation Network (VAN)

web-based system that allows organizations to manage their voter data.

Voter Advocacy

refers to activities focused on protecting the voters’ bill of rights and the Voting Rights Act. Examples of voter advocacy activities include: poll monitoring, exit polling, monitoring any state initiative to take away one’s right or access to vote, organizations signing on to amicus briefs to dispute a state law that would disenfranchise voters (for example a law in Georgia that if passed would require citizens to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote).

Voter Identification

practice of tagging or labeling voters who support an organization or campaign on a given issue. For example, a group might identify all voters who share its position on a given proposition. Voter identification helps to focus the voter targeting of GOTV activities and is vital in creating a comprehensive voter list that organizations can use post-election for movement-building electoral organizing.

Voter Files or Lists

lists of registered voters that include their contact information (address, phone, and/or email address), date of their registration and their voter turnout history. Files are available through the County Clerk ? depending on the County they are either free or available for purchase. Many organizations also look to private vendors to sell them enhanced voter files. One of the most popular private voter files nationally is Catalist.

Voter Matching

refers to the process after elections when an organization compares which of the voters who committed to vote actually turned out to vote, based on County Registrar records. This is important for evaluation purposes and to analyze the effectiveness of your organization’s electoral organizing efforts.

Voter Modeling

a method of predicting voting behavior based on a variety of data including consumer behavior.

Voting Rights Act

passed in 1965, the Voting Rights Act (VRA) protects the voting rights of all voters, no matter your race, gender, or ethnicity. There are sections of the VRA that are permanent such as Section 2 which prohibits racial discrimination in voting. But others, like Section 5 and 203 must be renewed by Congress every 10 years. Section 5 and 203 are particularly important for immigrant communities. Firstly, Section 5 requires jurisdictions to get approval from federal government before implementing any changes in voting laws. Section 5 is applied to specific jurisdictions in the U.S., most in the southern states that have had a history of voter discrimination and intimidation. Section 203 requires eligible jurisdictions to provide language assistance to voters.

Voter Targeting

the phase of election planning when an organization or a campaign uses demographic, geographic and historical data to identify voters to engage in order to maximize results. It determines which activities will be used with various universes to achieve desired outcome. Voter targeting helps to effectively use limited capacity and resources (time and money) an organization has and ensure the time and money invested will yield the biggest results. For example, Organization A’s goal for their movement-building electoral organizing campaign is to defeat Proposition X. Because they only have 20 volunteers, they are going to door knock to frequent voters because they know these voters are going to vote ? they just need to educate them on Proposition X and get their commitment to vote no. Furthermore, they are going to target frequent Spanish-speaking voters because most of their 20 volunteers are native Spanish-speakers. The list of voters created is called the target voter list.

Voter Technology

technical tools available to organizations to help in their voter outreach and GOTV activities. Access to voter files is important but organizations need a way to analyze and manipulate the voter files to do effective targeting. Thus technology like the Voter Action Network, an interface to read voter files, online tools to input new voter registration information and online phone banking software are important tools to help make movement-building electoral organizing more effective and sustainable.

Voter Turnout

the total number or percentage of voters that voted, either through absentee ballots or at the polls, compared to the total number of registered voters.

Win Number

the number of votes needed to achieve your goal. For example, the number of votes needed to pass a measure in the election which can be derived by the following formula: expected voters divided by 2(yes/no votes) plus 1 vote. Most campaigns add a 4-10% cushion.

Work Plans

document that lists the goals and objectives of the campaign, as well as the tactics used to reach those objectives, and a timeline. The timeline could include the following activities: GOTV activities, voter research, voter advocacy, voter education, voter registration, volunteer recruitment, etc. An organized and detailed work plan is critical in ensuring that there is transparency of expectations and responsibilities and that staff members are organized and accountability to their tasks.