SSDP Student Government Takeover Manual

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About the Author

Sam Tracy, UConn '13, has been a member of Students for Sensible Drug Policy since

Fall 2009. His sophomore year, he served as President of UConn's chapter of SSDP, hosting the

2010 Northeast Regional Conference and leading successful campaigns for marijuana

decriminalization and medical amnesty laws in Connecticut. While president of SSDP, he and

fellow SSDPer Lindsay Chiappa ran for President and Vice President of the Student Body in a

three-way race, which they won by 32 votes. Some highlights of their term include equalizing

marijuana and alcohol penalties on campus and expanding GUARD Dogs, UConn's student-run

sober rides program.

Sam has run successful student government campaigns for over a dozen SSDPers at

UConn, including one write-in candidate, and continues to make sure that SSDP remains a strong

presence in UConn's student government. He hopes to share this knowledge with other chapters

in order to help his fellow SSDPers take over their schools' student governments, and use them to

make change on the campus, state, and national level. Sam has been working at the intersection

of drug policy and student government for many years now, and was published in High Times

writing about the importance of using student governments to change drug policies.

Sam also serves as a Board Member for the American Civil Liberties Union of

Connecticut, where he is a member of the drug policy committee. He is currently writing his

senior thesis, a comparison and analysis of state-level marijuana legalization ballot initiative

campaigns.

If you are considering running for student government,

would like more information, or need anything at all,

feel free to contact Sam at [email protected].

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Table of Contents

Why Should You Run for Student Government? Page 3

You're the official voice of the student body

You control the money

Before You Run Page 3 Identify which position to run for

Know what you're getting into

Getting Things Ready Page 4

Assembling a ticket (if applicable)

Assembling a campaign team

Creating a solid platform

Know and analyze the competition

Learn your campaign policies

Get on the ballot

The Main Campaign Page 5

General strategy

Secure your base

Creating coalitions

Reaching out to randoms

Campartying

Canvassing

Raising money

Election Day (or days, or week...) Page 11

What to Do Once You're In Control Page 11

Meetings with officials Keep the media presence up Coordinate with other student governments to multiply your voice

Appendix Page 13

Spray chalk information

Poster examples

Flyer examples

Notes Page 18

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Why Should You Run for Student Government?

You should run for president of your school’s student government. Or, if you want to start small, run for a

lower position like senator or treasurer. Taking over your student government will be the best thing your SSDP

chapter ever does, as it gives you a huge megaphone to get your message out, and often giving you control over a

large amount of money.

You're the official voice of the student body The student government is recognized by the school’s administration, the press, and the government as the

official voice of the student body.

With the school administration, this may manifest itself in the school granting official powers to the student

body president, such as appointing students to university boards and sometimes serving as the student member of the

school’s board of trustees. Equally important, this gives you access to all of your school’s top administrators, as they

would face widespread criticism if they refuse to even talk to the student government.

When the media are writing a story on your school, they usually want quotes from students, and often turn to the student government for the “official stance” of students. This gives you an opportunity to get your message

out, also allowing you to frame the debate over a particular topic. The media will often be much more responsive to

press releases coming from the student government than from a smaller student organization or individual student,

allowing you to get better coverage for your own events or projects.

The government, especially local and state governments, are usually very happy to work with student

governments to advance bills or projects. Being in a position like President of the Student Body, you are able to get

access to top government officials. While dependent on the state, this can go so high as to get you one-on-one

meetings with your governor. Legislators love to meet with college students, especially if they get a photo-op out of

it, and this is much more noticeable if you’re from a big state school with food sports teams (as we see in

Connecticut).This can also gain you access to the federal government. By taking over our student government at

UConn, we were able to meet President Obama and get a meeting with his top advisors for student issues (our basketball team won the NCAA Championship in 2011, and the team got invited to a reception at the White House –

and they invited 10 student leaders to attend as well, to be picked by the president of the student government. This

allowed us to include drug policy as a focus of our discussion of student issues with Obama’s advisors.

You control the money Depending on the school, student governments control anything from a few thousand dollars per year to

tens of millions (The University of Colorado at Boulder’s student government has an annual budget of $36 million). This money typically comes from mandatory student fees, and is used to fund student organizations, advocate for

student interests, and sometimes to run special services (like sober rides programs or student legal services). If

you’re in charge of your student government, you’re in charge of managing all of these fees, and determining where

they are spent. You can use this to ensure that your SSDP chapter always gets treated fairly and funded well for

going to conferences of hosting events. You can also use this money to create or expand projects that focus on harm

reduction, such as student-run sober rides programs.

Before You Run

Identify which position to run for Most student governments have dozens of positions available. While it’s ideal to hold whatever the top

position is, getting an SSDPer or an ally into any seat can be helpful. Find a list of all the available seats, and see

which ones you qualify for. When deciding what to run for, be sure to consider both the importance of the position,

and your chances at winning – it can sometimes be a better strategy to go for a winnable middle position than spend

a lot of time and energy losing a top seat in an impossible race.

Know what you're getting into Serving as president of a student government is usually a full-time job, taking up a huge chunk of your

time. While a large majority of schools do provide a stipend or tuition waiver to their top student government

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leaders, many do not – and this huge workload makes it difficult to hold down a job and get your schoolwork done

too. And be sure to read the job description – top positions come with a lot of power, but they also come with a lot

of responsibility in the form of long meetings, reports, and tedious management.

Getting Things Ready

Assembling a ticket (if applicable) If you’re running for President or Vice President, you usually need to have a running mate. The two

important considerations are how the person will be as a campaigner, and how they’ll be at the job if you get elected.

People often think about “balancing their ticket,” and assume it would be best to choose someone of the opposite sex, another ethnicity, or another sexual preference. While these can be important to think about, the most

important thing when thinking about an election is social circles. Since student government elections are incredibly

local, personal connections can win or lose you an election. Try to run with someone you have good chemistry with,

but who has a completely different group of friends - minimizing the overlap of your social circles makes sure that

you’re both bringing in your own social networks.

Of course, it’s not good to base your judgment entirely on whether they can help you get elected – they

need to be able to do a good job if you win. For this reason, make sure that you pick someone who is as serious

about your student government takeover as you are. It’s also good to make sure you’re both on the same page on the

major issues, to prevent any conflict over what to focus on or what stance to take.

Assembling a campaign team You can probably pull off a successful campaign for a lower office by yourself. But if you’re going for

president, treasurer, or another executive position, you’re going to need a team of dedicated friends and allies to

make your campaign a success. You should create a campaign structure that fits the race and complements your

personality, but if you’re looking for some ideas, here are some suggested leadership positions to make up your

campaign team:

Campaign Manager: This person is the head honcho for your campaign. S/he will manage all of your other campaign staff, allowing you to have more time to be out

among voters. S/he will also help you develop the broader vision of

your campaign, including deciding on what other positions to create,

and the importance of each aspect of the campaign.

Volunteer Coordinator: This person is in charge of recruiting, and retaining, all of your

volunteers. You’ll need a lot of feet on the ground when it comes to

chalking, hanging up flyers, making class announcements, or getting out

the vote. It’s best to have a point person who can run all of the more

people-intensive aspects of your campaign. A great way to recruit

volunteers can be creating a Google Form, which you can post on your

website and have people fill out – this form will automatically put people’s answers (names, phone numbers, where they live, what they’re

interested in helping with, etc) into a spreadsheet that makes it very easy

to coordinate events.

Communications Director: This person runs your messaging, advertising, and manages the general

appearance of your campaign. S/he can work with you and the

campaign manager to develop a slogan, make campaign commercials,

run ads online, create your website, and design your flyers/posters. It’s

good to have someone who’s creative and technologically proficient in

this role.

Treasurer: This person manages your campaign’s finances – both doing the

fundraising, and managing the money once you have it. Some

campaigns barely spend anything, while others can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

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Creating a solid platform Now that you’ve got your campaign team assembled, you need to create your platform. A platform is a list

of what you want to do if you get elected – it can be made up of things at campus you want to change, laws you

want to support, or the style you plan on using to govern (increased transparency, etc).

When creating your platform, there are a few things you want to remember. You want to keep it concise,

relevant, and understandable. It’s best to keep your list of goals limited to about five or ten – if you have a list of

twenty goals on your website or flyers, they dilute each other and no one pays attention to any of them.

Another thing to keep in mind is to maintain a balance between bold positions and mainstream crowd-

pleasers (of course, some things fall in both categories). Don’t be afraid to put campus or state drug policy reform on

your platform, but also don’t become a single-issue candidate. Keeping broader student issues (like dining halls,

academics, and student debt) in mind will help you appeal to the large group of students who are sympathetic to, but

not passionate about, drug policy reform.

Know and analyze the competition If you’re running uncontested, you can probably stop reading here. But chances are, there is at least one

person running against you. It’s incredibly important to get to know your competition so that you can tailor your

own messaging and strategy to beat them. And don’t just read their campaign website and call it a day – find people

who know them personally and can speak better about who they are and what they plan to do.

It’s good to analyze their bases of support, including what their major is, where they live, and what organizations they’re a part of. Also do some investigating to find some details on their relationships with others –

for example, just because someone is in a frat doesn’t mean all of Greek Life is automatically going to vote for him,

there may be internal conflicts that could help you out. Similarly, knowing their affiliations can help you target

specific groups to volunteer or vote for you – if your opponent is president of the College Republicans, chances are

the College Democrats will want to help whoever else is running (even if they’re not a Democrat). This applies to

many other groups too, including ones who are not political.

Learn your campaign policies Most student governments have campaign policies that candidates need to follow, or risk being thrown out.

These frequently include posting regulations, when you can canvass, or spending limits. Violating these policies can

lead to other campaigns filing charges against you, and while these are possible to get out of (more on this later), the

best thing to do is abide by all the policies so you don’t risk being disqualified.

Get on the ballot Of course, the most important part of getting your campaign ready is getting on the ballot. All schools have

different procedures for getting on the ballot, so be sure to know them. Traditionally, you need to gather a certain

number of signatures, and submit some minor paperwork (usually including your name and personal info, what

you’re running for, and sometimes a photo or paragraph about yourself for voters to see). Some schools require you

to get on the ballot before you start campaigning, while others have fewer restrictions.

The Main Campaign

General strategy Based on your platform and your analysis of your opponents, you need to create a general strategy for your

campaign. Rather than specifics like the design of your campaign website, your general strategy is a macro-level

view of how you're going to win. It will depend greatly on your school (including the number of potential voters, on-

campus to off-campus ratios, etc.) and how your elections are run. Your strategy is totally up to you, but here are

how some factors may influence your general strategy:

Large school: If you attend a school where there are over 10,000 potential voters, chances are a

majority of voters won't know any of the candidates personally. This is important, as

people are highly likely to vote for people that they knew before the campaign. Therefore,

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at large schools there is an opportunity to focus your efforts on these “uncommitted”

students. A good way to do this is by broad-based advertising like facebook ads, chalking,

and posters (see Reaching out to randoms for more information).

Small school: If you go to a small school, there's a good chance that most voters will know one

of the candidates. This means that you should focus on getting people you know to

actually vote, rather than trying to sway strangers, who have a good chance at knowing your opponents personally. Voter turnout in student government elections is notoriously

low, with a national average of about 10-15%. Getting your supporters to vote in a higher

percentile than your opponents' can win you the election.

Large on-campus population: If a vast majority, or all, students live on campus, you'll be able to reach more

students, but will probably have to pay closer attention to campaign rules. It's great to be

able to “dorm storm,” or go door-knocking in residence halls, because there are a high

numbers of potential voters all in one place. However, most schools have strict rules for

canvassing in dormitories, and will limit you to certain hours or require you to get a pass

– if that's the case, be sure to follow the rules closely, and get that all-important pass

before the deadline.

Large off-campus population: If most of your fellow students (aka: future constituents) live off-campus, then you will have to do a lot more work to reach out to strangers, but will have

significantly more freedom. If there are large off-campus apartment complexes where

students concentrate, going door-to-door there will be hugely beneficial, without the

regulations typical of on-campus housing. Another strategy is to focus on tactics like class

announcements, as this may be the only time a large group of off-campus students are in

one place at the same time. Also, be sure to create a strong online presence, as it may be

difficult to reach those who live in houses with a few friends or with their parents.

High turnout: Some schools have traditionally high voter turnout, due to factors like a very

powerful student government, combined elections for various groups, or large events with

free stuff for those who vote. If this is the case, focus your efforts on winning over those uncommitted students, who may just be voting for the free stuff, or may really care about

another race and are just voting in yours because it's on the same ballot. This is especially

true if you're at a large school with high turnout.

Low turnout: A lot of schools don't have high voter turnout for various reasons. At these

schools, you should focus on mobilizing your base and making sure they vote – if no one

is voting, a few hundred votes can win you an election.

Online elections: Most schools now use some sort of online voting system for their student

government elections. While usually boosting turnout, online voting also spreads out

voters since anyone can vote from their computer. This means that you should build your

online presence – facebook pages with links to the voting site can drive turnout in your

favor. It also means that you should focus heavily on going door-to-door when elections occurring, so that you can get students to vote then and there, since they're probably

already on their computer. And if your election policies allow it, setting up your own

voting stations (just a table with a few computers) can be hugely beneficial for getting

students to vote in between classes or on their way out of a dining hall.

In-person elections: Some schools still have some sort of in-person elections, where students need to

go to a physical location in order to cast their ballots. If voting is restricted to one certain

part of campus, it's best to focus your efforts there during elections – surround it in chalk

advertisements, posters, and people handing out flyers. Also have people stand outside of

classroom buildings and dining halls, handing out flyers and giving directions to students

on their way out of a class or meal.

For example, at UConn, we are a large school (about 17,000 undergrads) with a large on-campus

population (over 90%), high turnout (about 20%), and online elections. Our strategy was to mobilize our SSDP

chapter as our main volunteers for canvassing and spreading the word online. We also reached out to other like-

minded “activist” groups, as we were the only candidates who were activists in any way – this allowed us to get

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environmentalists, feminists, human rights groups, and many others to endorse us and help with our campaign. The

rest of our strategy was to create a strong, positive presence for uncommitted voters, by buying a lot of ad space in

dining halls and creating our well-known Fight Club parody poster (see page __). This allowed us to reach out to

students we had never even met – one day we were handing out flyers outside a concert and someone said to

Lindsay, “Wait... are you Lindsay, of Sam and Lindsay?” That's the moment we knew that our indirect outreach was

working.

Secure your base If you're reading this guide, it's probably safe to assume that you're a member of your school's SSDP

chapter. This (and any other organization you're a member of) should serve as your base, and will be your best

source of volunteers, campaign leaders, and emotional support. Make it a priority to deal with any internal issues

among your base first – if there is any infighting (be it over the campaign or totally personal), it can make volunteers

less interested in helping with your campaign. If you're able to keep everyone motivated, your volunteers will work a lot better and be more enthusiastic about your campaign, and the attitude of someone handing out flyers can really

influence a voter's perception of the campaign.

Creating coalitions While it's great to have your SSDP chapter behind you, unless everyone at your college is a drug policy

activist, it won't win the election for you. You'll need to reach out to other groups to get them to support your

campaign, getting their members to vote for you and possibly serving as sources of volunteers. It's easiest to get a group to endorse you if you're already a member, or if you're friends with a lot of the members. But it's not

impossible to get a group of complete strangers to line up behind your campaign if you play your cards right.

The best method is to first address some of the group's concerns as part of your platform. If you want to get

environmental groups to support you, include things like increased recycling or car-sharing programs in your

platform. If you can, then attend one of their meetings, stay the whole time and listen and participate, then approach

the leader(s) after the meeting is over and ask to give your campaign pitch at the next meeting. They are much more

likely to get on board with your campaign if you show interest in their group and approach them in person, rather

than just sending an email that can easily get overlooked or ignored. If you or your running mate can't make it to

their meeting, send your campaign manager or another volunteer. If no one at all can make it to their meeting, only

then should you resort to email.

Reaching out to randoms Depending on your campaign strategy, swaying uncommitted voters, or “reaching out to randoms,” can be

incredibly important. The best method of all is to have your volunteers reach out to their own friends – people are

much more likely to vote for someone that their friend is volunteering with than a total stranger. But there are a lot

of methods to get complete strangers to vote for you too, including:

chalking: Chalking is one of the most visible methods to get students to hear about your campaign throughout their day. Making a simple chalk drawing can be relatively quick,

and hundreds of students will see it on their way in between classes or meals. Also, if

you've got some creative folks working for you, a giant artistic drawing can be really eye-

catching and become a conversation piece for students.

While chalking can be easy, it's also easy to chalk badly. Be sure to include all

the basic information: your name, what you're running for, and how to vote. It's also good

to include a slogan or some reason to vote for you (such as listing an endorsement or a

policy you're pushing for).

There is also one closely-guarded campaign secret that can help

win you an election: spray chalk. It's pretty much spray paint, but washable – and it

recently helped UConn win a campaign for a ballot initiative that increased the student government's semesterly fee. Spray chalk is not sold in stores (at least not in

Connecticut), and is only available online at http://abrivosports.com/spray_chalk.htm. It

lasts significantly longer than traditional stick chalk, and can even last through light to

moderate rain. To apply spray chalk, you first need to create a stencil, which can be done

by printing out your message very large with the “stencil” font on Microsoft Word,

cutting it out, and taping it to a piece of cardboard. Then, simply cut the message out with

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an Exacto knife (this can be pretty time-consuming, but it saves you time later on). Once

you have your stencil made, you can carry it around campus and spray your message

everywhere. One important thing to note is that spray chalk operates best at about 60

degrees Fahrenheit, and it can freeze up if it is cold outside. While they can be used in

colder climates, they will solidify in a few minutes (making you need to run campaigns

back and forth from inside to outside), making it impossible to do a lot of chalking in a remote area. Spray chalk is best used in warmer climates. See the Appendix for more

information, and a detailed comparison to normal stick chalk.

Posters: An effective poster is one that is eye-catching and memorable. You want to be

sure that it stands out on a bulletin board full of other posters, and that students look at it

long enough to remember your campaign when it comes time to vote.

The best ways to make a poster eye-catching is to make it large, colorful, and

familiar. Large and full-color posters can be somewhat expensive, but they're worth it. A

big colorful poster will stand out from all of the 8.5x11 flyers it's sharing the bulletin

board with. People are also much more likely to look at a poster that is familiar, such as a

parody of a popular poster. It's great to design your poster after a poster that's popular for

college students to hang in their dorm rooms – making them notice your poster in the hallway, and also remember it every time they go back to their room. A great example of

this is the “Fight Club” parody poster that Lindsay and I used in our presidential race at

UConn (see Appendix for images). I had over a dozen students I had never met before

approach me to say they voted for me just because they loved the poster. A well-made

parody poster can be much more effective than a plain poster of just your face and text.

Flyers: Similar to posters, flyers can be pivotal in getting randoms to vote for you.

Putting a flyer in someone's hand while canvassing or giving a class announcement

increases their chance of voting and, more importantly, helps them remember your

campaign (increasing their chance of voting for you). Like posters, a good flyer will have

a photo of you, your name, why to vote for you, and how to vote. A common method is using quarter-sheets for flyers, but a great strategy is to use half-sheets. They'll use twice

as much paper, but can fit in more information about why to vote for you, while also

drawing more attention than the more-common quarter-sheet. See the Appendix for

examples of good campaign flyers.

News coverage: Be it daily or weekly, most schools have a student newspaper. While they vary

greatly in how widely they are read, they can be very helpful in getting your name out.

There are a few methods to do so, including news articles and letters to the editor.

Being portrayed in a positive light in a news story can get you on the front page,

and is especially helpful if your picture is included. In order to get a news story written

about you, you must first do something newsworthy – this can be something in your

SSDP chapter, as part of your campaign, or unrelated to either of them. Some easy things to do include bringing in a speaker or hosting another event, speaking at public comment

at your school's Board of Trustees, or gathering signatures to support a certain cause. But

even if you do something incredibly interesting, you also need to make sure your student

paper finds out – they are often made up of volunteers or students being paid the

minimum wage, and can easily lose track of things that are going on. In order to ensure

that they write a story about you, be sure to send out a press release a few days in

advance, and follow up on the day of the event (see SSDP press release info, at

http://ssdp.org/assets/files/docs/media-guide.pdf, for more information).

Most student newspapers accept letters to the editor, which serve as a great

medium for your supporters to encourage other students to vote for you. They typically

need to be in response to a news story, making it even more important for you to get at least one article written about you (not hard, since you can at least get one when you

declare your candidacy). Then, just get your supporters to send in letters stating why they

support you, and linking it back to whatever the news story said.

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Other methods: Every school is different, and has different ways to advertise – be sure to find

out every possible method available at your school. At UConn, the dining halls offer ad

space on the sides of napkin holders, and you can get your ad on every dining table at

UConn for two weeks for only $215. Other common opportunities include overhead ads

on busses, ads before showings at the campus movie theater, or listings on an online

campus events calendar. Look around at your school to see other unique advertising methods to take advantage of.

Website: A website should be where you put the details about your platform for those

voters who are most interested in policies. These more engaged voters often will tell their

friends how to vote, so getting them on board is incredibly helpful. Your website can have

paragraphs of text if you want, as the people looking at campaign sites will probably read

it – meanwhile, your Facebook page should be brief and to the point (include a link to

your website for more information).

You don’t need to know HTML to make a website anymore – there are many

great services out there where you can make a pretty professional website for free,

without much technical skill. Some of the most-used services are weebly.com and

wix.com.

Facebook ads: One great way to reach out to students is with Facebook ads. They're a very

simple affordable option, that can allow you to specifically target an audience. Simply go

to www.facebook.com/advertising/ for more information. After making your

advertisement, you can select your audience, and simply select your voter population –

students currently at your college. You can even make different ads for men and women,

different age groups (like targeting underclassmen by selecting 18 and 19 year olds), or a

wide variety of other demographics.

We used this method in our campaign at UConn, and for $53.59, we received

282,234 impressions and 123 clicks (impressions are the number of times your ad shows

up on someone's page, clicks are the number of times someone clicks on your ad). It is very helpful for disseminating electronic information like your campaign website, the site

where people can vote, or campaign videos you make.

Campaign videos: A good campaign video usually takes a long time to create, but can be worth it if

you're able to make it go viral on your campus. You want to make something that not

only makes students want to vote for you, but also to share the video on facebook, twitter,

or other social networking sites.

The first step to get students to want to share your video is to keep it short.

Around thirty seconds is good, and one minute should be the absolute max. Otherwise,

students will probably not share it to their friends, and also probably won't finish

watching it – people have short attention spans when it comes to YouTube. You also need

to keep their interest, and a great strategy for this is to use humor, create a parody of another commercial, or both. Putting your own spin on a popular commercial can greatly

increase your chances of it going viral, and getting your more votes. Some ideas for good

commercials to parody include Old Spice's “The Man Your Man Could Be”, State Farm's

“Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There... With a ____”, or Rick Perry's “Strong” ad

(you can poke fun at the original product in your parody if you want). At UConn, we

created a parody of the Old Spice commercial that was big at the time, and it spread

around pretty quickly and got very positive comments. Making a good campaign video

can set you above the competition and get students talking about you.

Class announcements: Class announcements are a great opportunity to give your campaign pitch to a

huge captive audience. Professors are often very open to you getting up at the beginning of class and giving a quick speech about your campaign. If you get this opportunity, it's

great to bring a few people with you (or get a few students from the class) to hand out

your campaign flyers to all of the students as you speak. This is particularly useful if your

school uses online elections, and you can tell students to vote right then on their laptops.

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Campartying At UConn, one of our best campaign tactics is “campartying” - pretty much just campaigning at giant

parties that typically wouldn't have anything to do with politics. If there's a rager happening on the weekend, it's the

perfect opportunity to campaign – hundreds of students concentrated in a small space, with nothing much to do. Talk

to whoever is hosting the party and ask if it's ok to hang some of your campaign posters on the walls, so that partiers

will see them and hopefully start some conversations about it (if it's a good poster, they'll be talking about how

awesome it is). Walk around the party talking to people about why they should vote, which goes a lot better if you

have someone who knows everyone there introducing you. Don't bother handing out flyers, since people will

probably just leave them on the floor or outside and the host will have to clean them up the next day.

Canvassing Face-to-face interaction is the single best way to get votes, and canvassing is one of the best ways to get

that interaction. As stated earlier, the first step to canvassing is finding out your school’s regulations for dorms and

getting passes (if necessary). If you miss the deadline or if your school does not allow canvassing in dorms, you can

always shift your focus to off-campus apartments with high concentrations of students (which won’t have any

regulations).

Outside of procedural matters, the most important thing to do is have a good, quick speech prepared – both

for the candidate, and a more general one for the volunteers. Keep it short, and keep it personal. Knocking on

someone’s door and telling them something that is obviously rehearsed isn’t going to get you their support.

Personalizing what you say, connecting with them as people, and asking about their concerns will make them much more likely to vote for you.

If elections are held online, do all of your canvassing during elections. People will frequently be on their

computers in their rooms or apartments, and you can get them to vote for you right there – even helping them

navigate the voting website. Doing any canvassing before the elections is helpful, but many people will forget to

vote or lose interest over time.

If elections are held in person, then you must do your canvassing beforehand. To compensate for

forgetfulness over time, be sure to not only bring campaign literature with you, but also small handouts outlining

how to vote (time, place, etc). This will make it more likely that people will make it out to the polls, and cast their

ballot in your favor.

Raising money Like all campaigns, student government campaigns can cost a lot of money. When considering making

copies of flyers, printing out large-format posters, buying ad space on busses or in dining halls, placing Facebook

ads, putting ads in your student newspaper, or anything else you plan on doing, you can spend a few hundred dollars

pretty quickly. In rare occurrences, candidates will do something as expensive as hiring a plane to fly a banner

around above campus, and things like that can run your campaign into the thousands of dollars. While it’s possible

to run an effective bare-bones campaign out of your pocket, raising money takes the burden off of you and helps

people become invested in the campaign. There are two broad categories to fundraise from: students and non-students.

Students typically do not have a lot of money to spare to donate to a campaign for student government, but

if you’re able to make a strong case, it’s possible to raise a good amount of money through many small

contributions. Encourage members of your volunteer team to contribute themselves to serve as role models (and of

course, start it all with a contribution from yourself), and talk to their friends about donating amounts as small as a

dollar. A great tactic in fundraising is to make the dollar amounts mean something to potential donors – rather than

asking for ten dollars, frame a ten dollar donation as putting up ten large posters around campus, or printing 100

sheets of flyers (as much as 400 flyers if you do quarter sheets) at ten cents each. This makes donors feel like they

are really helping, and proves to them that you are

While non-students do not have a personal stake in the outcome of the election, they typically have more

money to spare than students. Asking your parents or other family members can raise you funds pretty quickly, as can talking to neighbors or other family friends. Another great source of funds can be SSDP alumni from your

school. If you have a chapter that’s been around for a while, reach out to former members who are now graduated

(and hopefully have a steady paycheck). Former members, especially former officers, will probably be really excited

to see an SSDPer running for student government.

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Election Day (or days, or week...)

After getting on the ballot, raising money, gaining support, and working hard for weeks, eventually it’s

almost over, and election day is there. Election day is very different from the rest of your campaign, since you’ll be

actually getting out the vote, rather than just raising awareness of your candidacy.

The day before, there are a few things you need to do. Late at night, it’s a great idea to put chalk

advertisements all over campus (this is where the spray chalk comes in handy, you can cover a large area very

quickly). Walk around wherever you have flyers or posters up, and make sure they’re still there, replacing those that are damaged or missing. It can also be a good idea to make time-sensitive posters that say “Vote Today!” that you

can put up, as many students may not be aware that elections are even occurring.

The day (or days) of the election, you’ll want to be getting out the vote. Canvass in dorms and off-campus

apartments, send out emails and facebook messages to everyone you know, and make sure that your volunteers are

actively getting their friends to cast their ballots. Seemingly random strategies can also be a big help – we got a

decent number of votes by having people sit in the library and just ask passersby if they voted, and if they said no,

they helped them vote right there.

And one last tip – don’t forget about students studying abroad! If your elections are online, they can vote

just like any other student. This group is often forgotten, and can bring you in as many as a few dozen votes, which

can be enough to win an election.

Keep up your GOTV effort all the way until polls close, and then relax. Plan a party for all of your

volunteers shortly after elections, either to watch the results come out or to celebrate your victory (if you win) or just to thank your volunteers (if you lose). Win or lose, you will have had a very valuable experience that can be applied

to future campaigns, and will have a campaign infrastructure put in place for future years.

What to Do Once You're In Control

If you do win, it’s good to hit the ground running as soon as you take office. Here are some ideas for things

to do, in addition to following through on your campaign promises.

Meetings with officials Being President of the Student Body, or holding any position in the student government, makes it much

easier to get meetings with elected officials, top admin at your college, or other public figures. Being newly elected

is a great excuse to set up a meeting with anyone you’d like to talk to, and you can then bring up any issues you

would like, including drug policy. If you’re from a smaller state (or a prominent college), it’s even possible to get a

meeting with the Governor just to meet one another and establish communication. Take advantage of the excuse of

being newly elected and meet everyone you can, as these connections will come in handy down the road.

Keep the media presence up Getting your platform accomplished requires you to rally public support for your big issues. A great way to

do this is to talk with your student newspaper and get a regular column in the paper – they’re often searching for

content, and will probably be happy to give you space in the paper to talk about what the student government has

been up to. If your school has a radio or television station, consider getting programs on those as well. Having these outlets can give you control over the framing of issues, and will help you to spread your messages to a large

audience. An added bonus is that, if you are considering running for re-election, these types of outreach can give

you serious name recognition that will increase your incumbency advantage for the next election.

Also keep in close contact with media outlets, both on and off your campus. Local or state newspapers

writing stories about your school will often want the “student perspective” on issues, and will turn to you to provide

it. While it can be overwhelming to provide quotes to large numbers of stories, try to comment as much as possible

(unless it’s on a topic you feel it would be an issue to speak on the record about). Helping out journalists with their

stories does wonders at building a relationship with the press, and makes them more likely to cover events you hold

or respond to your press releases.

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Finally, having an official title makes it much easier to get op-ed pieces published in larger newspapers. If

you ever want to get your message out in larger media outlets, contact their commentary editor and mention your

title, and they will likely be happy to work with you.

Coordinate with other student governments to multiply your voice While legislators and other officials will often listen to your concerns, they may sometimes ignore you or

just give you lip service. A great way to make sure that your opinions are heard, and actually considered, is to work

with other student governments to make unified stances on bills or other issues. Working with your state student

association (if there is one, creating one if there isn’t) will enable you to bring your message to the largest amount of

people, and make change more effectively. This is not only because of the number of students involved, but also

because it will help you get the ear of every legislator with a college in their district. There are many issues that

affect all students, such as student debt or the War on Drugs, that you can work on more effectively with others than

alone.

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Appendix

Spray Chalk

There are two types of spray chalk sold at http://abrivosports.com/spray_chalk.htm

Chalk-It Spray Chalk Temporary Line Marker

$4.95 per can $6.95 per can Comes in yellow, red, pink Comes only in

white

7oz. can covers: 12oz. can covers:

About 200 ft of 1.5” line 150 ft of marking

25 square feet

Here is a time lapse, showing the durability of Chalk-It (yellow, on top), Temporary Line Marker (white, in

middle), and traditional stick chalk (yellow, on bottom). All types of chalk were applied on the same day (spray

chalk with a stencil, stick chalk freehand), one series on a sidewalk (smooth surface, on the left) and one series on

pavement (rough surface, on the right). My feet are included in the photographs to provide references for the size of

the chalking.

Day one (applied to dry ground) – all types of chalk are visible. Chalk-It is much brighter and eye-catching.

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Day three (clear weather) – All three are still visible. Stick chalk on pavement is beginning to fade.

Day six (light rain) – Chalk-It has run a bit. Line Marker is still clear, stick chalk almost completely gone.

Day nine (clear weather) – Chalk-It on sidewalk is fading significantly. Stick chalk totally gone.

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Day fourteen (clear weather) – Chalk-It on sidewalk almost all gone.

All chalk was totally erased shortly after Day 14, due to a heavy rainstorm. However, it is clear that both

types of spray chalk last significantly longer than traditional stick chalk, making them much better for long-term

visibility for things like student government campaigns. Their expense is definitely outweighed by the time and effort they will save your volunteers

.

Example of a small stencil used for spray chalk.

This was made using a die-cut machine.

Example of a large stencil used for spray chalk. This was made by printing out text using the “Stencil”

font on Microsoft Word, taping it to the cardboard, and

cutting it out by hand with an Exacto knife. In this photo,

it is about halfway complete.

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Poster examples

Here is the Fight Club parody poster that was used by Sam and Lindsay for their successful presidential

run. They printed 100 of their 11”x17” posters and hung them around campus, as well as getting people to change

their Facebook profile photos to it. They were very successful, and many students who were previously not engaged

with the campaign became interested and supportive after the posters caught their eye.

This was the poster put up for a write in campaign for an open seat in UConn’s Undergraduate Student Senate.

It was printed out on 8.5”x11” sheets and hung around campus.

Charlie won the race.

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Flyer examples

Here is an example of a flyer to hand out to students.

This one was printed out 2 to a 8.5”x11” page, which was then cut

in half. It was effective due to the eye-catching large photo and

headline on top, with a brief outline of the platform on the

bottom half.

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Notes