Voter turnout

Voter turnout@jowaltersJo Walters

Communications ManagerUniversity of Sussex Students’ Union

Me and Sussex Communications ManagerFull-time Officer (a long time ago)

Communications team of 4

14,000 membersCampus universityTwo elections per yearReferenda 3 times per year

2011Turnout typically around 25% in our Full-time Officer elections

University approaching its 50th anniversary so our President decided we should aim for 50% turnout

2011Turnout typically around 25% in our Full-time Officer elections

University approaching its 50th anniversary so our President decided we should aim for 50% turnoutHa ha ha

ha

2014We hit 50% (actually 49 point something but we’re amongst friends so I’m rounding up) in turnout across our referenda and elections

2014We hit 50% (actually 49 point something but we’re amongst friends so I’m rounding up) in turnout across our referenda and elections

But how

awkward confession

Awkward confessionI don’t know how we did this.

Awkward confessionI don’t know how we did this.

I know what we tried but don’t know exactly what made the difference.This presentation is therefore a list of things to try and some theory.

Some theory

Some theoryAlternative title for this bit:Books Jo thinks you should read

More candidates more voters

FunnelAll

students

Heard about roles/voting

Thought about roles/voting

Nominated themselves

/voted

What can you do at each level to increase progression to the next?

What might the barriers be?

Better candidates more voters

Training support

What information can you give to candidates? About students? About the Union? About communicating?

What support can you give candidates? Before they nominate

themselves? Planning their campaign? During their campaign? After voting closes

Motivation

Appeal to broader values, e.g. benefit to students, contributing to society, giving something back, mastery, purpose, citizenship, collectivism

Avoid self-focused values, e.g. boost your CV, you’ll get paid, your career, your voice, you’ll (personally) benefit/miss out

For your reading list…

Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us by Daniel H. Pink

Also go to James Robertson’s session on talking to students like they’re selfish

AIDAMarketing theory for your communications:

ATTENTION – get someone’s attention

INTEREST – get their interest

DESIRE – make them want to do something

ACTION – give them the opportunity to do something

Make it ordinaryVoting? Oh yeah everyone does that. It’s what people here do.

ViralWord of mouth is helped by: Social currency – we share things that make us look good Triggers – what prompts me to talk about it? Emotion – high arousal, e.g. awe, anger, excitement Public – make the private public Practical value – news you can use Stories – information travels through narratives

Read Contagious: How to build word of mouth in the digital age by Jonah Berger

Stuff we did

Stupid goalThe 50% thing got a lot of people invigorated

Apparently we like a challenge!

Spent money• Banners and signs for lampposts to cover campus• Hired Election Ambassadors to promote the elections• Bought tablets to enable mobile voting• Upgraded our voting system to make mobile voting easier• Bought ‘vote now’ t-shirts for all staff

Involved staff• Elections planning sessions open to all• Got people excited about our 50% turnout challenge• Ensured everyone understood the elections and referenda• Got University staff on board, particularly for Student Rep elections

Tell people• All staff are encouraged to tell people to nominate themselves in the

elections. This personal connection is really powerful• Include information about elected officers and elections in all news

stories featuring current officers

All year long• We think about and prepare for elections all year long• Don’t focus on the nomination period, some people have planned this

years in advance• Tell people to nominate themselves all year and ensure information is

available for anyone who is interested• Keep a mailing list of potential candidates and update them

Social proof• Only where it sounded impressive and like everyone was doing

something• Plot voters onto a map (use BatchGeo) – ‘students from all over the

world are voting’• Use real-time statistics and screenshot them for social media• ‘I voted in the elections’ social media shares and stickers

Busted myths• It isn’t a popularity contest• Elected officers do have an impact• You don’t have to be a certain kind of person to nominate yourself

Ask your students why they don’t vote then bust the myths

Competition

• Used voting stats graphs to compare schools• Told students who turnout in their school compared to previous year

Incentives

• I don’t think you should incentivise voting. An incentive implies the thing is not inherently desirable (see ‘Drive’ by Daniel H. Pink)

• We did offer a chance for people to allocate funding to one of four projects when they voted

2018Our new goal is to get to 75% turnout by the end of 2017/18

2018Our new goal is to get to 75% turnout by the end of 2017/18

Eek

Next time• Making the impact of elected officers even more visible including

where they’ve made decisions to show the impact of these and the alternatives

QuestionsWhat other things have worked for you?

Feel free to get in touch – [email protected] or @jowalters

Thanks for listening