Mississippi 2023
GOALS
1) Get everyday Mississippians to become “Voting Ambassadors” and organize their own friends and family to vote.
2) Give Voting Ambassadors training, resources, and support, and pay them for their time.
3) Test this “relational organizing” strategy against door-to-door canvassing, and see which tactic reached critical voters more effectively for less money.
by the numbers
1,729
Ambassadors hired
72,501
Friends and family talked to
52%
% of voters reached who didn’t vote in the last election
1999
last time a democrat did this well in a statewide misssissippi election
participants
87% Black
88% BIPOC
friends & Family
82% Black
83% BIPOC
52% did not vote in 2019
52% did not vote in 2022
phase 1: recruitment
The homophily effect tells us what we already intuitively know: we should recruit people who are likely to know the people we want to reach!
Phase 2: training
Virtual onboarding session: Included civic literacy training, education on the governor’s race, training on relational organizing
Participants joined Rally, our relational platform
phase 3: mobilization
Ambassadors talked to 40 contacts and helped them making voting plans
They attended a Get Out the Vote Palooza
Optional: Attend an Election Day Bonus Palooza (1279 mobilizers attended!)
results: program reach
This program reached more low-propensity Black voters than the margin of victory in 2019, contributing to the closest gubernatorial race in MS since 1999. Our network was 82% Black, and over 50% didn’t vote in 2019 or 2022.
A fun fact:
Brandon Presley flipped 3 counties that Dem candidate Jim Hood lost in 2019: Grenada, Forrest and Lowndes
Margin of victory across flipped counties: 1,982 votes
Our relational network across flipped counties: 2,434 voters
Learning: compensated relational continues to prove effective for reaching low-propensity voters and people of color.
results: relational vs. canvass
Relational program:
Cost per unique voter reached was $11
Cost per unique targeted voter reached was $28
Paid canvass:
Cost per unique targeted voter reached was $38