Track the Vote Project

Track the Vote Project – Background for Participants The Track the Vote project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit initiative of Nonprofit VOTE and nine state and national partners to promote assess the role of nonprofits and service providers doing voter engagement. Its main goals are:

GOALS  Obtain evaluation data and case studies to lift up the value of nonprofits and service providers conducting promoting voter participation with their constituents and community  Develop Build agency-based models for service providers to register and engage voters in the course of their ongoing activities  Demonstrate the capacity of service providers to do voter engagement work and share our findings with the nonprofit sector nationally ______

WHO'S INVOLVED The program has will involve at least 60-75 local nonprofits and ten partners in 10-12 states. The project partners currently include: Alliance for Children and Families, Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO)/Ohio VOTES, Democracy NC, Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations (LANO), Mass VOTE, Michigan Participation Project/Michigan Nonprofit Association, Minnesota Participation Project/Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, N.C. Center for Nonprofits, National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), Protecting Arizona’s Family Coalition (PAFCO), Providers’ Council of Massachusetts

______

WHAT'S INVOLVED FOR PARTICIPANTS Participating agencies will:  Make 500 in-person voter contacts at your agency. Contacts either register to vote or sign up to receive more information about voting in the November 2012 election.  Obtain basic contact information, including name, street address, phone and/or email address  Have a coordinator for the project and obtain sign off from your Executive Director or senior staff

______

BENEFITS FOR PARTICIPANTS  $1,000 civic engagement grant, plus free training and materials  Opportunities for peer learning from others in your state  A chance to find out if the Evaluation of your work – Did the people you contact voted?  An opportunity to increase voter participation among the people you serve

LIST OF PARTICIPANT ACTIVITIES 1. Training: Receive training and information on the project

2. Voter Contact: From July – September, contact people at your agency about registering to vote and/or signing up to get important information about the election a. Register to vote or update their voter registration

b. If the person is registered, have them sign up to get voter information before the election or sign a voter pledge card

3. Data Entry: Return copies of voter registration forms or voter contact information to state partner on a regular basis for data entry upon arrangement with state partner. The data will be in a file only available to the participant and partner.

4. Follow Up Election Mailing: The partner will send out a mailing approved by the participants to everyone contacted with information about voting in the election (for example – a number to call for help, ID needed to vote, hours for early or Election Day voting)

5. Post-Election Survey: Participants will be asked to complete a short 5-10 questions survey about the activity over the phone or by survey monkey.

Note on Confidentiality: This is a voluntary opt-in citizenship activity. People are voluntarily asked to register to vote or to sign up to get information on the election. All contact information is kept fully confidential.

______

CALENDAR

Set up and Training May-June

Voter Engagement contacts made July - September

Check-ins with Partner Every 2-3 weeks

Follow Up Mailing October

Short Post election survey Mid-November

Voter file match February – March