12 Lessons from Recent Bond and Millage Votes

There is no single formula to passing a millage or bond vote.  Every community is different, so each campaign needs to be different.  Here are 12 tips to give your campaign a better chance for success:

1. Clearly state the problem you are trying to solve.  Make sure it’s a problem people care about.
2. If you’re just asking for money, then you’re asking for defeat.  Sell the vision, the problem and the solution.
3. Who cares other than you? Build a community coalition and make sure points 1 and 2 resonate and multiple voices echo the same persuasive points.
4. Can the ballot initiative pass? Use a scientifically-based survey to test the question with potential voters, explore perceptions, and explore options.  A few dollars early will help all the time and energy lead to success.
5. Identify demographic and psychographic segments of your population with “yes” voters and those who are “unsure.” Focus on these voters rather than converting “no” voters. 
6. Create workgroups/focus groups of these voters to pretest which messages work best and which messengers are most trusted (teachers, police officers, fire fighters, nurses)
7. Take pictures that resonate with your message and voters’ values. Lead all communications with those pictures.
8. Understand which opposition messages resonate most with undecided voters and develop early messaging to inoculate them against those messages.  Ensure they see your supporting messages first.
9. Use communication channels such as social media, billboards, newsletters and broadcast to get the messages out to voters using the channel they prefer and the messenger they trust.
10. Coordinate communication efforts with community coalition members so they also send out the same messages in the same channels to boost the credibility of everyone’s messaging.
11. Repeat messaging over and over.  When you are sick of communicating, the community is just starting to notice you might have something to say.
12. Thank and remind “yes” voters by communicating registration deadlines, when to vote and where to vote.

While these tips cannot guarantee success, they can help you mobilize and engage your community much more effectively.

Cobalt is a national 501c3 nonprofit, non-partisan coalition that helps local governments, schools and membership organizations affordably engage communities through high-quality surveys, dynamic population segmentation, focus groups and work groups that use instant audience feedback technology. Cobalt combines big data with local insights to help you thrive as changes emerge in the economic, demographic and social landscape. Explore how we can help you by calling 877.888.0209, or by emailing [email protected].  

12 Lessons from Recent Bond and Millage Votes