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Outreach tip #2 – mailbox sticker canvass

By ERICH JACOBY-HAWKINS, Green Party of Canada candidate for Barrie, Ontario

In Barrie, much like in other ridings in Canada, the Green Party receives far more votes than the number of people we actually know who vote Green. Which is to say, most of our supporters are strangers completely unknown to us. Plus, there are probably at least as many more people who also could or would vote Green – if only we knew who they were so we could contact them and remind them via our Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) effort.

So in order to identify potential Green Party supporters, the Barrie Green Party EDA canvassed three of our highest-support polls one weekend in March to ensure their support on the next election day. We found almost one hundred new supporters, as well as new volunteers and sign locations that we were able to plug into our database.

How did we do it? We identified a cause that unites all existing and potential Green Party supporters and beyond: the will to curb junk mail arriving at our doorsteps.

The hook is simple. We canvassed neighbourhood by neighbourhood, door to door with free Green Party “no junk mail” stickers for residential mailboxes. Since we were there to give them a free and useful sticker (not to sell something or ask for anything) no-one was offended. In fact, we were very well received.

Before we set out, we found it was useful to do some preparation. We ranked our polls by highest support (percent Green vote in the last election) and screened out those we had already canvassed in the recent election. From these, we chose the top three uncanvassed polls. We dug out the poll maps to help us plan our routes and not stray into the wrong areas.

A successful outreach strategy is built upon good information. We used GRIMES to generate voter lists that we brought with us. We created a list for each poll that was sorted by street name and address, with the name and phone number of each voter. (If your riding’s GRIMES list does not have phone numbers already, contact webadmin@greenparty.ca to add them.)

We added extra (blank) columns for each voter’s level of party support, willingness to join the party, have a yard sign, volunteer, donate, give us their email address, and other notes. Even though we  never encountered anyone who was upset or suspicious that we had their voter information, we kept this information out of sight until we had identified a supporter.

In terms of materials, we designed & had printed a sticker that said "No Junk Mail Please" to put on mailboxes or (reverse printed/glued) inside door windows. Pick a design that works well on a black or dark green mailbox (the most common colours).

We also produced a double-sided promotional handout featuring relevant Green policies (mostly economy-related) with local contact info. Party outreach materials should be tailored to the expected audience and context.

If you’re interested in printing stickers, please contact us for bulk ordering. Our stickers are generic Green Party stickers, not riding-specific, so you could use our sticker anywhere in Canada!

We organized 3-8 volunteers per canvass (plus the local candidate) and setup a schedule for the weekend. We realized that many people are out Friday and Saturday evenings so we stuck to afternoons. Sunday morning many people are at church or sleeping in. Volunteers wore our riding’s Green Party T-shifts and distributed Green Party buttons to identified supporters.

At each door we offered a sticker, and if it was accepted, we asked if that person (or any other voters at the residence) had ever voted Green, or thought about it. If they had, we noted them on our list, confirmed (or got) their phone number, and if possible, got their email address. We also noted any extra level of support, such as having a sign or volunteering.

The results of our door canvass were nothing short of stellar. Our volunteers enjoyed the campaign because we had very positive responses at the door. We identified 86 new supporters (past or probable Green voters), at least a dozen new sign locations, and half a dozen new volunteers.

Furthermore, we distributed around 50 Green Party buttons that people began wearing immediately. Many were impressed that a political party visited them at home outside of an election campaign. Some told us about other Green supporters they knew of in other polls, and we recorded this information, too. After the canvass, we updated all our new identified supporters in GRIMES and plugged new volunteers into CiviCRM.

The cost of our materials was about $350 - which was mainly for stickers, with the remainder going to the leaflets. (We used leftover election buttons at no cost). With larger bulk orders of stickers & leaflets, we can bring these costs down to under $150 for three polls or $50 per poll.

No other party can do this! Once these stickers are on the mailbox or door, they will probably be there for 2, 5, even 10 years or more. Every person who looks at the mailbox or door on their way in will see our name and logo. It’s priceless advertising!

Erich Jacoby-Hawkins is a four-time Barrie Green Party candidate. He served as both Green Party of Ontario's Critic for Environment and Housing and is currently the Green Party of Canada Advocate for Ecological Fiscal Reform.