What is GRIMES? and why should you use it
GRIMES is the Green Riding Information Management and Electoral System, a database tool developed by the Green Party of Canada to help collect and store information about supporters at the local level. The tool is easy to use and helps local campaign organizers identify strong supporters and possible donors. It is much easier to use than the old CiviCRM.
As a federal or provincial Green party candidate or a campaigner, this tool will be your best resource for voter identification and getting those people out to support us on Election Day as part of your Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) efforts.
GRIMES was used heavily in Guelph and Central Nova during the last federal election, and accounts (in large part) for the higher vote percentages.
Volunteers who have very basic computer skills (typing, pointing, and clicking) can be trained on the system in under 5 minutes. Volunteers can start making phone calls into the area or enter door-to-door canvassing information immediately.
This information will be useful throughout the campaign when targeting potential strong supporters and will be valuable for future campaign efforts.
Here’s how it works. The party will receive a copy of the voters list from Elections Canada and upload that information into GRIMES. An entry in GRIMES will list the name and address and postal code of the person in question. Close to Election Day, the party will also receive all of the polling stations with addresses, which can also be loaded into GRIMES.
When you are going door-to-door or phone canvassing, you can confirm the name, address, and whether they have moved or are deceased. You can also update the information if there is a new occupant, or add a new address.
Further, GRIMES will ask you to identify the voter’s intentions. Categories range from Strong Green, Weak Green, Undecided, Weak Opposition, and Strong Opposition. There are also categories for Would Not Say, Not Home, and Refused.
Canadians enjoy their secret ballot, but you would be surprised how many will tell you their intentions, directly or indirectly. For example, a Strong Green might say “Oh yes, I’m definitely voting for your candidate, I really like them.” A Weak Opposition might say “No thanks, I’m pretty sure I’m not voting for your candidate.”
An Undecided may have questions that they would like answered. In this case you can check a box that requests the candidate to call that person and the candidate notified by email.
You can also add email addresses and phone numbers after every event, meeting, or public. These sorts of events happen year-round so you can start entering this information right away.
GRIMES allows you to sort information. For example, you can call undecideds closer to Election Day. GRIMES also has a lawn sign request box, so your sign team will be alerted by email that they need to go drop off a sign. GRIMES even includes phone scripts which can be tailored for your area and key issues.
GRIMES will perform wonders for you on Election Day. For instance, GRIMES can be loaded with a GOTV phone script for your volunteers to call all Strong Greens, Weak Greens, and Undecideds to remind them to go to their polling station. You can call and leave messages, talk to voters, ask them if they need help getting to the polls, help finding their polling location, or instructions on what to bring for identification. As soon as you are done talking to one voter, you click 'next', and the screen refreshes to the next voter name and phone number.
As your GOTV calls progress through Election Day, your volunteers will be able to keep track of anybody who tells you that they already voted to avoid duplication of GOTV efforts. People can make GOTV calls from home, from the campaign office, or from a ‘virtual phone bank’ of volunteers from across Canada.
This is where it gets even more exciting. If you are running a well organized, well financed campaign and you are on your way to 10,15 or 30 percent of the vote the party may decide utilize the ‘virtual phone banks’ for your campaign. People from across Canada can call into your riding on Election Day. Imagine how powerful this tool can become in a byelection situation when we ask all available Strong Greens, members, donors, and volunteers across Canada to help in that riding!
In Guelph we managed to call every one of our 5000+ supporters on Election Day TWICE to ensure we received maximum support. 12,454 votes were cast for our candidate, which means that $24,285 was raised on the $1.95 per vote. While we didn’t win, we got over 21 percent of the vote, which helped pay for the campaign costs. (Any campaign that receives over 10 percent of the vote will be refunded 60 percent of their total campaign expenses by Elections Canada.)
The legacy of Guelph is that this fully funded campaign spent a lot, but also recouped much of it. We pulled in hundreds of volunteers, thousands in donations, and have a huge number of contacts in GRIMES. This is a winnable position from which to start the next campaign.
Remember that GRIMES is about building a legacy for those who come later, and if we don’t win today, we can win tomorrow. We have GRIMES to collect good data and get our supporters out to vote.
Darcy Kraus lives in Calgary. He ran provincially for the Green Party in 2001 and federally in 2004. Darcy has sat on Federal Council for the Green Party of Canada and served as Alberta Organizer. In 2008, Darcy was responsible for GOTV in Guelph, Ontario and campaigned in Ohio for Barack Obama.
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