Sonoma Canvassing Lead Guide

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Door Knocking

What does it take to lead door knocking?

It’s not supposed to be hard to lead a canvassing section! Thank you so much for helping out. This doc will hopefully answer most of your questions and walk you through the process. It’s meant as a guide to help, so don’t be afraid to think outside the box!

Who do you have for support?

You can reach out to

@Matthew Zirbel⁠

or Michelle for any general support and guidance

If you have any questions about the outreach guide, reach out to Matthew or Curtis

If you need help organizing carpools, reach out to Carla Cabral

If you need any specific tech help, reach out to

@Matthew Zirbel⁠

or Alex Taylor

Checklist

Before

Summary of Key Responsibilities for Leads

Confirming time/location for meeting

Let Antonelle know for the calendar

Tell everyone in your group chat, ideally at least a couple days in advance

Bringing and returning materials

See materials checklist below

Get turfs/phone lists from Curtis, but it is the leads responsibility to request them

Doing the briefing and delivering key instructions/training

See briefing checklist below

Taking attendance

Managing group chats

Adding new people who can commit to most weeks going forward

Adding new people to main Yes on J chats as well

A week or so before the event

Take a look at

the calendar⁠

for the next week, and find the time you’d like to lead a session. Ideally we’d like to have them on weekday evenings, around 5-8, and weekends between 10am and 8pm. Less overlap is good so that people who have plans on most days are able to find a regular time to attend

Let

@Antonelle Racelis⁠

know the date, time frame, and location you’d like to host your event and she’ll include it in

the calendar⁠

⁠

Recommended: Make a signal chat and let Antonelle know to include the invite link in the calendar event

Then, invite some people! We’re trying not to reach out to the same people too much but it’s ok if some people have already been invited to a different event

Send out the

Voter outreach guide⁠

to anyone who hasn’t gone through a training

A couple days before the event

Make sure everyone’s familiar with the

voter outreach guide⁠

⁠

Get turf list from Curtis

Make sure you have all the materials you need - can coordinate with Curtis to have it picked up in advance unless the event is being run from the house

A day before the event

Door Knocking: Send out the

MiniVAN Guide⁠

to get them ready

Be sure to confirm the day before or the day of with everyone who says they’re coming. People will often flake if they aren’t DM’d with a reminder of the event the next day

Remind people to charge their phones

Running the Event

Briefing Materials

Things that are always available at the house:

Campaign lit

Painter’s Tape

Clipboards or bags to hold material

Picture booklet

Yes on J Shirts

Yes on J stickers, buttons and bumper stickers

Yard signs

Posters

These may be available at the house, but should check with Curtis or Rocky:

Extra battery pack for phone (optional)

Water/snacks (optional for events less than 2 hours)

Sunscreen (optional)

Getting Ready

Anyone who doesn’t own a Yes on J shirt already should be given one. This does not include people who own one but aren’t wearing it

Make sure everyone is on brand with their attire: No political messaging other than Yes on J, solid color shirts are fine, casual is fine but no sweatpants. We’re not soliciting, so we don’t need to avoid houses with No Soliciting signs. However, we still can’t enter gated communities with signage to keep us out.

For anyone who doesn’t have enough experience, assign them a buddy to shadow for a couple interactions, then have their buddy shadow them. They should be able to go over their interactions and improve

Make sure every group has tape, leaflets, a handful of stickers and buttons, and a Measure J picture book; as well as a clipboard and water/snacks if they want

Briefing

Start with an inspiring speech about Measure J, what we’re doing and why

Remind people not to put tape on paint

Remind people to never put things in mailboxes or open mailboxes (federal crime)

Remind people to ask supportive voters if they want a yard sign or a poster

Anyone who says yes to this should be noted down by the canvasser (i.e. screenshot the address)

Canvassers should immediately deliver yard signs or posters to all who requested them in their turf when they are finished their turf (same day delivery)

Role play at least one conversation, preferably two

Give people and end meeting location and time

People who are up to speed and familiar with VAN can get sent their turf

For people who are not up to speed:

Set people up with the MiniVAN app, and make sure they know how to use it. There is a

MiniVAN guide here⁠

⁠

Extra reminder to not put tape where it might pull off paint, and not touch mailboxes

Make sure everyone who isn’t ramped up on outreach has read through the Voter outreach guide. Additionally, walk through

this briefing⁠

with them to get them ready

Take attendance on ADB or relay attendees first and last name to

@Antonelle Racelis⁠

to take attendance

Write the event name as ‘CEFF’ ie “CEFF Doorknocking” and put type as ‘outreach’ event

To get access to ADB if planning on hosting multiple events, please contact Antonelle

Marking Guide

Go over the following with door knockers:

Be sure to ask for the resident’s name. We want them to be marked accurately so that we know whether to follow up with a call later.

We’re not intending to be returning to people’s homes, so marking will primarily be used to determine whether to call the voters later. As such:

Getting their name is important in the conversation

Mark as not home if you don’t get their name

If they’re not the person listed, you can add them in VAN

Everyone else who you didn’t talk to should be marked as not home

Debrief

Talk to everyone who came, hear about how it went and what conversations did well and what did badly. It’s important that everyone feels good and supported, and that even negative experiences are contextualized in a positive framing around the door knocking event

Remind everyone to fill out the

post shift form⁠

⁠

Invite people to upcoming events

After

Make sure that yourself and all volunteers fill out the

post shift form⁠

. If anyone has any thoughts on the conversation process, be sure to put it in there

If you have any additional thoughts on the process, reach out to Curtis

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