(Skip the post and sign up for a campaign related Webex here or shoot us an email!)

Campaigning for a Mayor or any local elected official is a zero sum game right? Your guy or gal either wins all or loses it all. Your tireless nights and weekends door-knocking only add up to a win or a loss.

This weekend two of my neighbors returned from door knocking looking a bit defeated from their conversations. One of them expressed "Most people just wanted to talk about things that could be fixed using SeeClickFix." This got me thinking a bit and I started asking others about their canvassing experience. My neighbors' experience was not unique.

Right now there is an army of civically engaged people going out of their way to talk to neighbors. Many of the conversations are about the blighted building, the illegal dumping in the park, or street light that has been out for months. Why not turn that army of door-knockers into neighborhood surveyors? What better way to open a conversation about improving the neighborhood than helping a neighbor get a long standing issue resolved? In a time when many neighbors respond with 'I'm saving my vote as all politicians are the same.' why not build some trust and show them that local government can work?

Instead of focusing on campaign politics and positions, which often puts people on the defensive, this tactic centers around concrete issues (no pun intended). Even if your candidate loses, your work will not be lost. Your neighbors will feel more empowered and your neighborhood will be improved. The more we thought about this the more we realized we should offer to train folks from all campaigns on how they could go about stumping with SeeClickFix. Maybe it will help your guy or gal win. Definitely it will help improve the community... and that's why you're out there anyways.

If you're on a campaign or are thinking about joining one, join us in person at the SeeClickFix office or online for a special SeeClickFix campaign training session this Wednesday at 4:00 PM.

To join, sign up for the Webex here or shoot us an email!