Deliver My Vote Ohio

Deliver My Vote (DMV) along with The Ohio Education Association (OEA) set out to increase absentee & early vote turnout among likely Democratic voters across Ohio. To accomplish this goal, we developed layered relationships with infrequent voters, and followed up with them through multiple points of contact in order to support the implementation of their personal vote plan. This strategy increased our vote plan success rate and gave them confidence that their ballot would count and their voice would be heard. In recognition that the 2020 General Election was likely to be increasingly characterized by confusion around voting options and requirements, especially new ones, voters remained in our target communication universe until we had confirmation of their ballot being cast.

Strategy

DMV worked closely with OEA and Haystaq to design and execute a live call and SMS program that developed customized absentee & early vote plans and directly confronted voter suppression tactics and confusion. Through its recruitment and training pipeline, DMV produced an impressive paid team of over 50 canvassers with requisite knowledge and technical expertise, who calmly and confidently made absentee & early vote plans with traditionally disenfranchised voters. Utilizing learnings from relational organizing, our callers were able to turn intimate conversations into detailed vote plans. Over the course of 11 weeks leading up to November 3rd, the DMV team made over 2.2 million dials and sent out over 1.1 million layered text messages to target voters across the state.

In all, our canvassers had in-depth, multi-layered conversations with nearly 60,000 voters and made detailed absentee & early vote plans, including specific dates & times and assistance with absentee applications, with over 14,000 of them. Each of those voters then received follow up calls and texts from organizers to support the execution of their personal vote plan.

Impact

74% of registered voters cast a vote in the 2020 General Election in Ohio, a 2.7% increase in voter turnout compared to 2016. DMV’s target universe of infrequent voters who received layered communications performed even better at 78.5%, and those who had direct conversations with canvassers voted at a rate of 86.9%.