News Releases
Besides paid media techniques, you can always give your local and area newspapers a press release on your upcoming door-to-door canvass which most will be glad to print. This is a good idea, in any event, because it will probably contain more information than you can fit in either a radio commercial or newspaper ad. Don't mail it! Give it to the Editor personally. It doesn't have to be long. Brief and to-the-point will do.
Sample News Release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Seattle, WA --
King County Republican volunteers are beginning an intensive door-to-door canvass to register and enroll voters for the Fall election.The canvass will take place during May and June in every town and city in the county, according to King County Republican Chairman Reed Davis.
Several hundred volunteers will be canvassing households for unregistered voters and first-time voters -- those who have turned 18 or who have moved since the last election and must re-register. They will carry with them information on the state registration laws, how to obtain absentee ballots, voter eligibility requirements, as well as mail registration forms.
"This is our annual Registration Drive in King County," Davis said, "and we are confident that when it is completed, we will have increased registration and Republican enrollment by at least 12 percent over last year."
"It is important that voters enroll," Davis continued, "so they can keep their independence by having a voice in who runs our government right from the start. In order to have a voice in the caucus and the primaries, a voter must choose a Party, and naturally, we hope they will choose the Republican Party."
Davis noted that Party participation entitles the voter to help formulate Party policy and help choose those responsible for running the Party.
"We invite any Republicans, Independents or others interested in helping with the canvass to contact our Registration Headquarters at P.O. Box 19556, Seattle, WA 98109, or call (206) 378-1998 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday."
Davis stated that all the volunteers will wear identification badges and will canvass only between the hours of noon and 9 p.m.
If you do these things -- or at least some of them -- to "soften up" the residents you plan to contact before your registration drive begins, you will greatly improve your chances for a most successful canvass.