Bus Federation

I know we've posted a ton of stuff about Trick or Vote this week, but thought I'd share this article I wrote for AlterNet. - Mike

What is the one day of the year that you expect a stranger to knock on your door? Halloween. And what's comes less than a week after Halloween? Election Day. What does that make Halloween? If you are a member of the Bus Federation or one of its partner organizations, it makes Halloween the best day of the year to launch a massive door-to-door canvass to Get Out the Vote (GOTV).

That's the pitch that Jefferson Smith, one of the founders of the Oregon Bus Project, gave to a group of young activists, insiders and media in Denver today at their Trick or Vote Launch Party.

Trick or Vote is exactly what it sounds like. Each year on Halloween, members of the Bus Federation (the Orgeon Bus Project, New Era Colorado, Forward Montana, New Mexico Youth Organized, and the Washington Bus) don their costumes to canvass neighborhoods to turnout the vote – especially the youth vote - in their communities. The program began with the Oregon Bus Project in 2004. That Halloween, hundreds of young Oregonians turned out to canvass, making it one of the largest door to door canvasses in the state history. Not only did the unprecedented effort get out the vote, it helped flip a number of state legislative races.

But don't just call it a canvass in drag. Organizations involved in the Bus Federation look at Trick or Vote as more than a way to get people to the polls, it's also a smart way to engage young people who want to make a difference, and care deeply about the issues, but may be turned away by a traditional canvass or a dreary job phonebanking. Programs like Trick or Vote function as a gateway drug to encourage deeper and deeper political action from their members.

This year Trick or Vote will go national, with at least nine organizations participating in 21 cities. With such a big push on the horizon, in what may be one of the most significant elections of our lifetime, the members of the Bus Federation are determined to sell their innovative program to the insiders and activists flooding Denver for the Democratic National Convention. It's not possible to walk past the Colorado Convention Center without being accosted by zombies, or mummies espousing the virtues of costumed canvassing. Even CBS anchor Katie Couric sported a Trick or Vote Button on TV at one point this week.

At the Trick or Vote party in downtown Denver, Bus Federation staffers walked around sporting cat ears and fangs, and Jessica and Roger Rabbit were in the audience to hear speakers like progressive icon Jim Hightower heap praise on the local grassroots organizing of the Bus Federation.

Guests were also given a look at a series of viral videos meant to spread the word about Trick or Vote:

So far young voters have turned our in record numbers and overwhelming chosen to lend their support to Barack Obama and other Democratic Candidates. If this trend continues in November, it might be due in no small part to the work or groups like the Bus Federation and innovative programs like Trick or Vote.

The author prepares for Trick or Vote in 2007

Pop Quiz Time:

1. What is the single most effective way to mobilize voters?
   a) Visibilities
   b) Sitting on a couch and bitching
   c) Talking to ‘em face-to-face
2. What holiday always immediately precedes Election Day and has a built-in tradition of door-knocking?
   a) Halloween
   b) The 4th of July
   c) Festivus
3. What does everyone love?
   a) Rick Rolling
   b) Costumes!
   c) Voting
   d) All of the above

All of us who work in the field of youth engagement face big competition. The biggest competition we face – for volunteers, for attention – is not from one another’s organizations either. It’s from the Wii (which is sweet) and the bar scene and friends and loved ones. Our biggest challenge is overcoming that noise and building a politics that is fun and exciting and relevant to people’s lives.

That’s what makes Trick or VoteTM so freaking sweet. It’s the Best Way on the Best Day.

It’s actually such a sweet idea it doesn’t even really need an explanation. But here it is in a nutshell: Get some people who are a bit too old to trick or treat (go as young as high school and as old as the retirement home for your recruitment), rally ‘em in costume, meet in a centralized location, train these folks to canvass effectively, and knock some doors.

In short, we combine a cultural more (knock doors on Halloween) with hard-minded political research (knocking doors is an effective voter mobilization tool).

The result?

• More volunteers. In Portland in 2004, 850 canvassers assembled for the largest mass canvass in the history of the state. By all accounts, this year will be even bigger.
• More virgin volunteers. Out of that same crowd in Portland, more than one-in-three were first-time political volunteers who came out of the woodwork for a program well-suited to help our fellow citizens lose their voter virginity.
• More conversations. On Halloween evening, people are home – either waiting for trick-or-treaters or getting ready for their parties. They’re even prepared to open the door. And they’re definitely ready to engage in a conversation. All of which means that we don’t just hit more doors, we hit more doors in a more effective manner.
• More voters. Do the math -- more canvassers, more conversations, and more doors? More people are hitting the polls.

The Bus Federation wants to take Trick or VoteTM national this year – and we can do it with your help. If you’re part of a local or national organization that is serious about doing Trick or VoteTM, get in touch soon so we can coordinate our efforts. Contact Alex Aronson at the Oregon Bus Project @ 503-233-3018.

Just looking for a project for the fall and think you could pull off a kick-ass Trick or Vote in your hometown? Or even just want to assemble 15 of your closest friends and friends-of-friends and friendly-friends-of-friends’-friends and go hit some doors? Drop us a line. I swear to you, you’ll be glad you did.

Major props, by the way, to our friends at the Bus for this innovative program -- Trick or Vote is their brainchild.

Answers to the pop quiz: 1-b, 2-c, 3-a

Matt Singer is the CEO of Forward Montana, dedicated to training, mobilizing, and electing a new generation of progressive leaders. Forward Montana is a charter (get it?) organization of the Bus Federation.

Five really great, state-based youth organizations have decided to join forces to create a loose, national federation that can leverage economies of scale to the benefit of all organizations. In other words, the Oregon Bus Project, Forward Montana, New Era Colorado, The Washington Bus, and New Mexico Youth Organized just formed like Voltron to create the Bus Federation.

From their website:

The 2008 election marks the beginning of a historic opportunity, where young, progressive voters in Western states can fundamentally reshape the political landscape on a local and national level.

The Bus Federation, comprised of grassroots youth political organizations in five Western states, will draw upon its proven models of youth organizing to activate young progressive voters, develop the next generation of progressive leaders, and mobilize for immediate term electoral impact – laying the foundations for local and national breakthroughs in the 2008 election cycle and beyond.

You'll also note that some of these orgs come from important battleground states where the youth vote will be a key constituency up and down the ticket this cycle. If you're in those states, you should get involved or at least be aware of what your local Bus Fed org is doing and make sure that your own work is complementary.

...

While the Federation structure enables the different state organizations to tailor their programs to their states' unique political landscapes, it also enables the member organizations to share core programs – such as Bus Trips, the Trick or Vote Halloween Canvass, and Alternative Candidate Debates – as well as organizational best practices, common branding and messaging, joint purchasing, and key metrics of performance.

The website is pretty sparse now - just a shingle on the web, really. But if by creating a national federation, these local organizations can spread/share best practices, and save money on swag, polling, voter file subscriptions, etc., then this is a hugely important step in scaling up good work in youth organizing.