Presentation from NUS Membership Services Conference on increasing voter turnout

1. Voter
turnout@jowalters
Jo Walters
Communications Manager
University of Sussex Students’ Union

2. Me and
SussexCommunications Manager
Full-time Officer (a long time ago)
Communications team of 4
14,000 members
Campus university
Two elections per year
Referenda 3 times per year

3. 2011Turnout typically around 25% in our Full-time Officer elections
University approaching its 50th anniversary so our President decided
we should aim for 50% turnout

4. 2011Turnout typically around 25% in our Full-time Officer elections
University approaching its 50th anniversary so our President decided
we should aim for 50% turnout
Ha ha ha ha

5. 2014We hit 50% (actually 49 point something but we’re amongst friends
so I’m rounding up) in turnout across our referenda and elections

6. 2014We hit 50% (actually 49 point something but we’re amongst friends
so I’m rounding up) in turnout across our referenda and elections
But how

7. awkward
confession

8. Awkward
confessionI don’t know how we did this.

9. Awkward
confessionI don’t know how we did this.
I know what we tried but don’t know exactly what made the difference.
This presentation is therefore a list of things to try and some theory.

10. Some
theory

11. Some
theoryAlternative title for this bit:
Books Jo thinks you should read

12. More
candidates
more
voters

13. FunnelAll students
Heard about
roles/voting
Thought about
roles/voting
Nominated
themselves
/voted
What can you do at each level to
increase progression to the next?
What might the barriers be?

14. Better
candidates
more
voters

15. Training
supportWhat information can you give
to candidates?
 About students?
 About the Union?
 About communicating?
What support can you give
candidates?
 Before they nominate
themselves?
 Planning their campaign?
 During their campaign?
 After voting closes

16. Motivation
Appeal to broader values, e.g.
benefit to students, contributing to
society, giving something back,
mastery, purpose, citizenship,
collectivism
Avoid self-focused values, e.g.
boost your CV, you’ll get paid, your
career, your voice, you’ll
(personally) benefit/miss out
For your reading list…
Drive: The surprising truth about
what motivates us by Daniel H.
Pink
Also go to James Robertson’s
session on talking to students like
they’re selfish

17. AIDA
Marketing theory for your communications:
ATTENTION – get someone’s attention
INTEREST – get their interest
DESIRE – make them want to do something
ACTION – give them the opportunity to do something

18. Make it
ordinaryVoting? Oh yeah everyone does that. It’s what people here do.

19. ViralWord of mouth is helped by:
 Social currency – we share things that make us look good
 Triggers – what prompts me to talk about it?
 Emotion – high arousal, e.g. awe, anger, excitement
 Public – make the private public
 Practical value – news you can use
 Stories – information travels through narratives
Read Contagious: How to build word of
mouth in the digital age by Jonah Berger

20. Stuff
we did

21. Stupid
goalThe 50% thing got a lot of people invigorated
Apparently we like a challenge!

22. Spent
money• Banners and signs for lampposts to cover campus
• Hired Election Ambassadors to promote the elections
• Bought tablets to enable mobile voting
• Upgraded our voting system to make mobile voting easier
• Bought ‘vote now’ t-shirts for all staff

23. Involved
staff• Elections planning sessions open to all
• Got people excited about our 50% turnout challenge
• Ensured everyone understood the elections and referenda
• Got University staff on board, particularly for Student Rep elections

24. Tell
people• All staff are encouraged to tell people to nominate themselves in the
elections. This personal connection is really powerful
• Include information about elected officers and elections in all news
stories featuring current officers

25. All year
long• We think about and prepare for elections all year long
• Don’t focus on the nomination period, some people have planned this
years in advance
• Tell people to nominate themselves all year and ensure information is
available for anyone who is interested
• Keep a mailing list of potential candidates and update them

26. Social
proof• Only where it sounded impressive and like everyone was doing
something
• Plot voters onto a map (use BatchGeo) – ‘students from all over the
world are voting’
• Use real-time statistics and screenshot them for social media
• ‘I voted in the elections’ social media shares and stickers

27. Busted
myths• It isn’t a popularity contest
• Elected officers do have an impact
• You don’t have to be a certain kind of person to nominate yourself
Ask your students why they don’t vote then bust the myths

28. Competition
• Used voting stats graphs to compare schools
• Told students who turnout in their school compared to previous year

29. Incentives
• I don’t think you should incentivise voting. An incentive implies the
thing is not inherently desirable (see ‘Drive’ by Daniel H. Pink)
• We did offer a chance for people to allocate funding to one of four
projects when they voted

30. 2018Our new goal is to get to 75% turnout by the end of 2017/18

31. 2018Our new goal is to get to 75% turnout by the end of 2017/18
Eek

32. Next
time• Making the impact of elected officers even more visible including
where they’ve made decisions to show the impact of these and the
alternatives

33. QuestionsWhat other things have worked for you?
Feel free to get in touch – jo.w@sussexstudent.com or @jowalters
Thanks for listening