Wiki source for CandidatePhoneCommunications
====Candidate Phone Communications====
The Elections Research Director will be responsible for conducting phone communications with candidates, scheduled or otherwise. The timeline for these phone communications will be included in the Elections Department Calendar. The Elections Director will be the primary individual responsible for answering Candidate Line calls, as well as planning for additional phone coverage during busy candidate communication periods.
Typical forms of scheduled candidate phone communication are as follows:
- Confirmation Calls to Congressional and gubernatorial candidates following the Initial Mailing and Confirmation Email.
- Hail Mary Calls to Congressional, gubernatorial and (optionally) state legislative candidates shortly before and/or after the Hail Mary Email.
**Note**: In recent cycles, we have not made these sorts of calls, and opted to only answer calls from candidates who contact us first. That said, should the Elections Department choose to do this in the future, this is the guide we would use.
===Confirmation Calls===
The purpose of the Confirmation Call is to make sure candidates received the initial mailing and to see if they have any questions. These calls are also an opportunity to encourage candidates to take the test if they're on the fence. The first step is to generate a call list. The Elections Director will be in charge of creating the call list and splitting up the calls between a small group of staff based on need.
==Generating the Call List==
- Open the initial mail merge excel sheet that has the candidate IDs and passwords for all candidates in the NPAT group
- Run query that pulls phone numbers for all group members
~~- Paste results - all you really need is candidate ID and phone # - into a second sheet on the excel doc from step 1
- Run an index match (using candidate ID) on the excel doc to add a Phone Number column to the first sheet with Passwords
~~- See this page for details: [[http://wiki.votesmart.org/MatchIDs Index Matching Guide]]
~~- INDEX MATCH formula cheat sheet: =INDEX(phone number range,MATCH(candidate_id,index.phone number candidate_id range,0))
- Check a few of the phone numbers to make sure they match the correct candidates in admin
- Print out spreadsheet and distribute to team members making the calls
==Making Calls==
After generating the call sheets, the Elections Director will train any staff on the call team who are unfamiliar with the Confirmation Call process. Providing staff with a voicemail script/tip sheet is also helpful. Make the calls using the following instructions:
- In admin, select the office and state you're calling under "Office Seeking"
- Make sure the "Active" field is set to "Now"
- Organize the list in a way that makes sense as you reference your call sheet
- Select the candidate ID of the candidate you're calling
- Using the "NPAT" tab, see if they've already passed the PCT
- Only call candidates who have not yet passed
- Use the script to call the candidate
- When leaving a voicemail, make sure to provide contact information
- Create a call log for every call
===Hail Mary Calls===
The purpose of the Hail Mary Calls is to obtain confirmation from any candidates who filled out the Political Courage Test but did not submit or provide any other form of confirmation. The Elections Director will be the primary individual responsible for these calls but can assemble a small team to help, if necessary. This step is optional for state legislative candidates, but helpful. For state legislative candidates, individual emails in addition to or instead of the Hail Mary Calls can also help. To determine which candidates have filled out but not submitted the test, use the following steps:
- In admin, select Online NPAT Query
- Select the state you'd like to check and hit "Show Candidates"
- Use the generated list to investigate which candidates to call
- Check to see if they've filled out the test under the NPAT tab by clicking "Online Submitted NPAT"
- Only call those candidates who filled out enough of the test to pass
- Let candidates know you can take their confirmation over the phone
- Do not take confirmation from campaign staff, but let them know they can send an email giving confirmation
- Create a call log for every call
===Candidate Line===
The Candidate Line (515-989-6359) is advertised to candidates and typically only receives candidate inquiries. The Elections Director will be the primary individual responsible for the line during most of the election cycle. In most cases, candidates call to get their login information for secure.votesmart.org or to ask questions about the test. Candidates sometimes call to give consent to release their tests. When this happens, make sure to process their tests immediately.
If the Elections Director is not in the office, either the Officials Director, Assistant National Director, or National Director may take these calls.
===Angry Candidate Communication:===
It’s important to note that these NPAT Messages are the focus of many angry candidate communications. Angry candidates frequently ask us to remove or change them. We have strict policies outlining which message should appear, and we cannot remove a candidate’s message simply based on his or her request. It’s important to communicate consistently with these candidates and relay their options in the context of our policies.
If the candidate is concerned about a “failed” message after their deadline but before the election, they may have the option to take the test late (with the Primary-Late or General-Late status). Communicate with the Director of Elections Research about the cut-off for accepting late tests. If the late testing option is available, let them know we will remove the message once we receive their completed test, and give them a new, firm deadline.
If the candidate is concerned about a “failed” message after the election, be clear that we cannot remove the message, but let them know we will re-administer the test for the next election. If they’re up for re-election and pass the test, we’ll replace their “failed” message with a “passed” message. Feel free to use the candidate’s contact log to explain our attempts to contact their campaign. Be prepared to hear from aggravated candidates, and be firm but polite. If you feel uncomfortable in communication with a particular candidate, feel free to pass them along to the Director of Elections.
The Elections Research Director will be responsible for conducting phone communications with candidates, scheduled or otherwise. The timeline for these phone communications will be included in the Elections Department Calendar. The Elections Director will be the primary individual responsible for answering Candidate Line calls, as well as planning for additional phone coverage during busy candidate communication periods.
Typical forms of scheduled candidate phone communication are as follows:
- Confirmation Calls to Congressional and gubernatorial candidates following the Initial Mailing and Confirmation Email.
- Hail Mary Calls to Congressional, gubernatorial and (optionally) state legislative candidates shortly before and/or after the Hail Mary Email.
**Note**: In recent cycles, we have not made these sorts of calls, and opted to only answer calls from candidates who contact us first. That said, should the Elections Department choose to do this in the future, this is the guide we would use.
===Confirmation Calls===
The purpose of the Confirmation Call is to make sure candidates received the initial mailing and to see if they have any questions. These calls are also an opportunity to encourage candidates to take the test if they're on the fence. The first step is to generate a call list. The Elections Director will be in charge of creating the call list and splitting up the calls between a small group of staff based on need.
==Generating the Call List==
- Open the initial mail merge excel sheet that has the candidate IDs and passwords for all candidates in the NPAT group
- Run query that pulls phone numbers for all group members
~~- Paste results - all you really need is candidate ID and phone # - into a second sheet on the excel doc from step 1
- Run an index match (using candidate ID) on the excel doc to add a Phone Number column to the first sheet with Passwords
~~- See this page for details: [[http://wiki.votesmart.org/MatchIDs Index Matching Guide]]
~~- INDEX MATCH formula cheat sheet: =INDEX(phone number range,MATCH(candidate_id,index.phone number candidate_id range,0))
- Check a few of the phone numbers to make sure they match the correct candidates in admin
- Print out spreadsheet and distribute to team members making the calls
==Making Calls==
After generating the call sheets, the Elections Director will train any staff on the call team who are unfamiliar with the Confirmation Call process. Providing staff with a voicemail script/tip sheet is also helpful. Make the calls using the following instructions:
- In admin, select the office and state you're calling under "Office Seeking"
- Make sure the "Active" field is set to "Now"
- Organize the list in a way that makes sense as you reference your call sheet
- Select the candidate ID of the candidate you're calling
- Using the "NPAT" tab, see if they've already passed the PCT
- Only call candidates who have not yet passed
- Use the script to call the candidate
- When leaving a voicemail, make sure to provide contact information
- Create a call log for every call
===Hail Mary Calls===
The purpose of the Hail Mary Calls is to obtain confirmation from any candidates who filled out the Political Courage Test but did not submit or provide any other form of confirmation. The Elections Director will be the primary individual responsible for these calls but can assemble a small team to help, if necessary. This step is optional for state legislative candidates, but helpful. For state legislative candidates, individual emails in addition to or instead of the Hail Mary Calls can also help. To determine which candidates have filled out but not submitted the test, use the following steps:
- In admin, select Online NPAT Query
- Select the state you'd like to check and hit "Show Candidates"
- Use the generated list to investigate which candidates to call
- Check to see if they've filled out the test under the NPAT tab by clicking "Online Submitted NPAT"
- Only call those candidates who filled out enough of the test to pass
- Let candidates know you can take their confirmation over the phone
- Do not take confirmation from campaign staff, but let them know they can send an email giving confirmation
- Create a call log for every call
===Candidate Line===
The Candidate Line (515-989-6359) is advertised to candidates and typically only receives candidate inquiries. The Elections Director will be the primary individual responsible for the line during most of the election cycle. In most cases, candidates call to get their login information for secure.votesmart.org or to ask questions about the test. Candidates sometimes call to give consent to release their tests. When this happens, make sure to process their tests immediately.
If the Elections Director is not in the office, either the Officials Director, Assistant National Director, or National Director may take these calls.
===Angry Candidate Communication:===
It’s important to note that these NPAT Messages are the focus of many angry candidate communications. Angry candidates frequently ask us to remove or change them. We have strict policies outlining which message should appear, and we cannot remove a candidate’s message simply based on his or her request. It’s important to communicate consistently with these candidates and relay their options in the context of our policies.
If the candidate is concerned about a “failed” message after their deadline but before the election, they may have the option to take the test late (with the Primary-Late or General-Late status). Communicate with the Director of Elections Research about the cut-off for accepting late tests. If the late testing option is available, let them know we will remove the message once we receive their completed test, and give them a new, firm deadline.
If the candidate is concerned about a “failed” message after the election, be clear that we cannot remove the message, but let them know we will re-administer the test for the next election. If they’re up for re-election and pass the test, we’ll replace their “failed” message with a “passed” message. Feel free to use the candidate’s contact log to explain our attempts to contact their campaign. Be prepared to hear from aggravated candidates, and be firm but polite. If you feel uncomfortable in communication with a particular candidate, feel free to pass them along to the Director of Elections.
