Campaign Help needed

Helping with a Campaign .... Or The Things I’d Love Help with as a Political Candidate:

I quite often get asked how people can help, so I thought I’d put this together as an answer that people can refer to. Campaigns take a lot of work and it is almost impossible for one person to do it all.  In no particular order, here are the things I’d love some help with as a candidate running for Environment Canterbury in 2022.  If you are interested in supporting other candidates then they will be interested in similar things.

Billboards:

Those of us running a campaign need to put up billboards. If you have a good fence or a place that a billboard can go, in a street that has good passing traffic, one way to help is to offer to have a board on your fence. If you know someone who might be talked into having a billboard in a good place then helping to set that up would also help.

Billboards can’t be put up in public spaces – so we can put them on fences or on an open area near the road but not in parks, for example. Helping with putting up billboards is also always appreciated.

Helping out online:

Like it or not, social media is quite an important part of campaigns and getting information about candidates out is a good thing. Even just sharing, commenting and liking posts are all helpful things to do to help a campaign page. Doing that helps posts become more visible. Commenting and sharing posts on candidates pages is even more effective.

Encouraging others to like or follow the page also helps. Managing a social media page for someone might be an option or working with a small group to support your candidate online can also be really useful.

Direct Voter Contact:

Making phone calls (which can be done from home) or knocking on doors to talk about your candidate can also really help with attracting votes for the person you want to see get in. Many people dread this kind of work but the reality is that it can be quite fun and you can have some great conversations about things that you care about.

Supporting at events:

For many of us who are running, it really helps to have some familiar faces in the audience when talking at Candidates evenings. Even better go along and ask some questions that could help your candidate showcase their strengths.

Letterbox drops
This is the first thing many people think of when getting involved in campaigning. Delivering addresssed letters that go out to people known to vote is a similar process and usually candidates need a lot of help at particular times to get stuff out into the right letterboxes.

Organising hui or events:

These can be quite small – get some friends from the same voting area together to meet the candidate online or at home. Organise meetings for groups you are part of that might have an interest and ask candidates to come along.  

Another option might be to help at or near a market by handing out leaflets etc.

Making a donation:

It costs a lot to run a campaign so if you have some capacity, however large or small, to support a candidate this way, they will really appreciate it.

Become a Campaign Manager:

If you are feeling particularly energetic, offering to manage a campaign is really helpful. Many people have campaign managers who work with the candidate to get everything done. This takes a lot of work off the shoulders of a candidate and means they can spend more time working on direct voter contact.

If you'd like to offer help, get in contact by email chrys.horn@xtra.co.nz, or PM me.