YDA Campaign

Review: Leading
the Young Voter
Revolution

2008
A review of the Young Democrats of America’s Young Voter Revolution campaign to
mobilize young voters for Democratic candidates up and down the ballot using a mix of
innovative and proven tactics.
 YDA Campaign Review: Leading the Young Voter Revolution 2008

Overview
After leading successful campaign operations in every election cycle since 2004, the Young Democrats of America (YDA)
set out to make 2008’s campaign the culmination of years of refining, practice, and innovation. In short, we were
determined to learn from our successes and mistakes of the past and set the standard in professionalism and
effectiveness for partisan youth voter turnout efforts. Targeting the majority of our resources in eight states while
maintaining support for volunteer-led efforts elsewhere, our campaign was able to reach over 176,000 young voters
and by nearly every measure was a success.
The 2008 campaign had three main components:
1. Individual YDA member peer-to-peer activities.
2. Chapter based volunteer vote pledge and turnout efforts.
3. Paid professionally managed campaign operations in targeted states.
Our idea was, for the first time, to utilize both YDA’s expansive membership base for voter turnout and manage
professional campaign operations in key states to run what amounts to a “YDA Coordinated Campaign.” In each of the
components above, our focus was on young voters under the age of 36 with no regard to recent voting history. While
we used phone calls, door-to-door communication, and street-teaming1, we always emphasized peer-to-peer tactics and
asked potential voters to fill out a “vote Democrat pledge card.”
Perhaps most importantly for YDA and the long-term success of the youth movement, we build the infrastructure of our
organization in each campaign state. Well-trained staff and volunteers built their skill sets and strengthened
relationships with progressive allies. Laptops, cell phones, printers, training materials, literature, office supplies, and
other materials were left behind for future use. We incorporated the volunteer muscle of area chapters and, in Boulder
and Virginia Beach, formed new local chapters post-election.

Laying the Ground Work

Engaging Chapters and Providing Training
In order for the program to be successful, extensive training and planning was required. The YDA conference in
Nashville, TN in June 2008 was the primary vehicle for this. With hundreds of YDA leaders, we urged states to start
thinking of how to run their own vote pledge efforts, begin setting goals, learn some best practices to ensure success,
and practice asking voters for pledges. We held Peer-to-Palooza, a unique training session for local and state leaders to
learn the skills they need to create campaigns in their communities. Trainees then went on a vote pledge scavenger
hunt on the streets of Nashville, collecting over 300 vote pledges in less than an hour.
The Summer of Change
After Nashville, we held a series of events over the summer to provide resources and opportunities for local chapters
and local members to hold events, collect vote pledges, and begin to tell their story to other young voters about why
they were voting for Democratic candidates in 2008. We called this series of events the “Summer of Change.”

1
Street-teaming is a practice where young activists visit places where young people tend to hang out, and engage them in voter
contact there. Typically this means coffee shops, bars, concerts, and other large events.

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 YDA Campaign Review: Leading the Young Voter Revolution 2008
• whYDA.org: First, we launched an interactive website where young people discussed issues that mattered to
them and why they were voting for Democrats. We featured information and videos here throughout the
campaign.
• Summer of Change Events: We held Summer of Change events -- everything from barbeques to concerts to
community service events – in July as a “test run” activity to help local activists gear up for the campaign season.
An extensive online toolkit helped prepare and train organizers.
• Convention Watch Parties: The Democratic Convention was also used as an organizing tool, to help recruit new
activists and volunteers.
• Online Vote Pledge and Voter Registration: Local chapters were pitted against each other in a competition to
gather the most online vote pledges and voters registrations.

Young Voter Revolution Overview

Utilizing the State Partnership Program (a process of member input, staff recommendations, and committee approval),
YDA targeted eight states for our 2008 paid campaign operations: Arkansas, Colorado2, California, Ohio, Georgia3,
Florida, Utah4, and Virginia. We met our targeted goals in nearly every state and did so under budget. Our program
proved to not only be effective but efficient.

Stages of Voter Contact

There were three stages of voter contact in our paid campaign operations:
1. Identification and Education
This first stage of contact happened both at the doors of targeted voters and in street-team engagement. The
goal was to see if the voter actually lived at the address we had in the voter file and was aware of the upcoming
election. With each contact, we had a discussion regarding the benefits of voting for Democratic candidates,
identified their top issue of concern, and attempted to collect a vote pledge for later follow up.

2. Voter Education and Persuasion

The second stage of contact included voters who we were unable to reach in the first round, those who were
identified as sympathetic or open to Democratic candidates, and potential voters who had signed a vote pledge
during street teaming or online engagement. The goal of this stage of contact was to begin the process of
educating the voter on the process of voting, provide additional persuasion, and leverage the collected vote
pledge to ensure voting.

3. Get Out the Youth Vote (GOTYV)

The final stage of contact was focused on voters who we had spoken with before and were planning to vote for
Democrats. The emphasis of this stage was simple – get them to go vote and vote now.

Target Universes
YDA does not follow traditional targeting modeling. We focused on voters fitting this profile:

2
Colorado’s program was not a state partnership.
3
The majority of the GA program was managed by YDA’s State Executive Director in that state.
4
The UT program was managed by YDA’s State Executive Director in that state.

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 YDA Campaign Review: Leading the Young Voter Revolution 2008
• Registered as a Democrat, not registered with a party, or registered with a non-Republican party.
• Under the age of 36.
• Living in precincts where at least 30% of all households included voters under 36 (except CA).
• All vote histories.5
Most states focused on non-college youth; only Arkansas included on campus programs. In nearly every state this
resulted in a majority female target audience (roughly 54%) and an even split between voters under 29 years of age and
voters aged 30 to 36. This led us to utilize language and persuasion issues that were largely economic in nature and
appealed to the heads of young families and single women. The issues selected were broad enough, however, to appeal
to most young voters regardless of gender or stage of life.
Incorporation of Available Research and Recent Analysis
As members of America Votes, YDA had at our disposal a collection of excellent research and analysis of voter contact
tactics. In addition to incorporating the lessons learned from our analysis from past campaigns, we added three
suggested tactics:
• Vote Pledge Leveraging
Instead of simply reminding a voter to vote, we used the psychological tactic of leveraging their previous
commitment to us to vote. For example, instead of saying “Don’t forget to vote!” our canvassers would say “I’m
here to remind you that you promised to vote for Democrats today.
• “Chatty” Conversations
A mainstay in our campaign operations in the past, we continued our utilization of less structured conversations
with voters. No script was utilized; instead our canvassers were trained and had practice simply to have a
guided conversation with potential voters.
• Vote Visualization
Particularly during GOTYV, our canvassers engaged potential voters in a way that had them visualize their own
act of voting, something that makes them more likely to follow through on commitments. For example, instead
of saying “Your polling place is at the Methodist Church and if you need a ride let us know!” a canvasser would
ask open ended questions forcing the voter to visualize their act of voting such as “What time will you vote? Do
you know where? How will you get to the polling place? Are you going with a friend?”
National Voter Contact Results
In addition to tracking all of our voter contacts in the online voter file we utilized, the America Votes VAN, our organizers
submitted nightly reporting that provided us a day by day snap shot of their success and struggles. When all of our
numbers were tallied we had exceeded our overall goals and met most of our benchmarks for effectiveness and
efficiency.
• Youth Doors Knocked: 150,162
• Street Team Pledges: 11,824
• GOTYV Dials (Phone Calls): 24,161
• TOTAL CONTACTS: 176,7516

5
The exception to this was in states where youth density was so high that it was advisable to remove frequent voters in order to
maximize our impact on the voters less likely to vote.

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 YDA Campaign Review: Leading the Young Voter Revolution 2008
• Hours in Voter Contact: 9,795
• Canvass and Street Shifts: 2,838
• Contact Rate: 21%
• Doors Knocked an Hour: 14
Lessons Learned
While our programs were successful, there were some struggles that could have been avoided. As we prepare for
campaign operations in 2009 and 2010, these lessons will be taken to heart.
Challenges:
• Money came in very late.
• Youth organization coordination fell short.
• Problems with vendors delayed literature.
• Limited local chapter “buy-in.”
Next Time:
• Simplified partnership application.
• More uniform campaign plans.
• End date for state investment.
• Earlier start for voter contact, by chapters if needed.
• All organizer campaign training at once.
• State-specific or regional-specific literature.
• More volunteer involvement.
• Larger emphasis on early voting and vote by mail.

State Campaign Recaps

Arkansas
Arkansas has been a state that YDA has invested in over the past several
years. Our organization in this state is extremely strong and has been at the
forefront of recent Democratic gains. While Democrats in Arkansas
dominate local, state politics, and congressional politics this same success
has not born out at the presidential level. Through our efforts in Arkansas,
we hoped to take advantage of a recent surge in youth turnout in the state
to support local candidates and hopefully turn the state blue.

6
There is some overlap between doors knocked and street team pledges; this number reflects individual voters contacted, including
Georgia and Utah, which are not discussed in detail in this report.

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 YDA Campaign Review: Leading the Young Voter Revolution 2008
In addition to our usual tactics of door-to-door organizing and street teaming, Arkansas invested heavily in event driven
voter contact and online organizing. Events such as kickoffs, concerts, mobilizations, and protests were used to raise
visibility and identify and train campaign leaders. Online organizing tactics (including a full-time online organizer)
collected thousands of vote pledges from the internet and Facebook and appended that information to the Arkansas
VAN. These voters would then be folded into the greater voter target universe.
Unfortunately, Arkansas was a very difficult state for Democrats this year – and Barack Obama suffered a lopsided
defeat. Our efforts did, however, identify several young voters and leaders who will continue to work in Arkansas as this
state attempts to recover from this defeat.
Arkansas Targets: Washington, Pope and Faulkner Counties
Precincts: 89
Obama v. McCain Youth: O 49%, M 49%
Canvass Results:
• Conway Doors: 17,911
• Fayetteville Doors: 9,892
• Russellville Doors: 1,748
TOTAL: 29,551
• Number of Volunteers: 27
Area Races Results:
• Joe White 45% v GOP 55%
• Linda Tyler 56% v GOP 44%
• Val Yagos 42% v GOP 54%
• Thomas Akin 43% v GOP 53%
California
Typically, YDA’s campaigns focus on areas with very dense youth
populations. As a result, rural areas tend to be skipped – a problem
we identified after the 2005 campaign. In order to move our model
effectively into rural areas, we targeted California’s San Joaquin
Valley and the area surrounding Stockton. This area had not been
organized for young voters before and had very limited
organizational infrastructure.
These obstacles were easily handled by our campaign operation
who recruited area volunteers so successfully that few paid shifts
were needed. In addition to the short term electoral victories that
can be attributed to the increase in young voters in this area, the
lasting legacy of our campaign will be a strong network of young
activists who volunteered in our office revitalizing the Democratic
Party in the area.
California Targets: San Joaquin Valley, East Bay, Central
Valley

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 YDA Campaign Review: Leading the Young Voter Revolution 2008
Precincts: 165
Obama v. McCain Youth: O 66% M 32%
Canvass Results:
• TOTAL: 18,499
• Number of Volunteers: 398
Area Races Results:
• CD 11 – McNearney 158,849 v GOP 128,780
Colorado
With early successes in our other states, YDA secured last minute funding to run a three week voter turnout operation in
Colorado, one of the swingiest of swing states in the 2008 election. After consultation with America Votes Colorado, it
was determined that YDA should focus on the extremely youth dense area of Boulder, CO. Unfortunately, no other
organization had targeted young voters who were not in college, believing erroneously that most young voters in
Boulder were college students. This turned out to be patently false, as the split between college-aged youth and their
older peers was roughly 50/50.
Colorado Targets: The city of Boulder
Precincts: 40
Obama v. McCain Youth: Exit polls could not report CO results for youth.
Canvass Results:
• Boulder Doors /Street Teams/Phones: 6,494 / 251 / 221
• TOTAL: 6,966
• Number of Volunteers: 7
Area Races Results:
• US Senate – Udall 52% v GOP 42%
• 2nd CD – Polis 62% v GOP 34%

Florida
2008 marked the first year of strategic investment in Florida by YDA. As a key swing state in the past several national
election cycles and with its rapidly growing youth demographics, Florida will continue to be a battleground state for
Democrats for years to come.

Since losing control of the state legislature and the election of Jeb Bush as Governor in 1998, Florida Democrats have
struggled to maintain relevance in an increasingly hostile and partisan political environment. This began to change with
the 2006-midterm elections, however, and our efforts aimed to harness the excitement of this Democratic wave by
mobilizing young voters to register and vote for Democratic candidates all the way down the ticket.

Our targeted campaign in Florida consisted primarily of a two-week GOTV paid canvassing operation in the final weeks
of the 2008 election cycle. We focused on door-to-door canvassing in high-density youth neighborhoods of Florida
House District 9 (Tallahassee, FL). We supplemented our door-to-door efforts by deploying street teams at high
attendance community events. These efforts were instrumental in helping to deliver a razor slim 400-vote margin to the

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 YDA Campaign Review: Leading the Young Voter Revolution 2008
Democratic candidate for the HD 9 seat. In addition to this paid effort, we also facilitated an all volunteer young voter
turnout campaign in Duval County (Jacksonville) that helped deliver the strongest Democratic margins that traditionally
Republican county has seen in recent history.

Florida Targets: Leon County, House District 9

Obama 51.0% v McCain 48.2%
Canvass Results:
• Leon County Doors: 4,463
Number of Volunteers: 17
Area Races Results:
• HD -9 – Rehwinkel Vasilinda: 40,932 (48.6%) v GOP 41,362 (48.1%)
• Leon County Commission Seat: Akin Akinyemi 70,983 v GOP 61,646

Ohio
After disappointing Democratic loses in Ohio in 2004, progressive organizations in the state united behind solid
coordination plans in 2006 that led to statewide victories; that model continued in 2008.
YDA based our targeting on where we could impact key state House
races, to help win back the chamber for Democrats. We focused on two
regions: the Columbus area and the Cleveland area, including surrounding
counties. Our model was particularly successful in Ohio, incorporating
large numbers of our members for voter contact, allowing us to come in
significantly under budget in the state while growing the chapters in each
region.
Ohio Targets: Cuyahoga, Franklin, Lake, and Summit Counties
Precincts: 138
Obama v. McCain Youth: O 61% M 36%
Canvass Results:
• Northeast Ohio Doors/Street Teams: 7,370 / 373
• Franklin County Doors/Street Teams/Phones:
11,300/288/1,101
Total: 20,432
Number of Volunteers: 103
Area Races Results (turned OH House Blue)
• HD 18 – Patton 26,538 v GOP 27,336
• HD 19 – Harris 31,335 v GOP 21,295
• HD 20 – Garland 29,714 v GOP 28,931
• HD 22 – Carney 34,163 v GOP 26,353

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 YDA Campaign Review: Leading the Young Voter Revolution 2008
• HD 42 – Moran 21,959 v GOP 25,232
• HD 63 – Schneider 23,225 v GOP 27,228
Virginia
After running a successful youth turnout program in 2005 in Virginia that helped elect Tim Kaine as Governor, YDA has
invested in this traditionally Republican state believing it to be the foundation of a new Democratic South. After hiring a
Virginia State Executive Director in early 2008, we were interested in running a larger scale program.
YDA targeted two dense congressional areas, feeling that the congressional candidates, with strong youth turnout, could
win the seats. The 11th congressional was held by a retiring Republican and the 2nd congressional by a vulnerable two-
term Republican incumbent. Since an unprecedented level of money would be spent on a stand-alone YD program, the
organization felt that 2008 was an opportunity to gain legitimacy within the state and help build political contacts and
fundraise for future programs.
A lot of emphasis has been put on the
concept of two Virginia’s. Old Virginia
includes those who have lived within
the state for generations and who are
more of socially conservative. The New
Virginia encompasses more urban
dwellers who are attached to the white
collar job boom from Washington DC.
Many of these voters fall into a
nonwhite ethnic background. Mark
Warner, Tim Kaine, and Jim Webb are
all conservative Democrats.
Targets: Charlottesville,
Fairfax, Hampton, Virginia
Beach
Precincts: 61
Obama v. McCain Youth: O 60% M 39%
Canvass Results:
• Charlottesville: 9,821
• Fairfax: 18,858
• Virginia Beach, Hampton: 19,517
TOTAL: 48,196
Number of Volunteers: 118
Area Races Results:
• 2nd CD– Nye 52% v GOP 48%
• 5th CD– Perriello 50% v GOP 50% (<1,000 vote margin)
• 11th CD– Connolly 55% v GOP 43%