Organizing for America

To make sure you have everything you need to register new voters successfully, take a look at this Voter Registration Resource Guide.

Find tips for:

• Working with our staff to register new voters in your state
• Registering voters if campaign staff has not yet arrived in your state
• Rules for registration drives in your state

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Before you begin your registration efforts, the first thing you should do is check out your state page to see if staff in the state are currently coordinating any efforts for out-of-state volunteers to help with voter registration or get-out-the-vote efforts.

If possible, it's best to work with campaign staffers on the ground. They know which neighborhoods or areas have the highest concentration of voters not yet registered. They also have plenty of supplies, including registration forms and Obama gear, to help in your registration program.

Take a look at your state page now to get directly involved with the in-state efforts.

You don't need to wait to begin helping voters get registered. Whether you live in a state with an upcoming primary or in a state that borders it, you can get started registering voters and bringing new people into the political process right away.

Here are a few steps you should follow to make your voter registration drive a success:

1. Get prepared
   Make sure to educate yourself and your group members on the rules for registering new voters in your state. Each state has different guidelines for how to register new voters, and it's important to make sure you're familiar with them in order to make sure you do not break any state laws. You can find your state's guidelines here.

   No matter what the rules are in your state, you should always abide by the following:

   -- Never give some thing of value away to induce someone to register to vote or vote in a certain way. Also never provide any thing of value as an incentive for people to register more voters.

   -- Never alter or add information to a voter’s registration card. It may violate the law for a person, other than the person registering to vote, to fill in parts of the voter registration card the registering person leaves blank.

2. Choose a day and location for your registration effort
   To start, you'll need to choose a day for your voter registration effort. In order to fit in as much time for registrations as possible, you'll probably want to choose a Saturday or Sunday.

   Once you've chosen a day, you'll need to select a staging site for your registration efforts. First consider whether you want to go door-to-door in a neighborhood or whether you want to work in a well-trafficked, public area.

   If you'll be traveling to your location, think about working with an existing grassroots organizing group on the ground there. You can find a local group in that location. They'll have good advice on some of the best places to set up to get people registered.

3. Promote your drive
   In order to make sure you get as many people involved in your voter registration effort as much as possible, you should do both online and offline promotion.

   Your first step online is to create an event in My.BarackObama. Fill in as many details as possible and be as clear as possible about your event. Make sure to have precise times and locations sent out.

   You should also consider promoting your event in other online networks, like Facebook, Meetup, MySpace, or BlackPlanet.

   In addition to online promotion, make sure to invite your own friends, family, and neighbors to participate. Don't be afraid to reach out and engage other people around you – people want to get involved with the campaign!

   In most states, you'll want to get prepared by downloading and printing registration forms for your day out. Make sure you have plenty of basic supplies like clipboards, pens, and folders so that you can spend as much time registering voters as possible.

   Send out a reminder to all the people who have RSVP'd to your event through My.BarackObama a couple days before your event. Also make sure to remind your friends, family, or neighbors who have committed to attend your event.

4. Feedback
   One of the most important parts of coordinating a voter registration event is making sure that the campaign knows how and what you did.

   It is absolutely essential that you let us know how your registration event went, particularly how many new voters you got registered. Please make sure to fill out the voter registration feedback form.

Some states have guidelines for people running voter registration drives. Be sure to check out the rules for your state before you begin registering voters.

• Indiana
• North Carolina
• West Virginia
• Kentucky
• Oregon
• South Dakota

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