FAQs for Volunteers and Supporters
-Why do all the campaigns keep on asking for donations and volunteers?
Unfortunately, all the campaigns currently in the U.S. have to be organized by candidates themselves personally. There is no other source of support such as public infrastructure, non-profit or governmental funding for them. In order to run the campaigns, candidates normally have to work in their electoral districts, contact voters, setup media channels, put advertisements, etc. Therefore, successful campaigns have to be run by volunteers and donors, and heavily rely on grassroots efforts. This is why elections in America are very labor-intensive, resource draining, and require a great amount of donor and volunteer support.
-Why do volunteers have to make phone calls to voters? Can campaigns just send out automatic messages through computers or machines.
Phone calling or phone banking is one of the ways campaign volunteers can reach out to voters. This is done sometimes by texting or text banking. There are rules and regulations on how voters can be contacted. Automatic texting is not allowed for political campaigns at this point. Otherwise, the system maybe prone to be abused, and voters may receive too many calls or texting which can become a problem. So currently, phone calls and texting are mostly done by volunteers, and people to people contact.
-Who can donate to candidates in their campaign?
US election law requires only citizens and green card holders can donate to campaigns. But you don't have to a citizen or green card holder if you want to volunteer.
-Where can I get yard signs or flyers of xxxx (who and who)? How can I help xxxx (who and who)?
Yard signs and campaign materials are available from the candidate campaign office. Popular candidates such as presidential and congressional candidates, and local candidates have signs and flyers in your local political party offices and civic clubs, such as county Democratic or Republican party offices, Democratic or Republican clubs, etc. You can find these local offices by searching online and on Facebook.
Candidate websites, Facebook, and these local political party or clubs websites or Facebook have links to events and volunteer opportunities. You can contribute and sign up for volunteers directly, or you can also join the CAVA group or other organizations in your local area.
-Can I put the yard signs by the roadside near my house? Or drop off the campaign flyers in my neighbor's mailbox?
There are rules and regulations on how campaign materials can be put out in public, both on media (such as newspaper ads, on social media, etc), physical signs, and flyers.
Yard signs can be put in your yard, without interference with public traffic or walkways. They cannot be put in public thoroughfares or traffic areas. They cannot be put in private properties or business properties unless the owners have approved it.
Post office mailboxes are considered to be restricted areas. Campaign materials cannot be put there manually unless they are being mailed through post offices. But you can put the flyers by the front door of your neighbor's or other people's. That is allowed.
-Can I or my organization put an ads for the candidates on newspapers? What are the rules for that?
Please check with the candidates you want to support, or local political parties to find out more about rules and regulations. In general, there is a dollar amount limit if you put an ads or support the candidate in financial ways. Most likely, you will need to report this back to the candidates as a donation or other means required by election agencies. Always check with the candidates and local political parties if you are not sure.
Non-profit organizations cannot advertise for or donate directly to political candidates. Only political organizations can become directly involved in supporting candidates. Again, if you are not sure, always ask and check first.
🌟❤️助选FAQ，常见问题解答❤️🌟
🤔Question: 发短信和打电话是不是要用自己的手机？我不想用自己手机怎么办？
😊Answer: 发短信用的是campaign 专门发短信的工具，不需要用自己的手机。自己的privacy会得到保护，通过专门短信工具发的。打电话用的，其中一个是专职工具，不需要用自己手机，可以保护自己的privacy。有的campaign用到另外一个工具，需要使用到电话☎️，但是可以通过电脑打，也可以自己事先开一个Google number 或Skyp number之类的。
🤔Question：如果不想发短信，也不想打电话，这些天还能做什么？
😊Answer：可以联系自己的朋友圈，邻居同事，认识人，提醒他们提前投票已经或马上开始。帮助他们事先填好样本选票，sample ballot，计划好提前投票地点和时间。研究数据表明，做好计划, plan to vote earlier等人，一般都能投票成功，反之，没有事先准备，或拖到最后一天的，很容易错过，忘记，或排长队，something you don’t want to do in COVID time 🥵😱
🤔Question: 打电话和发短息有用吗？想投票的会去投，想投Trump 也不会变心，打电话发短息是不是浪费时间没用啊？
😊Answer：投票已经或马上开始，剩下最关键的这些天，目的是提醒人们去投票，或通知投票地点时间等。很多人工作忙碌，容易忘记。这是这些天电话和短信的目的。Get Out The Vote: GOTV 是最后一步，最关键一步，否则，前面一年多做的所有努力和准备工作，全部前功尽弃。所以需要所有人总动员💪💥💪
🤔Question：电话和短信，我不知道该说什么，或碰到Trump的人怎么办？
😊Answer：电话和短信，该说什么，如何回答各种各样的问题和情况，已经由Campaign事先准备好，照着发或读就行。万一遇到rude 的人，也有事先准备的回答，例如，”Ok, thank you, have a good day!”
🤔Question：为什么不能用Bots 或自动电话或短信发送呐？不是会更快吗？
😊Answer：campaign有约束，需要保护选民，所以不能像一般商业一样自动发，全部需要volunteer来做，否则，容易被商业行为搞烂。
🤔Questions：打电话和短信的效率有多高？
😊Answer: 电话一小时可以打～50个，短信可以发上千（看手动的有多快），孩子们和年轻人对App熟悉的，做的会更快。
🤔Question：还是有些发触，不太敢做，没时间，太忙，没做过，等等，等等...
😊Answer：参加1-2次Training 就会很快熟悉。这些工具是给普通老百姓设计的，只要熟悉一下，就可以上手很快。每个活动开始，都有Training，也会有第一次参加的新手，跟大家一起学，一起做，会很带劲 💪 每天花20分钟，就可以发上百个短信，比在WeChat上聊天更带劲 💪Warning：容易越干越带劲，甚至上瘾 🤗🤠 Let’s get started, and try it out ❤️