In the post-election season, most people tend to sigh in relief when their candidate is the winner. However, there’s always still work to be done in the political sphere, if that’s what you’d like to continue to do!
It’s important to keep in mind that any victories are earned from the hard work of average people around the country. Attack ads and spiteful TV interviews can only do so much, after all! Not to mention the fact that the votes in the first place are what win elections. Here are some methods of political activism that can be done even in the off-seasons of politics.
- Canvassing
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Canvassing is an extremely effective way of campaigning. It was actually the reason Senator Bernie Sanders was able to be so competitive in his early campaign in the presidential democratic nominee race! Canvassing involves normal people going out on foot and going door-to-door in order to explain the policies of their candidate to people in a more intimate setting than social media or TV advertisements can offer.
Canvassers also make an effort to encourage voter registration and add people to the list of registered voters by prompting them to register when they have free time. Votes win elections, after all! Especially in smaller, more local elections.
Canvassing tends to be done in a large group, be it a group associated with community organizations or colleges, but it can also be done by individuals by themselves! One important thing to remember during canvassing is that safety and kindness are key to encourage people to take an interest in your candidate. Unsafe canvassing practices can be dangerous, especially in more rural areas where there’s less of a safety net for canvassers to rely on. If you’re interested in canvassing for a candidate or a particular policy that you feel strongly about, be sure to keep safety as a priority!
- Phone Banking
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Phone banking is another effective way of campaigning, and it can be impactful if it’s done correctly! Phone banking involves volunteers working through a list of registered voters by calling them and discussing their policies and the candidates that can help them accomplish their goals in upcoming elections. Political activism tends to work best when it’s personal, and calling someone on their phone, or texting them information, is one of the more personal ways of spreading the message of your candidate!
- Social Media Activism
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Sometimes people want to help encourage and promote candidates without going out of their way, and that’s perfectly fine! Canvassing and phone banking both require a fairly large time investment, and not everyone can muster up the hours necessary to do it.
Here’s where social media activism comes in!
Social media is the most powerful tool for modern-day politicians; that much is clear—at least to the more tech-savvy members of the population. Using the proper tags, utilizing the different social media algorithms and posting accurate, properly sourced information can be an incredible boon to the candidates that you promote. Some social media sites just lend themselves to being an effective tool for activism, such as Twitter, Facebook and even TikTok! Social media activism is especially impactful when it comes to getting younger voters to participate in elections. It’s common knowledge that young people tend not to show up at the ballots, but with the rise of social media activism, that can change.
- Organizing in Real Life
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One of the best ways to gain traction politically is to get people’s attention in person. Real-life interactions tend to make more of an impact than online ones do, and not everyone is always tuned into their phones. It’s important to reach people outside of the internet as well. Organizing in-person is incredibly helpful to organizations, as it can allow people outside of the group to also mingle and interact and see what the group is about.
This in-person organizing can come in many forms, be it during protests or simply an in-person meeting of a political club on a school campus. Being active in organizations in this way can also allow group members to circulate ideas and come up with ways to further increase their reach to other individuals.
Good ways to organize IRL are to join clubs and organizations in your school and city, as well as create specific groups on Facebook and plan meet-ups there! Organizing in real life can be massively helped by a strong social media presence, as it allows you to contact individuals that you might not have been able to meet in standard ways during your normal days out! Social media activism and organizing in real life can be closely linked together if done effectively.
And there they are! Four ways to continue political activism during the post-election season! There are certainly other ways to organize that I haven’t mentioned, but hopefully, these work as an effective springboard for you to get a strong start. I know I’m certainly going to continue being active when it comes to politics despite election season being over!