Running a Political Campaign - Campaign Jobs, Volunteers, and Get-Out-The-Vote! (8-13 year olds)

Whether you are voting on the US President or in a dog catcher race, there is much more to elections than campaign rallies, mailers, and television ads. The major players include:
-	Government agencies set the rules about who can be on the ballot, who can vote, and they also manage the voting, from printing ballots training the thousands of people who work the polling stations on election day
-	Political parties and campaigns decide platforms and influence issues, raise money, and try to get people to vote for “their” candidate
-	The media covers the entire process (including reporting on polling) 
-	Third-sector organizations (nonprofits, PACs, civic organizations, etc.) all play a role in trying to influence both the other players and the voters 
-	Voters – the most important actors – make decisions and mark their ballots

This class will cover the elements of a political campaign:

•	Campaign jobs - what are the different roles on a campaign and how do you get one?
•	Campaign volunteers - what do volunteers do?
•	GOTV - what are campaigns doing the last week of the election?

This will not be a discussion on the candidates or their platforms, but about the process of organizing, funding, and running an election. If you are interested in a discussion on the issues, I offer a separate class for that.

If you are interested in this course but the time does not work for you, please feel free to email me and suggest a couple times.

Photo credit: Guroadrunner at en.wikipedia / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)