Innovation Ohio's Transformative Digital Organizing Effort
Introduction
In 2022, Innovation Ohio partnered with BallotReady to power the most impactful statewide organizing effort in Ohio – and one of the most successful in the country. This collaborative effort brought together over 30 affiliate organizations promoting a single organizing tool with both a field and digital ad effort to engage Ohioans in all 88 counties. The results were impressive, with 1 out of every 8 voters in Ohio using the tool to get prepared to vote.
Following this success, Innovation Ohio and BallotReady recently renewed their partnership for the 2023 and 2024 cycle and their brand new Civic Center is currently live. As part of this renewal, Innovation Ohio is also expanding the offerings in their Civic Center to include BallotReady’s vote planning tool and check registration features.
Earlier this year, we met with Nick Tuell, Senior Communications Strategist and Paid Media Buyer, and Terra Goodnight, Director of Policy at Innovation Ohio. They shared their strategies for running such an effective voter information and turnout program, including insights into both their field and digital work.
Matching the voting experience
One of Innovation Ohio's top priorities was picking a voter information tool that most closely matched the experience at the ballot box. Working with the BallotReady tool, Innovation Ohio created a nonpartisan slate card. This unique strategy offered a few key advantages:
Imitating the real ballot: This nonpartisan slate card enabled Innovation Ohio to present positions and candidates up for election in the same order as voters would see on their real ballots. This approach offered a more familiar experience for users, allowed voters to more easily match their research with their votes, and ensured they were fully prepared for what they encountered at the ballot box.
Minimizing clicks: This tool allowed voters to view their entire ballot and research candidates with minimal clicks. Nick Tuell emphasized its efficiency, stating, "It is just all on one page, the user can flick down and see their entire ballot as quickly as possible."
Adding supplemental content: Using BallotReady’s versatile backend manager, the Innovation Ohio team added a variety of supplemental nonpartisan information in addition to BallotReady’s research, including news articles, promotional videos, and more.
Unified sharing: Innovation Ohio was able to offer affiliates one single URL (or QR code), simplifying organizing efforts for their partners, organizers, and voters alike. This also enabled Innovation Ohio to track analytics for efforts in all 88 counties in one place.
The result of this effort was a highly effective and one-of-a-kind voter resource that empowered Ohioans across the state to easily access their personalized ballot information. Simply by entering their address, voters gained access to a comprehensive list of candidates and ballot measures, and could then explore candidates' positions on critical topics such as abortion and the economy.
How did Innovation Ohio reach 1 out of every 8 Ohio voters?
Innovation Ohio’s slate card had over half a million users between September 1 and November 11, 2022. So, how did they get there? Nick and Terra walked us through a number of innovative strategies that they used:
Google Ads
Almost 80% of their website visitors were directed through Google search advertising.
According to Nick, Innovation Ohio was the first voter guide to run Google search ads within Ohio. Starting early solidified their position as the top-of-page Google result for election-related searches.
Additionally, by meticulously analyzing keyword search data, Innovation Ohio’s team continued to optimize their approach based on which terms voters were actually using to google ballot info. This ensured that their resource popped up across a number of searches and adapted to the changing landscape.
Partnership network and field program
Innovation Ohio didn’t execute this program alone, instead sharing their tool with over 30 advocacy organizations and labor unions in the state. By leveraging this partnership network, already existing field programs and volunteer infrastructure promoted the resource door-to-door, further boosting its usage.
All of the partner organizations used the same resource and promoted the same URL, which helped drive a more organized and cohesive program. This was also the same URL that Innovation Ohio promoted through ads and social media, offering voters multiple opportunities to engage with the tool.
Terra affirmed the impact of this approach: "I think it was the fieldwork that really drove the need for this in the first place because [organizers] wanted to be able to just stand there with a voter, pull it up on a phone, and say, let's see what your ballot looks like."
TikTok amplification
To diversify its reach, Innovation Ohio also made use of the growing influence of TikTok, enlisting prominent personalities including a former NFL football player and a trending Ohio personality to share the site.
These TikTok influencers effectively promoted the voter guide to younger audiences, resulting in a staggering 1.4 million impressions.
Andrew Hawkins, former Bengals wide receiver, became a powerful advocate for voter engagement, as demonstrated in this Tiktok Ad with Andrew Hawkins.
Conclusion
Statewide collaboratives can learn a number of lessons from Innovation Ohio's work in the 2022 midterm election cycle using a cohesive, multi-channel approach to organizing to reach 1 out of 8 voters in the state.
Innovation Ohio and BallotReady are already building on that success by covering local elections and informing voters of the upcoming ballot choices including two constitutional amendments regarding abortion access and marijuana regulation. Additionally, for the first time, potential voters can confirm their registration, request & return a mail-in ballot, or make a plan to vote in person.
Check out https://ohiovoterguide.org/ to learn more about these issues and see their innovative program in action today.
Ready to boost your organizing efforts with BallotReady? Get in touch today.