Introduction
A Canvassing project is a list of voters with a survey and script for walking door-to-door using the PDI mobile app. The Door to Door Canvassing Projects page gives you the ability to create and manage Canvassing Projects, as well as assign small geographic portions of the list of voters to your canvassers. We refer to these distributed portions of the larger list as assignments.
To get started with canvassing, you should be thinking about the following items:
- Which voters does your organization want to contact? You will need to create a saved universe of your target voters.
- What does your organization want to say to the voters? You will need a survey script.
- What information does your organization want to collect from the transaction? You will want questions with responses in your survey
- Who will be doing the canvassing (will it be you or other individuals associated with your
organization? You will need to add individuals or “canvassers” to your people database.
Once you have the answers to these questions, you are ready to create your project.
Click on the Create New Project button.
This will open a dialog box asking you to 1) name your project, 2) select a saved voter universe, 3) select a survey and then consider a few optional checkboxes.
We recommend including all voters in the house so have information for other registered voters your canvassers may meet while canvassing your targeted individuals. The targeted voters will have an asterisk * next to their name for clarification.
Allowing “On the Go” assignments lets your canvassers canvass around their current location. It is convenient when you want to canvass your neighborhood but not ideal for managing many canvassers.
The Allow Auto Assignments is for larger organizations that have canvassers receiving assignments from the app. The feature is not available in all areas.
The show Additional Options has many advanced features for managing robust canvassing programs.
Once you click on the Save button, your canvassing project will start processing. This may take a few minutes depending on the size of your list.
When the project is processed, you will see a set of counts along with a dropdown box for selecting your preferred assignment method. You can assign from a list view or map view, and by custom turfs or precincts. You can select a method and click on the Go button to open a list view or map.
It is important to understand the assignment process is where you connect your list of voters to a small walkable geography to a canvasser. After the assignment is made, the program will load the correct voter list in the correct geography on the assigned canvasser’s mobile phone app.
By selecting the Assign Precinct from Map, you are choosing to assign the voters in a precinct to one or two canvassers. You can simply double click on a precinct on the map to open a canvasser view.
Click on the check box near the canvasser’s name and the Save Assignments and Send to Devices button to initiate the assignment. Within a few seconds, the canvasser should be able to open the app with the assignment loaded.
The map will show diagonal lines through the precinct to indicate the area has already been assigned.
You can also assign canvassers from a list view without a map.
From this page you can enter canvasser names from the dropdown boxes and click on the Save Assignments and Send to Devices button to complete the assignment process.
If your canvassing needs are a bit more sophisticated, the PDI system has some additional options to help manage a robust and complex canvassing effort. When creating your canvassing project, click on the Show Additional Options link to expand the window.
These options include the following:
- Select a Household Observation - Set the Household Observations that will be available for selection in the Mobile Canvassing App.
- Select a Different Acquisition Type for Canvassing Mode - Set an Acquisition Type for flags that are collected in Canvassing Mode.
- Select a Different Acquisition Type for Call Mode - Set an Acquisition Type for flags that are collected in the Online Phone Bank.
- Remove Party Field from Project - Activating this checkbox hides party affiliation in the Mobile Canvassing App.
- Select a Saved Universe for the Second Survey - Select a secondary group of voters that will receive a different Survey from the Base Survey.
- Add an Optional Second Survey - Select the Survey that the group of voters selected in Select a Saved Universe for the Second Survey will receive.
- Select a Saved Universe for the Third Survey - Select a tertiary group of voters that will receive a different Survey from the Base Survey.
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Add an Optional Third Survey - Select the Survey that the group of voters selected in Select a Saved Universe for the Third Survey will receive.
- Note: The Third Survey is lower priority than the Second Survey. If a voter meets the qualifications for the Second Survey group, the Third Survey group, and the base universe for the project, they will receive the Second Survey. If they meet the qualifications for the Third Survey group and the base universe, but not the Second Survey group, they will receive the Third Survey. If they meet the qualifications for the base universe, but not the Second Survey group or the Third Survey.
Manage a list of canvassers
The first step in putting canvassers to work is building a list of your canvassing volunteers. How you manage this process depends on the level of sophistication you wish to achieve. If you want to quickly get individuals logged in the system and ready to canvass, you can simply enter the minimum required name, phone, email address, and password. The program, however, has the capability to manage sophisticated hierarchical volunteer programs with different organizing management level, teams, and geographies.
There are several locations throughout the program to enter canvasser information. The best place to start is probably from the Volunteer Management page, which you can access by clicking the People section in the navigation bar and then clicking Manage Volunteers in the drop-down menu.
The Volunteer Management page functions as a spreadsheet containing a list of your volunteers. You can add new individuals directly in the spreadsheet or click on the Add New Volunteer button. When making changes to the spreadsheet, be sure to click on the Save Changes to Spreadsheet button to save your changes. You may need to refresh the page to see your changes.
If you have many volunteers in a separate program or file, you can bulk import them using the Import Data page in the People section.
Create a voter universe to determine which voters to target
Determining which voters should be contacted when canvassing is a very important decision that should be made with serious consideration. Walking door-to-door to reach voters requires a major commitment of resources and you want to make sure the impact is worth the effort. A group of voters that meet specific criteria are saved in the PDI software application as a Saved Universe. You should make sure your Saved Universes for canvassing are aligned with your organization’s overall strategic objectives.
Canvassing universes can be slightly broader than your normal voter universes. Canvassers will walk right past houses in the next tier and adding them to a canvassing universe is the least expensive opportunity to go beyond your primary universe.
Canvassing programs can utilize three different universes. A base universe that covers all voters to be contacted and two mutually exclusive universes within your base universe to target subsets with different scripts and surveys. You can think of this as an opportunity to piggyback a couple small universes on the back of your larger base universe.
Create a survey script to provide guidance to canvassers on what to say and questions to ask.
Like the voter universes, your canvassing survey and script needs to be created prior to setting up your canvassing lists and should be well conceived and aligned with your organization’s overall strategic objectives. Every organization account includes a sample survey with questions for candidate/issue support, volunteer interest, and yard sign placement. Please review the documentation for managing flags, questions, and survey to build effective surveys and scripts for door-to-door canvassing.
Create areas to distribute your canvasser assignments
Once you have created your Canvassing Project, you will be tasked with distributing the work to individual canvassers. The first decision you will need to make is what geographic unit makes sense to use for your organization. You have three different options: Voter Precincts, Custom Drawn Turf, and Custom Turf from Census Blocks.
Precincts
Most campaigns and organizations use precincts. They are readily available in the program and correspond to existing districts. The downside to using precincts is that they are usually too large to complete in a single day by one or two canvassers.
Custom Drawn Turf
Many campaigns and organizations create turf using the PDI mapping tools. You can navigate to this page by hovering over Outreach in the navigation menu, clicking Door to Door Canvassing, and then clicking on Cut Custom Turfs. These turfs are usually small enough to complete in a single outing. The downside to custom drawn turf is that it takes a lot of work to draw each turf and they are not usually aligned well with streets and other boundaries.
Custom Turf from Census Blocks
PDI has created a new method for building custom turf areas by combining small census blocks. This option is much faster than drawing turfs by hand and they are perfectly aligned with streets and other boundaries. You can navigate to this page by hovering over Outreach in the navigation menu, clicking Door to Door Canvassing, and then clicking on Cut Custom Turfs. Then, in the Select Layer drop-down menu, choose one of the Census Blocks layers.
Click on the census blocks you want to combine, and then click the Merge Shapes button in the upper right-hand corner.
A pop-up window will appear.
If you already have an existing group that you want to add this area to, click Add New Area to Existing Group in the Naming Method list.
If you want to create a new turf area and group name, click Create New Group Name.
Identify priority areas within your district to canvass
If you are canvassing a small district, you can start anywhere and should be able cover all precincts / turfs. If you are canvassing a large district, you will want to assess your priority precincts / turfs based on factors such as percentage party registration, ethnicities, past election results, or uncanvassed areas. One of the most powerful features in the entire program is the ability to color code precinct based on any saved universe. You can create up to five buckets that each represent a designated degree of strategic value. This map can be used for just visual analysis, or you can make canvassing assignments based on color coded priority directly from the map.
To use this feature, hover over Outreach in the navigation menu, click Door to Door Canvassing, and click Manage Canvassing Projects. Find the canvassing project you want to assess and click on the drop-down menu in the Assignment Method column.
Then, select any method that assigns Turf or Precincts from Map. (There will be many options. The only methods that will not work are the ones that assign Turf or Precincts from List.)
Once you have selected an assignment method, click the Go button. You will be taken to the Assignments page.
Then, click the Show Color Coded Precincts button on the right-hand side of the screen.
A pop-up window will appear with configuration settings.
Once you have configured your color-coding, click Save.
The map may take a few minutes to load.
Assignments can be made directly from this map by double clicking on any precinct.
Help canvassers download and use the PDI Mobile Connect mobile app
Helping canvassers download the PDI Mobile Connect app is now as simple as texting a link or providing a flyer with a QR code. To access the links, navigate to Outreach > Door to Door Canvassing > Manage Canvassing Projects.
PDI Mobile Connect App Flyer
Assignment Zones
An Assignment Zone is a group of precincts or custom turfs that can be quickly selected on the map and represent the area you wish to canvass on a specific day or period. They can be utilized to track areas canvassed in the future or past. They can also be used to filter a list from any of the Assign from List pages.
From the Assign Precincts from Map page, click on the Brush Selection tool and drag the cursor on the map to select precincts. There is an Eraser tool in case you accidentally select unwanted precincts. When you have selected the precincts you want to include in your group, click on the Create Assignment Zone button located to the left of the Brush tool.
After clicking on the Create Assignment Zone button, a dialog box will appear. Enter the name of the zone, the expiration date and click on the color box to select a color. Click the Save button when done.
Example of displaying Assignment Zones on the Assignments from Map page. The patterned areas have been canvassed.
Example of using an Assignment Zone to filter precincts in the Assign from List page.
Since Assignment Zones contain the precincts or turf you wish to canvass on a specific day or period, we have created an option that lets the program make the assignments when requested from a canvasser. Using this feature eliminates the need for field managers to make assignments prior to canvasser deployment.
Once the canvasser is entered in the PDI system as a volunteer and has downloaded the PDI Mobile Connect App, they can open the app and select an Assignment Zone provided by the campaign.
Approving response data sent back to the system
As data flows back to the PDI system from your canvassers, you can hold the data to review before it goes into your database. You can review the responses from every voter contacted. You can even review the canvasser’s route to confirm they actually walked their assigned area. If you do not wish to review the canvasser data before it goes into your database, you can click on the Auto Approve All Assignments Daily check box on the Approve Canvass Data page.
Build reports to help analyze data from your canvassing survey
To review the data from your field canvassing projects, you can run the Field and Phone Canvassing report from the Organizing menu Report Section. this report provides a comprehensive look at field activity by canvasser and assignment geography.