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ESAL Playbook: Support a Local Ballot Measure

Purposes

  • Advocate for a local ballot measure in your community.
  • Provide information for potential voters so they can make a better informed decision.

Ideal Outcomes

  • Voters who are more educated on the issue and more engaged in the local legislative process.
  • Ensuring that local ballot measures reflect community opinions.

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Find out what measures are being considered:
    • Google!
    • Talk to the people or groups endorsing the measures.
    • Follow city council meetings – they approve what gets on the ballot, normally several months before the election.
  2. Find a team. Great places to start are:
    • Your city council or other elected officials.
    • People you know in your community.
    • People who are already on local boards, task forces, or commissions.
    • People who volunteer in your community.
  3. Tailor your actions and strategy to your community and issue.
    • Volunteers can help with things like fundraising, phonebanking, and canvassing (e.g. flyers, lawn signs, door-to-door visits) – ask the campaign leaders where they need help!
    • Get out there and take action!

Tips

  • Keep it personal.
    • Directly reach out to your neighbors to inform them about their ballot options.
    • Showcase prominent community members in your advertising – many people won’t be familiar with the issues, but a friendly, familiar face is a good starting point to win them over.
  • Incorporate the skills that volunteers bring.
    • People with a technical background can simplify data and create visual infographics (i.e. graphs, charts) to communicate complicated policy.
    • Community leaders can influence voters, be sure to connect with them and ask them to endorse the measure you’re supporting.

Examples

Event - April 4, 2024
Issues in Science & Technology - "How Can Scientists Become Players in the Long Game of Policy Change?" 
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Share this with your networkTweet“Policy entrepreneurs” often fly under the radar, developing policy ideas to solve problems over decades and surfacing with solutions at just the right moment. Researchers, engineers, consumer advocates, clinicians, civil servants, or community organizers—policy entrepreneurs are innovators who pull together ideas and supporters to accomplish what they could not on their […]

Article - February 27, 2024
Advocating for Salmon Fishing Regulations
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Local Fish & Wildlife Commission member Kendra Zamzow shares how her care for the local habitat led her to testify to the National Marine Fisheries Service about double fishing time.

Article - September 10, 2023
Professor connecting science to legislation and students and research to civic engagement
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Michael Hendricks, an assistant professor in the Department of Politics and Government at Illinois State University, is an advocate for civic engagement who particularly emphasizes integrating STEM into the legislative process. Learn about how he approaches research, teaching, and mentorship to center civic engagement.

Article - August 21, 2023
Connecting Science and Stakeholders in Georgia
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Amy Sharma, PhD is the executive director of Science for Georgia, an organization whose mission is to advocate for the responsible use of science in public policy, improve communication between scientists and the public, and increase public engagement with science. She chatted with ESAL about the value of factual scientific support to state legislators and interpersonal relationships between scientists and other community members.

Article - June 4, 2023
Protecting Wetlands for Healthy Communities and Ecosystems
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On May 8th, ESAL and the Ecological Society of America co-hosted a virtual event centered around the urgency of protecting wetlands and their significance in maintaining climate resilience in the future. Learn about the ways the event speakers encourage public engagement.

Article - May 13, 2023
Nuclear Sector Deep Dive: Revisiting a Source of Carbon-Free Energy
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Learn more about the recent history of nuclear energy usage in the United States and how both national and state-level policies are shaping its future.

Article - February 5, 2023
Acting Locally on Abortion
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The debate around abortion is informed by science, medicine, and public health, as well as ethics. Many people with STEM backgrounds feel compelled to get involved. One way to do this is to have critical conversations with your friends, family, and other members of your community. We hope that the information in this post can serve as a guide for anyone looking to engage in this important policy discussion.

Article - December 18, 2022
Energy Engineer Helps Reduce Transportation’s Climate Impact
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Learn about how Arpit Soni uses his background in energy engineering to support efforts towards climate action in California and beyond.

Article - December 23, 2018
Policy's Last Mile
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On October 25, five scientists and engineers shared their insights on community engagement at an ESAL happy hour in Oakland, California. The event brought together leaders from across the San Francisco Bay Area who apply their expertise toward pressing problems in their neighborhoods.

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Last Updated: Dec 30, 2018
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