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We are a political consulting company that specializes in technology for candidates,
primarily Democratic candidates but we also do non-partisan races for city council, school
board, and other elections locally in Dallas County and the Metroplex.
We provide database services for voter contact, tracking of field operations for voters that have been contacted
with the campaign message, as well as social media, websites, and any other kind of technology-related
service people may need.
The way the voter contact worked in previous campaigns is a lot of times, you would print
out a paper walk list. You would send people out to the field, to go and contact their
voters, and find out how they're feeling towards a particular candidate or issue. And then
that data is brought back in, and is collated into either a spreadsheet or some master list
that is manually updated. And what we provide, we provide databases that allow people to
track their voter contacts online, and then use those to generate more walk lists about
who to target, how to better target those people.
What is going to happen is a field staff that has been hired or voluntering to work on a
campaign are going to come into the campaign office, grab a tablet that has been assigned
to them, and download the list of voters they are supposed to go to. The script that they
are supposed to say, questions they need to ask will all be on the tablet. They will go,
do the rounds in the neighborhood, record the results as they are going on the tablet
along with any notes, email addresses, phone numbers, and other information that they collect.
Then when they come back into the campaign office, that data gets uploaded into the online
database so the campaign staff can review it, process it, find out what they need to
do. Do they need to target the area more? Is it locked down for that candidate, and
they just don't need to go there again?
With Verizon's wireless services, first off it has cut down the need to use printer paper
and toner, which has always been a large expense for campaigns that run an efficient and comprehensive
walk program. It also takes the data entry that had to happen afterwards.
When the list comes back, someone has to take that paper list and enter all the results
(notes, email, phone numbers), assuming some of those notes are even legible and put it
into the database. The tablets eliminate the need for paper so it makes the campaign more
green, but it also at the same time eliminates the need to pay extra staff or extra time
for existing staff to do the data entry.
The other benefit that the tablet provide is the fact that we can now track timestamps
when the data was entered, and we can track the location of where the data was entered.
So we are able to actually look and see that data was put in at this time, on this date,
at this location. So I know the walker was actually at that door, and was speaking to
at least someone, compared to somebody just going to a local Starbucks or going home,
and deciding they don't want to walk in the hot Texas heat, and they just want to fake
the data and give it in.
Which has been a problem that every campaign has really had to go through and try and fight
for years.
The future of tablets really open up a lot of different avenues that did not exist with
paper. The walker is not just limited to their own speaking ability and their own presentation
with whatever material is given to them. If they have a question on something, they can
use the tablet to communicate with the home office while the voter is there, or they can
even display a short video that the campaign may have created specifically to answer that
particular question.
I have been using Verizon Wireless for about 10 years. I have had very good quality contacts
with the Sales people about fulfilling my needs. If I ask them for something, 9 out
of 10 times they are able to get it or they at least know someone who can get that information
for me. The wireless services that I get through Verizon do allow me to track in a real-time
basis the field staff that I have out there.
While other services would be concerned about having signal problems or cost issues that
would just make the whole project completely unfeasible.
I am James Van Sickle, and I approve this message.