Mobilizing Inclusion: Transforming the Electorate through Get-Out-the-Vote Campaigns

The Institution for Social and Policy Studies

by Lisa Garcia Bedolla, Melissa R. Michelson

Which get-out-the-vote efforts actually succeed in ethnoracial communities—and why? Analyzing the results from hundreds of original experiments, the authors of this book offer a persuasive new theory to explain why some methods work while others don’t. Exploring and comparing a wide variety of efforts targeting ethnoracial voters, Lisa García Bedolla and Melissa R. Michelson present a new theoretical frame—the Social Cognition Model of voting, based on an individual’s sense of civic identity—for understanding get-out-the-vote effectiveness.  Their book will serve as a useful guide for political practitioners, for it offers concrete strategies to employ in developing future mobilization efforts.

Genres: Politics

361 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 9, 2012

Reviews

[Oraynab Jwayyed · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book accomplished one thing: it validated my own techniques as I canvass my neighborhood during voter registration campaigns. Namely, that personal interaction, whether face-to-face or over the phone, is the best method for engaging voters. Other than that, the authors spent way too much time including unnecessary research that only inhibits the flow of the book. This is coming from a newly elected party leader who has been out there and reaching out to precinct residents based on good old-fashioned common sense and intuition. If research-based, academic books lull you to restless sleep as they do for me, I recommend skimming this book and skipping over all the research findings, namely because they're pointless.

[Jazz Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read for those interested in learning how to effectively and authentically organize and motivate diverse communities to engage in electoral politics and organized power building.

[Mills College Library]

324.7 G2161 2012