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I'm a Political Candidate, what Technology do I need for my Campaign?

tmo9d's Photo Asked by tmo9d O'Reilly Author Answers Early Bird Blogger FOO Peacock Pro
Posted Sep 23 2009 01:15 PM
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If I was going to run for political office today, what sort of plan should I have for my technology operations? Who should I hire? How much should I expect to pay staff to create, maintain, and operate a web site, and what sort of technology issues are going to surprise me. I'm looking for feedback from people that have been involved in political campaigns. Here are some specific questions:

  • What legal issues should I be aware of about soliciting political donations from email accounts? Is it a good idea to maintain a separate email account for everything I do as a candidate for office?
  • I'd imagine that there are companies out there that will provide a candidate with everything he or she needs to track donations, maintain a web site, connect with other candidates? If anyone has any experiences with these companies I'd appreciate some details.
  • I see many political canidates including widgets from fund raising sites like ActBlue. How do those candidates approach services like that? What is the relationship between services that raise funds online and the candidate?






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simonstl's Photo Answered by simonstl O'Reilly Editor Answers Early Bird O'Reilly Author Pro
Posted Oct 01 2009 05:27 AM
Your technology needs will vary dramatically by what office you're running for, and assuming you're in the U.S., the legal issues will vary by state (and whether you're running for federal office.)

First, donations seem to be at the heart of your questions, and that's definitely an area in which the rules vary by where you're running and what for. In New York State, for example, in many small local elections there is no filing requirement at all so long as the candidate didn't spend more than $1000. We also have standing political committees (I chair the Town of Dryden Democratic Committee, for instance) which have their own finances, and can finance campaigns at the local level. We even have an ActBlue account - but it did take ActBlue a while to support local committees in New York State. They don't offer their services to candidates below the state level directly in New York State, so far as I can tell. I'm not sure what their status is elsewhere, and don't have experience with other similar organizations.

One key point we routinely make is that political contributions are not tax-deductible. I believe that's generally true, but it's possible there's a state somewhere that's different. There are also a variety of efforts to create publicly financed elections rather than leaving them dependent on donations - again, that varies by location.

Second, fundraising is only one small part of campaign technology. Technology can help you figure out the political landscape for your area. It can help you filter and manage lists of registered voters you need for mailing and voter turnout drives. It can give you a place, on the Web, in email, or in paper, to present your positions, even have a conversation with voters. While doing door-to-door last weekend (I'm also running for Town Board this November), I was really wishing for a handheld app that would tell me whether or not a house I was passing contained active recent voters. All that information is available, but sorting through piles of paper in the car isn't easy.

On having a separate email account, I think it depends on how big a campaign you're running. I don't think there's a legal requirement generally for a separate campaign account. However, a lot of employers don't really want their business accounts used to run political campaigns. I think I'd recommend that anyone running for office above the local level have a separate account just for convenience, however.