The election is over and win or lose, there is often a sense of relief that the mountain of work and energy that you have expelled the last few months is over. What many leaders don’t fully grasp is that a whole new kind of work is actually just beginning.
Congratulations if your ballot issue was successful! However, now you need to make sure your voters and general tax paying community understands how grateful you are and how you plan to keep the promises you made during the election.
If the issue was not successful, you also need more community engagement. Voters either didn’t fully understand or agree with the need you presented for approval. Will there be changes to services or physical classroom spaces because of the loss? What does the future hold for students and staff now that the issue has failed? What can parents and taxpayers expect in the investment they’ve already made in the schools moving forward? These are all important questions that need to be addressed.
All to often residents say “we only hear from the schools when they want money.” This type of engagement cycle leads to mistrust and makes your life more difficult. Regardless of the outcome of your specific ballot issue, the answer is often more community engagement. Here are a few tips that can help you in a post-election effort:
- Thank you – Regardless if you won or lost, you had a number of people volunteer their time, effort and votes to support your request. Make sure to say thank you to the voters, volunteers and staff.
- Community Opinion Research – Third-party surveys are one of the best ways to truly understand what your electorate thinks of your schools and your ballot issue. You need to know if people truly understand and believe in your vision or if they simply wanted to avoid the possibility of cuts. You need to know what aspects of your ballot issue did or did not resonate with voters. Factually understanding why your community voted the way they did can be crucial to your success as you move forward.
- Take Your Time – Ballot issues are costly in terms of financial, time and emotional resources. Repeatedly going after something that isn’t resonating with your community is draining. Instead take the time to better understand and educate your residents as to the needs of the schools and residents. Taking this step can often lead to fewer ballot requests with better outcomes.
- Look at the Data – Review your ballot results and go beyond the overall voter total. How many people showed up to the polls, but didn’t cast a vote related to your issue (under votes)? What percentage of your community is actually registered to vote? What percentage of your community actually cast a ballot? Where do the people who did vote live in your school district? Analyzing the data that is available after every election can bring a new level of insight and strategy to your engagement efforts moving forward.
- Communicate What’s Next – Keep the lines of communication open. If you passed a facility issue, what are the next steps? If you approved an operating issue, explain how the money will be used to further education in the schools. If cuts need to be made, explain in detail what will happen and how it will impact families. Your community needs to understand the ramifications of both a win and a loss at the polls.
- Don’t Automatically Rush Back on the Ballot – In education, we often want to keep trying and just put the same issue back on the ballot until it finally passes. However, as difficult as it can be, sometimes the best answer is to stop going on the ballot, re-engage with your community and listen to what they are telling you about why the issue failed.