Canvassing - Canvassing and GOTV

Canvassing and GOTV

A key concept in canvassing is to target the population that is being contacted. For example, if the goal of a canvass is to turn out voters on election day for a Democratic candidate, then knocking on Republican doors may not be a great use of time and resources. Targeting can be quite complex and sophisticated and may employ voting history data, census data, and consumer habits. Part of an overall field strategy may be to do a canvass focussed on identifying likely supporters who will then be approached at a later date by another canvass for GOTV. Even if sophisticated data is not available, most field operations professionals will spend energy trying to reduce randomness in their contacts in an attempt to optimize their use of time and resources.