Teaming Up for Election Communications - An Implementation Workbook - Accelerating Excellence - How to Build a Coalition with Neighboring Jurisdictions

Sep 12, 2026

Teaming Up for Election Communications presents an implementation workbook for election offices seeking to build a coalition to address shared communication challenges. It explains why collaboration can overcome limits in staffing, money, and time, especially when jurisdictions share a media market. The guide walks readers through transforming an idea into a functioning coalition via five steps: developing the communications issue, convening partners, planning details, implementing together, and maintaining high-quality content through evaluation and improvement.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages22

Reading Time8 min

AccessFree to download

Building a Communications Coalition Using This Workbook

Develop Your Idea

Convene the Group

Plan in Detail

Implement-Work Together to Put the Plan Into Action

Maintain High Quality Content

Exercise 1: Make a communications wish list

Exercise 2: Narrow your list

Exercise 3: Define your vision

Teaming Up for Election Communications: An Implementation Workbook Accelerating Excellence How to Build a Coalition with Neighboring Jurisdictions Running a sophisticated communications operation can be difficult for all election officials; nearly impossible for those who lack adequate staff, money, and time. That is why some election offices are finding success by working together with nearby offices on communications. When counties share the same media market, addressing the media market together can be more powerful. If one election office plans to buy a print advertisement ahead of the voter registration deadline, why not pool funds with other offices to buy a more prominent advertisement, or add other jurisdictions’ names to save on costs? If one office plans to publish an Election Security fact sheet, why not share that resource with other jurisdictions so they can easily do the same? This workbook provides guidance for meeting election communication challenges through the development of a coalition of elections offices. This workbook draws from the successes of groups like the Coalition of Bay Area Election Officials in California (see our case study here) . For them, working together has resulted in stronger communications with candidates, media, and voters. Plus, they have saved money and built a community among election officials. Can I Pull Together A Coalition? Should I? If you’ve read this far, you see benefits in collaborating with neighbors. Now for the hard part…someone has to lead this project, and that may have to be you. Taking the leadership reins will require extra work but may allow you to shape the project in directions most useful to your office’s needs. Further, it may earn you respect among your peer group of election officials. You might gain public prominence as one of the spokespeople for the coalition. While building a coalition takes a lot of effort, working with a co-chair can help minimize the burden. Still, we recognize that this effort will take work. The guide that follows can ease that burden, helping you see how to pull a group together and lead it towards collaborative successes. Sharing Communications Resources Workbook 2 Building a Communications Coalition Using This Workbook This workbook is designed to help you transform an idea into a functioning coalition. It divides building a communications coalition into five steps: 01 02 03 Develop Your Idea Determine what communications issue(s) you want to address and then plan an initial meeting with relevant officials. Convene the Group Meet with interested offices to define your shared needs and agree on a broad outline of how to work together. Plan in Detail Create a timeline of opportunities to collaborate; establish agreed upon messages; and assign responsibilities. Implement-Work Together to Put the Plan Into Action Create the communications documents and resources, and begin to use them; publicize the coalition and its message as applicable. Maintain High Quality Content Evaluate your program’s outcomes, share your findings, and determine how best to modify and improve your program. Sharing Communications Resources Workbook 3 Step 1-Develop Your Idea Before you bring the idea to a broad group, think closely about your communications opportunities, who may benefit from collaboration, and how to reach out to potential collaborators. Exercise 1: Make a communications wish list Make a wish list of communications goals you can achieve by pooling money, people, and skills within a coalition. Put a check next to the items below that are on your wish list. Use the blank lines underneath to add other items to your wish list. Communications Goals | | Countering misinformation | | --- | --- | | | Communicating facts about election security | | | Attracting more media attention | | | Explaining new procedures, laws, or equipment | | | Reaching specific audiences including stu

FAQs

Why do election offices collaborate on communications instead of working alone?

Collaboration helps overcome common constraints in staffing, money, and time. When counties share a media market, addressing it together can increase impact and save costs.

What are the five steps to build and run a communications coalition using the workbook?

The workbook divides the work into five steps: develop your idea, convene the group, plan in detail, implement the plan together, and maintain high quality content through outcomes evaluation and improvements.

How do joint purchasing and shared materials support the coalition’s goals?

The workbook highlights strategies such as joint buys to reduce costs for legal notices and advertising, sharing existing communications materials, and creating or scheduling uniform content for coordinated release.

Sep 12, 2026

Upload by Mary Man