We know how to win ballot initiatives.

Ballot initiatives and referendums are completely different than candidate campaigns and require a different strategy to win.  Winning ballot measure campaigns must “frame” the issue from the very start so that voters understand how the measure will affect them. Too often campaigns skip this critical step and lose because of it.  Define the problem.  Define the solution.   Tell voters what is at stake.  If you do those things – with very straightforward information – you will set the stage for the rest of the campaign to be on YOUR terms. 

Prop 19: Winning by doing more with less

Early polling showed us California’s Proposition 19 would be a close race.

The proposition was a complex, multi-faceted measure. The ballot language limited property taxes for seniors, wildfire victims, people ages 55 and older, and Californians with severe disabilities. The measure also closed tax loopholes for wealthy trust fund heirs and increased funding for fire protection, emergency response, and schools.

Head spinning yet?

To add to our challenges, “Yes” campaigns are almost always more difficult to win than “No” campaigns.  And, Prop 19 was funded $40-60 million LESS than similar ballot proposals that were competing for voters’ attention.

To win a “Yes” vote, we had to tell memorable stories while targeting them at the voters that needed to hear them most. In other words, we had to do a lot more with a lot less.  In the end, Prop 19 won with a little over 51% of the vote.

In the ad above, we framed *exactly* what Prop 19 was and what it meant to the voters. Tony Award-winning Actor Wendell Pierce brilliantly voiced the ad. 

 

 

“San Francisco…boosts police powers in stunning tough-on-crime shift”
– LA Times

San Francisco’s Prop E was always going to be an uphill battle to pass.  While crime was at record levels in the city, voters were initially reluctant to provide the police with expanded authority to fight crime. Prop E would allow officer to pursue violent suspects if done fairly and safely and it gave officers access to modern technology like publicly available camera footage and drones. But, the aspect of the proposition we focused most on was the amount of paperwork that officers had to do throughout their day that prevented them from actually getting out of the office to fight crime.  Instead of a hard-line “POLICE NEED THIS” message, we went with a light-hearted approach that proved to be memorable and persuasive to San Francisco voters.

On Election Day, Prop E passed with 54% of the vote – shocking many political observers.

 

 

“The reversal of public attitudes was stunning”
– Mountain Town News

Public polling showed ballot issue 2A in Pueblo, Colorado started with 70% of voters in favor of the measure. After the final votes were cast voters completely rejected the measure with 76% against the measure. A complete rejection of the proposal.

We were able to frame the issue early and often around the risks and costs associated with the ballot proposal.

 

 

It was the first constitutional amendment to be defeated in Wisconsin in 26 years. 

“No” ballot campaigns are very different than “Yes” ballot campaigns.  They require different strategy and messaging to win. Successful “No” campaigns are able to present serious concerns about the long-term negative consequences of a particular vote. Often times, these consequences are unintended by the authors of the initiatives.

In Wisconsin in 2018, voters soundly rejected a bipartisan effort to eliminate the office of the State Treasurer 61% “No” to 39% “Yes.” We were able to help the “Save Our Fiscal Watchdog” campaign by first informing voters there would actually be a vote on their ballot. This simple yet crucial step is often overlooked in states where ballot measures and constitutional amendments are not a regular occurrence.

“Voter response was seismic”
– Todd Berry, writing for the Badger Institute

Once we established the fact there would be a vote, the campaign’s next duty was to ensure voters understood this was a change to the constitution – and not just a simple ballot question.  Our polling showed that voters moved the most when they learned the Office of State Treasurer could provide a critical check-and-balance to the State Legislature with regards to fiscal policy – that language was the main driver in our television and digital advertising.

Six years later, in 2024, we were part of a second successful effort that defeat a Republican-engineered constitutional amendement designed to consolidate their own power. As WPR noted, this was just “the second time since 1996 that voters in the state rejected a constitutional amendment.”

 

 

Prop 19: Telling a story is the most powerful way to simplify a complex issue while making the uninterested, interested.

 

Because of Prop 19’s complexity, we needed to communicate in a way voters could understand.  That’s where the storytelling came in.  We framed the issue in stories that showed how individuals could be affected collectively – like the “framing” ad at the top of the page. We then created individual vignettes of each aspect of the ballot proposal where we told stories of people with disabilities, wildfire victims, and people 55 and older (examples below). These vignettes helped turn a complex issue into personal stories that were memorable. Watch the spot above as Kristy tells her story about losing her home in a wildfire; the spot below we hear Cynde’s story about how her spinal cord injury trapped her in an untenable living space.