GO VOTE COALITION OPEN PLANNING MEETING

Agenda
Wednesday, January 5, 2005; 7-9 p.m.
Villager Mall 2300 S. Park St. 
(Large former shopping center on the right hand side of Park St. going south, just before the bus terminal and beltline)
Meeting in the MATC room in the center section 

Discussion will be focused around our short-term and long-term priorities, getting out the vote, and the upcoming primary.
Some ideas from the December 1^st meeting include:
The primary and general election
For the long term – the electoral process
The People’s Legislature 1/4 meeting– Sheila Spear
Who’s running for office
Where to focus voter turnout
The future of GO VOTE

GOVOTE EVALUATION SUMMARY

Minutes December 1, 2004
This summary will include the observations from the 11 written evaluations received as well as the evaluation discussion by 11 persons (there was some overlap between the two groups) at the December 1^st meeting at First Unitarian Society. 

1. Features that contributed to the successful effort:

          Nonpartisan statement; accountability by meeting together; identifying special areas to concentrate upon and working in small groups; the group energized us and contained a wealth of knowledge and resources; we learned a lot; wonderful contributions of resources from several organizations and  quality of staff involved; weekly calendar; commitment of few key people; making sure printed material was useful; putting issues first and ego second; list serve; web page; sharing resources; voter registration guide; mission statement; and a lot of attention to the correct way to register voters. 

2. What distracted or got in the way?

          Initially, how to work together and how to best organize; the time of the meeting and intermittent/inconsistency of attendance (had to start over each time we met); most folks didn’t think they could put things on the list serve and some incorrect use of list serve; confusion of the role of New Voters Project in the beginning; our own agendas; on occasion a group or individual ego got in the way.

          Ways to improve next time:

          Use a buddy system of new members paired with older members of Coalition; planning meeting would be a business meeting, while monthly regular meeting would be an educational and/or training meeting. Meetings should be 2 hours (instead of 1½) and permanent name tags should be used. 

3. Future areas of interest for Coalition: 

1. Importance of primaries -- spring elections registration drive and Get Out the Vote
2. Legislative voter registration issues
3. Statewide central data base issues, voter ID, outsourcing to private company>
4. Election process and election fraud
5. Voter education
6. Redistricting
7. Grassroots neighborhood organizing
8. Identification of populations with specific barriers and working to help alleviate them (nursing homes, prisons, etc.) 

4. Why are these issues especially important to you or high priority?

          Democracy depends on fair and honest elections; voter registration is a big issue across the country; importance of spring elections; need trust in voting process; concern that an election can be stolen. Democracy, democracy, democracy! 

5. What is your view of our experience with GOVOTE that might be useful to people working together in the future?

          Allowing each organization to work at its own pace and with its own orientation and constituency; connecting opportunities and volunteers efficiently and smoothly; getting to know people in other organizations with like agendas; congenial and efficient; computers made the work timely; many groups with expertise in diverse areas was a strength; list serve and web page was important; never felt the cohesion and feeling of community I hoped for – maybe I didn’t put in enough time.  

6. Why would working together be a low priority for you?

          No one answered this question. 

7. Looking ahead, when would you prefer to meet to explore potential cooperation?

          Early January; second week in January (right after list of candidates is known); planning meeting in the daytime, whole coalition meeting in evening; moving meeting around to different locations; some task forces meet in day, some in evening, meet in other parts of Dane Co. (Sun Prairie, Mt. Horeb); perhaps February; use existing schedule – first Wednesday of month at noon; twice a month starting in January; late afternoon.

 Linda Knox, recorder

December 5, 2004