Internal Elections Working Group/Polling Place Advice

This page is intended to share specific advice and experience of party polling booth work at election time. It should not repeat legal advice which can easily be found by Googling and consulting resources such as the AEC's excellent primer on polling place offenses.

Preparation
Your mission is to get the message on our how to vote cards (HTVs) to as many voters as possible. This includes explaining the message and elaborating on it when questioned. With this in mind, read the HTV, and if you need to, read a little more detail about the policy points mentioned on it, on the party website. The Pirate movement is (as of 2017) still relatively new. You will encounter many voters who have not heard of the party and expect you to provide a "potted summary" of everything it stands for. Expect the volunteers for the major parties to smirk condescendingly if you stumble.

Packing
Depending how much time you are intending to spend at polling place(s) on election day, and whether or not you have backup from other Pirate crew, consider the following:
 * Filling the petrol tank the previous day (if moving around by car)
 * Boxing the HTVs (and corflutes if you have them) - they are much easier to move around in a box
 * Materials for affixing coflutes to fences, trees, walls and tables (#8 wire and cutters, string and scissors, Blu tack...)
 * A water bottle (for Summer elections, fill with ice)
 * Quick convenient snack foods
 * A hat and an umbrella if rain is forecast (otherwise the HTVs will get soaked as you go from car to polling booth)
 * GPS enabled Smartphone and car-charger - especially important if you're heading for booths you haven't been to before
 * Caffeine and/or money for coffee
 * throat lozenges, as hours of talking may give you a sore throat

Presentation
Dress smart-casual. A party T-shirt or other smart, clean T-shirt gives a good impression. Slightly more formal is fine too (shirt open at the collar). Try not to blend in with the various deranged single-issue parties. Their volunteers are usually easily spotted due to their numerous badges, lapel-pins, and decorated baseball caps. Do not position yourself amongst these people, even if you have to stand slightly further from the booth than is ideal, to avoid them.

What to expect
As the party gains recognition, expect gradually more hostility from parties on the right and their supporters. Currently (2017), expect relatively low name recognition. Expect to encounter both joking and serious references to the idea that the party's entire platform consists of a downloader's charter. Expect some voters to be abrupt and rude - usually a tiny minority. Expect the Greens to politely return your HTV for reuse/recycling after they have voted. Expect people to ask "who is your leader" for no apparent reason. Expect to answer the same three or four questions at least 200 times before the day is out.

Tactics
An election campaign's overall success hinges on planning and strategy, but once you're alone at a polling place, your success hinges on some sound tactics and good follow-through. What works best for you will depend in part on your personality (your humour, your extrovert nature and so forth). The points below are suggestions. Some may work well for you.
 * Don't waste time on lost causes - if they're wearing a Pauline Hanson T-shirt, probably let them walk by
 * similarly, don't allow volunteers from larger parties with a team of multiple volunteers distract you from handing out HTVs, by engaging you in conversation. Some are very skilled at this - be on your guard.
 * If a voter wants a long policy discussion, that's OK. But they will have to live with you breaking off each time some more voters arrive - your primary mission remains getting the HTVs into as many hands as possible and spreading our message.
 * Develop a quick soundbite that gets voters' attention and makes them want to look at your HTV
 * Impromptu collaboration with volunteers from other progressive parties is a good thing - especially if they're from a party we have a preference deal with. In these cases you may find they are willing to let you leave some HTVs on their table if you can't stay at the polling place.
 * If you are visiting more than one polling place to put up corflutes and hand out HTVs, be strategic to maximise your impact. For example: Polling places next to university accommodation are not busy early in the morning. If you are volunteering at a couple of small polling places and one big one, time it so you're at the big one during the busy part of the day (late morning to early afternoon).
 * Stay friendly and polite no matter what the provocation. There may be volunteers for openly racist parties and other unpleasant elements. Nod. Smile. They often find this gratifyingly infuriating.
 * Don't be embarrassed if you're stumped on a policy question. Encourage the voter asking the question to check out the party website.
 * If you're doing a full day, wait for a lull, and take a rest every 2-3 hours minimum.
 * When leaving a polling place, check that any corflutes you put up are where you put them, and they haven't been stolen, damaged or defaced (depending on your State, you may also need to plan to remove the corflutes next day)