Field Experiments on Integrated Voter Engagement

two-logos.pngHahrie is working with the Ohio Organizing Collaborative and the PICO National Network on multi-year field experiments designed to study the effects of integrated voter engagement (IVE) models. As described in PICO’s 2015 report on its Let My People Vote program, IVE sits at the intersection of voter engagement and issue-based organizing. The goal of IVE programs is not just to win elections, but also to strengthen democracy, by building the power of constituencies to govern between elections and secure policy wins that reflect their interests. These IVE studies are designed to build our understanding of how specific practices affect turnout, especially among low-propensity voters, but also to look at the impact of organizing on voters’ and volunteers’ sense of agency and political efficacy (which are key determinants of long term civic engagement), how to increase our collective capacity to organize across race, gender and other differences, and how to translate the power built during elections into far-reaching policy change.