Personal contacts from a direct friend are one of the most effective contacts possible for modifying voter behavior. We need a big turnout in California, not just big but really big, yuge even.
We have until May 23 to get potential voters to register and become likely voters.
CA has one of the largest population of people from outside the state, what this means is most current non voters in CA have friends outside the state.
We can use the power of facebook to make personal effective contacts from people in the other 49 states to people in California.
This idea is the basis behind facebanking, but we need people to do a little more. Impersonal invites to events miss out on the effectiveness of personal contacts. Messages to friends capture this effectiveness. I know that it is easier to send out mass invites, and feels risky to message friends about politics. If we want Bernie to win we need to make those personal contacts.
I suggest asking people to search facebook for "my friends who live in California". Almost everyone will find they have at least one friend who lives in CA. Then send a personal message to your friend.
I am providing a sample message that is crafted with several techniques designed to maximize voter turnout. These techniques include suggesting a large turnout, providing registration information, a personal endorsement of Bernie, and reminding them that you will be watching election results and want to see their vote counted.
Sample message is:
"Hey (friends name) as you know the California primary elections are coming up. There is going to be a huge turnout this year, we are expecting more new voters than ever before. You may not have known that you need to register by May 23 to be a voter.
I really like Bernie Sanders, and hope you will vote for him also. To vote in the Democratic primary you need to be registered as a Democratic or no party preference voter by May 23. Note that no party preference is not the same as American Independent party - those are a group of right wing nutballs.
You can use this link to register to vote by the May 23 deadline. Be sure to register as Democratic or No party preference so you can vote in the Democratic primary. I will be watching election results on June 7th, I look forward to seeing your vote among those counted. registertovote.ca.gov"
end sample message
It will take millions of new voters to win CA big enough... but there is the potential if we use the support network of people in the other 49 states to get folks registered in time. This needs to be done not just for people already identified as Bernie supporters. Contacting all your direct friends and reminding them to register and vote is an effective method to significantly increase voter turnout.
Long term, personal contacts help build the kind of voter pool we need to cause a political revolution. Thanks for your time, and I hope you choose to help in this endeavor. Do not stop at just this election - by making sure your friends vote all the time we change the political landscape.