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Run for Office: Find all elected offices you are eligible to run for

runforoffice.org

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Re: Run for Office: Find all elected offices you are eligible to run for

#91

Post by squozzer »

EGreg wrote: post #7

Why would you want to become a cog in a machine when you can build your own? Many people run for office thinking they can change the fundamental culture entrenched around them. But then they realize that there are so many existing systems safeguarding the status quo, that one person can't do it. You'd need to hire a whole new administration. Instead, what if organizations would contract with one another for services…

The problem is more fundamental than that -- once you run for office, people will ask you questions on topics you had never considered before. And you will hear stories that will change your perspective on how governments try to solve problems.

Here's an example from my state's motorcycle rider's lobby -- "Would you support a law allowing motorcycles to proceed through red lights under low traffic conditions after making a reasonable safe stop?" (Because motorcycles don't always trip the sensors at intersections.)

That's just a taste. I have a large binder full of mailings from advocacy groups, printing companies (brochures and yard signs) and some of the official paperwork. And that was just the stuff that seemed worth keeping.

Re: Run for Office: Find all elected offices you are eligible to run for

#92

Post by brightsize »

xwowsersx wrote: post #12

Is this a (clever) marketing stunt for NationBuilder?

Pretty much. The first thing I noticed was "Start a 14-day free trial of NationBuilder, leadership software designed to help you win your election." Not a free license mind you, a free trial. This effort seems designed to feed business into the NationBuilder sales pipeline more than anything. If they offered an unlimited (users, duration, feature-set) license to candidates that are launched via this site then that might be a real public service. As it stands, it's marketing.

Re: Run for Office: Find all elected offices you are eligible to run for

#93

Post by ryandrake »

djrogers wrote: post #89
ryandrake wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Running might not be expensive, but I bet winning is. My wild-ass guess (not a political science major) is that voters can be bucketed into the following broad groups: A: People who vote straight party-line, no matter what. A toad could be on the ticket and they'd vote for it. B: People who vote for whatever name they most recognize. C: People who actually study the candidate's positions and make a rational choice. G…

> A: People who vote straight party-line, no matter what. A toad could be on the ticket and they'd vote for it. Since the parents is discussing running for local office, I'm not sure why you think party comes in to play. Or perhaps this is a regional thing? In my city, party affiliations are not advertised/listed for positions such as city council, mayoral, parks board etc.

Interesting, I seem to recall party affiliation on most of the local positions on my ballot. Granted, not for things like library board member.

Re: Run for Office: Find all elected offices you are eligible to run for

#94

Post by germinalphrase »

bpchaps wrote: post #65
tptacek wrote: post #9

There's a powerful social permission / imposter syndrome thing that works against people running for office, so an effective thing you can do even if you yourself can't bring yourself to stand for office is to convince friends to do it, and offer to support their candidacies. I've found it's remarkably easy to have that conversation with people. Ultimately, telling someone you'd support them if they ran for elected o…

Can confirm that it really works. I suggested to an old mentor a couple years back that he should run for office. He eventually (somewhat reluctantly) did, and found that it was surprisingly easy to get into, even without a large network of influence. It's pretty positively telling that even he, a fairly socially awkward guy, could get as far as he did. Since lots of tech folk fit that mold, it would be great to see…

Really simple toolbox for establishing a credible website, donation bucket, social media presence, self hosted email, mailing list, voter canvassing lists, news outlet contacts?

Parties and big campaigns can set such things up for candidates, but could a functional - if less sophisticated - version of those tools be established for potential local candidates?

(Perhaps, I'm just ignorant and such a toolset already exists)

Re: Run for Office: Find all elected offices you are eligible to run for

#95

Post by buckhx »

I've thought about this in the past. If I wanted to run for governor of my home state in 20 years, what are things that I could be doing today to move towards that goal? I'd assume it would be running for smaller offices to gain some political experience and creating relationships.

Re: Run for Office: Find all elected offices you are eligible to run for

#99

Post by a3n »

After recent marches and protests, and the real but not necessarily self-sustaining enthusiasm that they generated, people ask "but what now?"

And the answer to that is to run for your state legislature. It's there that voting rules, and support for incumbent national members of Congress, are set and enforced.

Join the smoke filled room that's close to home.

Re: Run for Office: Find all elected offices you are eligible to run for

#100

Post by dragonwriter »

jMyles wrote: post #5

This doesn't appear to include student offices, which, especially at large state universities, are very powerful and misunderstood. If you are a student, consider running for student office. It's likely (in fact almost certain) that your student government makes more decisions that impact your life and spends more of your money than the national government does. They typically have multi-million dollar budgets, seats…

> This doesn't appear to include student offices

Eligibility to run for student offices is generally not at all tied to where your ZIP code of legal residence, which is the only criteria it uses. So, without substantial redesign of its search model, I don't see how it could meaningfully handle them.

Which isn't to say those offices aren't important at some schools, just doesn't seem like a good fit for the model of this tool.

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