New Jersey Candidates Turn to App that Helps Build Trust Relationships
The app called “Team,” created by The Tuesday Company (New York and Washington, D.C.), is changing how campaign professionals and volunteers participate in politics in New Jersey.
With voting day right around the corner, on November 6, the group that developed Team is helping campaigns in New Jersey use existing technology and relationships to reach more people more efficiently and effectively.
Team is currently working with the campaigns of three New Jersey Democratic candidates for Congress Andy Kim (NJ-03), Tom Malinowski (NJ-07 and Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) with a combined 350-plus volunteers using the Team technology.
Cofounder and CEO Michael Luciani said, “The sacred, traditional methods of voter registration have been very effective. Cold calling and knocking on doors builds trust and relationships face to face.” The Team app supplements those methods with technology.
The app works through Facebook messenger and text messages, which can access like-minded citizens more efficiently. Campaign volunteers contact people they talk to every day, such as friends, family members and neighbors, to share campaign information, graphics and videos to encourage them to register to vote. In New Jersey, the deadline to register to vote either by mail or in person is Oct. 16.
Luciani said that this “friend-to-friend” communication method can be twice as effective as traditional outreach methods. He gave the example of a volunteer calling 50 people over the phone. That volunteer may end up having five conversations that may or may not result in even one person registering to vote. However, during a 10-minute break, the same volunteer can quickly text or send a direct message to 10 contacts, or even share it on his or her Facebook wall, and immediately reach far more people.
The 2016 election inspired Luciani and his colleagues to take action to support Democratic campaigns and their constituents. “We’re pretty ideologically motivated to help certain demographics get access to voting in our next election.”
Since The Tuesday Company began, in 2016, the startup has grown from four to 14 people, who are divided between dual headquarters in New York and Washington, D.C. Their diverse team of political strategists, technologists, storytellers and social entrepreneurs is motivated to help specific demographic groups vote in the upcoming elections.
Team enables campaigns to reach millennial volunteers and voters where they are: online. And it assists younger voters, voters of color and other populations that could benefit from up-to-date methods of outreach. Luciani said, “Team is a better way to reach hard-to-reach people,” including those who may have moved recently or simply don’t know how to update their voter registration.
Interested volunteers can contact the Kim, Malinowski and Sherrill campaigns via the app, or they can register themselves at go.jointeam.com.
