OntheWilderSide

This section has information, ideas, and lists
to help you run for office.

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Boards of Elections
Village, Library, and School Board elections are often run internally. Go to the place where you are considering running (administration office for School Board), and contact the clerk or administrator for information.

• Suffolk County Board of Elections
• Nassau County Board of Elections
• New York State Board of Elections

 

Associations for Local Boards

• Library Trustees Association of New York State provides information on the job of Library Board Members online at www.librarytrustees.org/ Need to contact individual library to find out when the election is between March and June , requirements to get on ballot, and seats that are up.

• New York State School Boards Association provides information on the job of School Board Members online at http://www.nyssba.org
• New York State Conference on Mayors and Municipal Officials has a web-site at http://www.nycom.org . Though, it does not provide extensive information on the actual job of village elected officials.
• Suffolk County Village Officials Association includes downloadable directory of Village contact information and elected officials online at http://www.scvoa.com Need to contact individual Village to find out when the election is between March and June , requirements to get on ballot, and seats that are up.
• Nassau County Village Officials Association includes online listing of Village contact information and elected officials online at http://www.ncvoa.org. You need to contact your individual Village to find out when the election is between March and June , requirements to get on ballot, and seats that are up. Warren Tackenberg, Executive Director, 525 South 13th Street, New Hyde Park, NY 11040-5572, 516-437-1455 FAX 516-437-1456

 

Books

• Village Officials Handbooks is only sold to Village Officials at http://www.nysalb.org/handbook/index.html
• Library Trustees Handbook downloadable at http://www.librarytrustees.org/handbook.php
• Don’t Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate (A Progressive Guide to Action) by George Lakoff
• Politics the Wellstone Way: How to Elect Progressive Candidates and Win on Issues by Wellstone Action (Wellstone Action is Green-friendly, and they hold regular training sessions.)
• Fundraising in Times of Crisis by Kim Klein. Don’t let the title or its emphasis on nonprofit fool you, the heart of this book is fund-raising 101. www.grassrootsfundraising.org/
• NYS BOE Campaign Finance Handbook

Samples

• Sample Independent Nominating Petition (PDF)
• Sample Petitioning Instructions (PDF)
• Sample Get Out the Vote Palmcard with Ballot Position PDF
• Sample Get Out The Vote Brochure PDF
• Sample Campaign Website
• Sample Campaign Video
• Sample Party Palmcard (PDF)
• Sample Party Trifold (PDF)
• Democracy for America Night School is an excellent synthesis of the ideas presented in Laskoff’s Don’t Think of an Elephant and Wellstone Action’s Politics the Wellstone Way

Election Articles

• Top 7 First-Time Candidate Mistakes
• Monkey-wrenching with Minnie the Cat by Kimberly Wilder, Boog City,, Issue 3: 2/25/02
• Run, Run for Your Life by Kimberly & Ian Wilder, Boog City, Issue 3: 2/25/02
• What to do with a Democratic Congress (speech & video) by Ian Wilder on the need for electoral and media reform, Huntington LIPC, 1/25/07, OpEd News 2/4/07
• Competitive Elections: A Challenge for Spitzer by Kimberly Wilder & Ian Wilder, OpEdNews 1/31/07
• How to Write a Press Release, Pandecta Magazine
• How to Write a Press Release, WikiHow
• The Ultimate Guide: Successful Door-to-Door Campaigning

Electoral Organizations

• League of Women Voters (LWV)
  
• LWV Vote 411: Election Information You Need
• Ballot Access News is the gold standard in Ballot Access information
• FairVote on how Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) can fix our electoral system
• Politics1 provides fair coverage of the whole political scene
• PR Watch investigates media propaganda and promotes media literacy
• Open Secrets tracks money in politics, and its effect on elections and public policy

County

• Suffolk County
• Nassau County

Libraries

• Suffolk County Libraries