Case study

Georgia Conservation Voters Education Fund uses Ballot Builder to inform voters in down-ballot elections

Learn how Georgia Conservation Voters Education Fund looked up 700+ sample ballots and collected 350+ emails and phone numbers during Georgia’s historic 2022 midterm election.

The problem

GCVEF is a nonpartisan organization that advocates for public policies that advance a more sustainable future by educating voters on climate justice. GCVEF needed an easy way to educate voters on local candidates.

“A lot of the positions that we care about are down-ballot positions, and they have such a big impact on environmental issues,” said Brionté McCorkle, Executive Director of GCVEF.

GCVEF faced three key challenges in 2022:

  1. In 2022, environmental issues were on the ballot at every level of government, from national to local levels.

  2. The average Georgian saw an overwhelming 15 offices and referendums on their ballot.

  3. Assembling comprehensive education on these offices would strain GCVEF's organizational capacity.

Brionté McCorkle, Executive Director of GCVEF

"One of the number one things that we hear from people is that is that they don't know what is on their ballot – what positions are on their ballot, what the positions do, and they don't know the candidates. It’s a major reason why people don’t go vote."

The solution

Branch is an online tool that over 33,000 Georgia voters used to research their ballots and candidates in 2020. Branch worked with GCVEF to provide a branded, nonpartisan voter guide to engage voters on what would be on their unique ballot in 2022.

  1. Branch’s team of researchers handled the heavy-lift of research, creating 1,500 nonpartisan candidate profiles for Georgia's 159 counties.

  2. GCVEF distributed their custom guide through social media, website, email blasts, and events. Voters engaged heavily with the helpful information.

  3. GCVEF collected 350+ new emails and phone numbers from voters who used the website.

  4. Branch super-powered Georgia Conservation Voter’s 501(c)(4) efforts by providing a separate Endorsement Guide that showcased GCV endorsed candidates.

Step 1

Voters enter their address and are matched to their districts and next election.

Step 2

Voters are shown an interactive sample ballot, complete with all federal, state, and local candidates and referendums.

Step 3

Voters can read nonpartisan candidate summaries, which are pre-populated by Ballot Builder’s team of researchers.

The impact

Branch’s services helped GCVEF engage hundreds of Georgia voters on environmental issues:

  1. Voters used GCVEF’s custom website to look up 700+ sample ballots and choose 3,000+ candidates and referendums to support.

  2. GCVEF collected 350+ emails and phone numbers from voters who used the website.

  3. GCVEF’s custom website saved the organization valuable time and money on web development, candidate research, printing, and translation, creating capacity for GCVEF to focus on its mission.

Georgia voters cast a historic number of votes in 2022 – the most votes ever cast in a midterm election – and were more informed on down ballot races due to the joint efforts of Branch and GCVEF.

Set up a time with our team to see if Ballot Builder is the right fit for your organization for the 2024 election cycle.