In this era of AI slop and rampant misinformation, voters are more invested in hearing from folks they know, whether it's about the candidates and issues on the ballot or the process of exercising your franchise. That's why sharing your informed insights and opinions delivers actual value to people in your community. I've been working with this political action writing toolkit more than 20 years, evolving it with the times. What hasn't changed is the process. These techniques are still easy to use, enabling you to develop cogent content fast.

Bonus: These strategies can also be used to sketch out messages to electeds and decision-makers.

Political Action Writing Toolkit

I've been working in advocacy and politics most of my life. Folks in my hometown like to say I teethed on a ballot box. That lifetime of experience has taught me a few things about being an effective advocate and campaign volunteer, especially when that comes to writing. I compiled this set of strategies to make it faster and easier to put your opinions and ideas in writing, and to make the resulting prose more effective.

How to advocate for causes you care about

The first tool is the People-Information-Goals Strategy™, which captures ideas at the top level:

• People: A solid description of the people you're trying to reach and their questions, objections and concerns; and the personality the audience is most likely to trust
• Information: The most important idea and crucial details that support it
• Goals: The things you want people to think, feel or do after reading/hearing your case

Pro Tip: This strategy is also helpful to map out what you want to say before calling or emailing your elected representatives!

Download my Writing for Advocacy slide deck for a quick overview of the strategy and how it helps gather, organize and solidify your thoughts. The Power of Your Ideas Playbook, also downloadable, includes step-by-step instructions and examples of successful opinion writing for various media.

How to write a candidate endorsement

As long as we still have elections, we need candidate endorsements to help others understand why they should vote for a particular candidate. These appeals can be posted to your blog or social media accounts, published in the paper (if you're lucky enough to still have one) or aired on radio, TV or podcast. These recommendations are vital tools for political action, yet many people feel awkward making them. The Position-Rationale-Proof™ Strategy makes it easy to outline and explain the key reasons you support a candidate, using a logical framework that meets your audience's needs:

• Your position: what you think. This is your main idea -- the most important thing you want the audience to know.
• Your rationale: why you think what you do. This is an explanation of your rationale.
• Your proof: how you know your position is true. These are the examples and evidence that prove your point.

Pro Tip: The PRP is useful for preparing longer-form communiques to elected officials and policymakeres! 

Review this walk-through of using the PRP to write a candidate endorsement and check out the resulting recommendation published in our local paper. (Hint: If you do the PIG first, make the Main Idea the Position and use the Support as a your Rationale and/or Proof).

How to promote ideas with public service announcements

If you're working with a nonprofit organization, you can also share your ideas on ballot initiatives, constitutional amendments and other issues being considered by the public. TV and radio stations are required by law to provide free airtime to nonprofits meeting specific criteria (so check with your local station before adding a PSA to your advocacy plan).

Read this blog post for more insights on why and how to use PSAs. Then check out this slide deck for a quick overview of how to write a PSA or download the PSA writing worksheet to get started.

Sharing your perspective with others is always valuable, especially at election time — and even more so in off-cycle and midterm elections like the one coming up next month. Voice your opinions and make sure to vote!

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