Our Democracy 2022

“Bird-dogging”

When elected officials are called out in public, it can spur them to take action, quickly! Some call this “bird-dogging” — showing up at in-person or virtual political or community events and asking the candidate to fill out the survey. Because of the ongoing pandemic, we encourage activists to engage in bird-dogging online—and if attending in-person events to wear a mask.

This is more effective when it happens multiple times: at every public virtual or in-person event, an activist is there, putting them on the spot, insisting on a straight answer. Bird-dogging is a really fun tactic around which you can build a team—and we can train you on what you need to know to get results.

1) Recruit some friends 

Virtual or in-person bird-dogging is a lot more effective if you have a team of people who show up at a candidate’s public appearances. It’s always better to have one person ready to ask the questions and one person recording the exchange to get it on the record.

2)  Find the candidates running for Connecticut Secretary of the State

In the age of a pandemic where many meetings and forums still happen in virtual settings, candidates will be at virtual public events often. Start by looking at their websites, reading the paper, Googling, or even calling their campaigns or government offices directly and asking about upcoming virtual or in-person events. The best opportunities are events where the candidate will be taking questions or will be somewhat approachable.

3) Ask your question!

Once you are at the event, your goal is to publicly ask the elected official this question: “We have reached out to you to ask that you talk to voters about voting freedoms. Will you tell voters what you will do to reform our democracy by filling out the voting freedoms questionnaire at ourdemocracy2022.org”

Have your crew copy and paste the link many times over because in virtual events the public comment feed moves quickly.

You want to remain visible. Dropping in the link over and over with your question is like holding up “virtual signs”. Have each member of your crew repeat the question relentlessly, getting reporters to inquire, etc. The key is to be respectful but also relentless and highly visible.

4) Don’t give up!

It might take multiple virtual or in-person meetings to get a candidate to realize you aren’t giving up easily. But if you keep going and keep making sure they know you’re not giving up, they will eventually respond.