More Ind. candidates turn to high-tech campaigning

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Campaigning — there’s an app for that?

Just a few elections cycles ago, that notion might have seemed laughably absurd.

This municipal election season, though, several local politicians found that not only could they use myriad mobile technologies to augment their campaigns, but those programs often saved valuable resources in races where every dollar and hour counted.

To some, the proliferation of such technology is poised to turn politics on its head in 2012, as local campaigners grasp for ways to build support in the months to come.

“I definitely think Indiana is going to be a battleground state, both in the primary and in the general election,” said Mike Smith, who in the past has worked on multiple Republican campaigns in the area.

“Taking advantage of technology is going to be key, because it helps save resources. People are going to be looking for any kind of advantage ... and I think the person who is the best steward of resources will have the best results.”

This year, local politicians on either side of the Wabash River used varying forms of technology to do everything from geographically mapping out voter density to storing canvassers’ notes from door-to-door meetings — allowing friendly campaigns to access the information later.

On the Republican side, West Lafayette incumbent Mayor John Dennis used sophisticated database and mapping technology to run a more efficient campaign, said Steve Klink, a local political analyst who worked to help re-elect Dennis.

The technology — which Dennis used in a rougher form in 2007 — takes voter registration data from the county clerk’s office to calculate, based on an algorithm, the likelihood each voter will support the campaign, Klink said.

It also assigns each voter a geographical latitude and longitude, allowing campaign workers to learn at a glance which areas are the most densely populated.

That information, in turn, helps the workers decide where to focus campaigning efforts, Klink said.

In the end, though, while the technology can help a campaign better use its resources, it’s only as good as the candidate using it.

“The technology is nothing more than a tool to help get the message out,” Klink said. “In the end, it still comes down to who the candidate is, what they believe, what their message is and what they’re going to do. That’s truly important.”

In West Lafayette, candidates using sophisticated technology to bolster their campaigns had varying results on Election Day.

Dennis won; his opponent, Democrat John Polles — who also used technology in his bid for office — ultimately lost.

In Polles’ case, his campaign used a proprietary mobile version of a Web-based program called the Voter Activation Network — or VAN. The mobile version — accessible by iPhone, iPad or iPod — is called Mini-VAN.

Developed by Democrats at the national level, the program exports the county’s voter database into a form that can be used without Internet access.

In addition to providing voter registration details, the program allows canvassers to take detailed notes about conversations they have with voters while going door-to-door. Those notes then were accessible by the city’s other Democratic candidates.

For example, if a Polles campaign worker encountered a voter frustrated with the city council, a Democratic council candidate could learn that in advance — and be armed with the information when approaching the voter later.

But while the programs didn’t seemingly change the tide of any races — two of four candidates who used the technology in West Lafayette won, while one was unopposed — it’s clear that their use has changed the electoral game, those involved in local politics said.

“These types of tools are an equalizer. It’s a free system, and it allows candidates to effectively organize, person by person,” said Eddie VanBogaert, the Democratic incumbent who recently won four more years in his West Lafayette City Council District 1 seat. He used the Mini-VAN app in his campaign.

“You can still knock on doors, you can work hard, (and) you can make calls — this just helps magnify the impact of those almost old-fashioned styles of voter communication.”