Why are Special Elections Important?

What's so special about special elections? The legislative sessions are in full swing, after all. And there are many bills under consideration that affect the biker community.

Shouldn't we be calling our legislators and ringing their phones off the hook? Riding to the state capitol to rally support and show our strength to the world? Doing everything we possibly can ... while there's still time?

The answer is YES. But it should never be in conflict with the one thing that's even more powerful than lobbying. And that's campaign work in a special election.

General Elections

Most general elections draw large turnouts, especially during presidential races. The more candidates and referenda there are, in fact, the bigger the draw. Then consider how many district-by-district contests there are across the state. All totalled, there could easily be more than 300.

Biker activists can't spread themselves too thin, trying to be everywhere at once. There simply aren't enough of us to go around. And fighting a multi-front battle is often foolish, or a last-ditch act of desperation. You just can't win 'em all. So we have to pick only the fights that we can win, and let the other ones go.

Special Elections

Special elections, on the other hand, are a very different animal. There is no "campaign season," so the timeline from start to finish is compressed. Often the candidates don't have a lot of money, and not much in the way of organization, either. Special elections always have low voter turnouts. So it's normally more cost-effective for candidates to target the party faithful rather than saturate the district and the airwaves with mass advertising.

Though special elections may be few and far between, they add up. As an example, almost 25% of New Jersey's state senators originally won their seats in special elections - races without incumbents. And once in office, they gained the overwhelming advantage of becoming the incumbent. Politicians know how important these special elections are. Shouldn't you?

Campaign volunteers are always critical to success in the ballot box. But given every one of the limitations listed above, campaign workers become priceless commodities in special elections. They're as good as gold.

Concentration of Force

Then there's the additional leverage that comes from channeling a lot of energy into one spot. In military strategy, this is called "concentration of force." In martial arts, it's all about using pressure points. But no matter how you say it, it means applying your strength against your opponent's weak spot.

In the case of special elections, there are no other elections to compete for campaign volunteers. This allows us to concentrate our volunteers in the right place at the right time, as well as doing the right thing. One day of campaign work in a special election is the single most effective thing a biker activist can do.

What About Lobbying?

When it comes to helmet laws, most people already have their minds made up. Statistics and debates have little effect as a whole, though they may influence the few people who are sitting on the fence. But even these gains may be short-lived if our opponents are any good at distortions and sound bites. And yes, they are very good.

I'm not saying "don't lobby." Please do! But I am saying that cold-call lobbying pales in comparison to campaign work. (Here's why).

Imagine two different people lobbying their legislators, each pulling in opposite directions. It's during the session, so the legislator has a million things on his mind, and he has a lot of people competing for his attention.

But back to the two lobbyists. One of them helped the legislator get elected, knowing in advance that they shared the same position on the issue. The other one did nothing to help him win the election, but still makes a compelling argument for his cause. Guess which one wins the legislator's vote?

Working Smart

Successful politicians are not fools. They know how to get elected and they know how to stay in office. Yes, sometimes right and wrong get lost in the shuffle. But in love and war ... and politics ... might makes right.

We know we are right about the helmet law, and we don't need to debate that fact ... as long as we work smart. And we're smart enough to know that helmet laws get decided on election day. Getting the right people elected in the first place is the best way to build a majority of supporters.