Collin County Business Alliance: From Business Leaders to Civic Advocates
UPDATE 3/1/2024: Collin County Votes’ Civic Center is LIVE for the 2024 election cycle.
Introduction
Local civic engagement boosts economies, helping communities and small businesses thrive. By partnering with BallotReady, Collin County Business Alliance is providing chambers of commerce across the Dallas-Forth Worth area with a platform to inform and turn out their members for every election.
Collin County Business Alliance (CCBA) encompasses a group of chambers of commerce that include Frisco, Richardson, Plano and McKinney with a mission of “engaging business leaders and fostering collaboration with stakeholders to drive regional impact in key areas ensuring the vibrancy of our community’s future.”
Core to that mission is “inspiring civic action” among their constituents, including empowering voters and addressing the challenge of low visibility for local candidates leading up to elections. CCBA saw the importance of equipping voters with the necessary resources to make informed decisions and realized the need for a solution to effectively bridge the information gap.
As a result, CCBA launched Collin County Votes and in 2021 partnered with BallotReady to take the program to the next level. Collin County Votes now helps thousands of voters in the county make plans to vote and research their local candidates and measures.
Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to speak with Jessica House, a consultant for CCBA, who shared insights about this program and why it makes sense for chambers of commerce to promote civic engagement.
Civic action is good for business
Jessica credits understanding the economic benefits of civic participation as the impetus for the program.
Research shows that “civic engagement variables suggest a robust association with beneficial local socioeconomic outcomes” including higher income levels and lower levels of income inequality, poverty, and unemployment. Another study suggests that higher civic engagement increases attachment to a community, leading residents to “invest, spend, and hire locally.” Local and small businesses in particular are boosted by higher civic participation, making it an important consideration for chambers of commerce.
In addition, when more people participate in local elections and vote for elected officials based on the issues, representatives are more attuned to the needs and desires of their constituents. A more engaged and active citizenry makes it more likely that policymakers will prioritize goals like job creation, economic growth, and financial well-being.
CCBA’s civic action goal
One of the primary civic engagement goals CCBA set out to tackle was to promote awareness and turnout for local elections. Down ballot candidates in particular struggle to boost their profile and get visibility among voters and potential voters don’t have access to what they need in order to research candidates and figure out how to vote in more local elections. This leads to lower turnout and more candidates running unopposed.
CCBA needed a resource for their voters but quickly realized that they lacked the resources to research candidates, create profiles, and gather early voting and Election Day options across different cities. Working with BallotReady, CCBA was able to launch their own branded Civic Center featuring accessible, personalized, and local civic information in one place.
The solution
In 2021, Collin County Votes introduced their new Civic Center which made it simple for constituents to plan to vote in upcoming elections. By providing this one-stop-shop, Collin County Votes gave their constituents a complete and nonpartisan voting preparedness experience. For CCBA, this BallotReady tool stood out in three ways:
1. Accessible
In choosing the best platform, Jessica prioritized the importance of a user-friendly and accessible tool. By using BallotReady, voters can see instantly who is on their ballot, read about the positions they are running for, and research the candidate including their bios, job experience and available policy stances. Users could then save their preferred candidates to a digital sample ballot to be emailed or printed. With one more click, voters can make a plan to vote by seeing their early voting options and locations or requesting an absentee ballot.
2. Actionable
In the past, CCBA tried to address the local election visibility issue by producing videos featuring local candidates, but the reach and impact of these informational videos were limited and, most importantly, there was no clear follow up or action plan. By using BallotReady, voters could not only create a personalized sample ballot, but could make a plan to vote and sign up for text/email reminders, significantly increasing the likelihood they turn out to vote.
3. Efficient
By partnering with BallotReady, CCBA found a cost-effective solution to the challenge of previewing elections and verifying and researching each candidate individually. BallotReady's comprehensive data and easy-to-use tool provided CCBA with the necessary resources to educate voters effectively, saving the alliance time and money.
“BallotReady is great at getting people through the entire funnel to turn out to vote.”
Outcome
Integrating their Civic Center proved successful in meeting the demand for civic information. Thousands of people in the county took time to research their local candidates, create personalized ballots, and make plans to vote, which helped increase down ballot turnout in the county during the 2022 midterms.
Additionally, Collin County Votes observed a high rate of return users, with a majority of users coming back to the tool a second time to do more in depth research. These analytics reinforce the notion that voters found value in the tool and were willing to spend multiple sessions using it to fully prepare to vote.
The success of their 2022 midterm program has led CCBA to renew their efforts for this year’s local elections where the need for voter education is even greater.
Conclusion
According to Jessica, chambers of commerce and similar business alliances across the country can do the same for their constituents. By learning from and building on this collaboration, business leaders can use civic engagement and participation in local elections to promote economic growth and win loyalty from their community.
Ready to boost your civic engagement program with BallotReady? Get in touch today.