Our Quick Post-election Campaign Shutdown Checklist
Is it time for the post-election shutdown for your campaign?
Your campaign is finally over and you might be feeling a bit of that post-campaign emptiness inside. We understand that feeling and have a lot of insight on what to do after a win or a loss. Like for most things in your campaign you’ll want to be thinking about a plan for your campaign shutdown at the beginning of the campaign as part of your overall campaign plan. By keeping track of assets and creating a campaign shutdown plan you will remove a lot of stress and save time at the end of the campaign. Now before you head off and hit the Appalachian trail or start looking for the next campaign, here are some things to take care of.
Below is a post-election checklist of items you’ll likely need to do to close up shop:
Take Down:
❏ Yard signs on public property, intersections, voting locations
❏ Any signs at restaurants or bars
Secure and develop a plan for:
❏ Any data the campaign may have purchased (for security reasons you will want to keep
this is an encrypted file or delete it so personal information isn’t just living on a random
computer)
❏ Yard Sign locations (where are they and are you responsible for taking them down?)
❏ IDs (Upload all your positive IDs into your voterfile for the next campaign)
❏ Donor lists (Delete any sensitive information including credit card info, and save the
names and contacts in a secure location)
❏ Volunteer lists (Keep this up to date for future use i.e. add them to your holiday card list)
❏ Passwords to websites (make a master list and be sure you change them so only the
necessary people have access post-election)
Recycle (as much as possible):
❏ Lit
❏ Signs
❏ Used paper products
❏ Wood posts
❏ Any office or campaign supplies
Shred and Recycle:
❏ Walk lists
❏ Phone lists
❏ Other printed proprietary information
Pay:
❏ Any outstanding debts or develop a plan for payment
❏ Campaign staffers their final paychecks/expenses
Store:
❏ Financial records
❏ Payroll records
Donate:
❏ Office Supplies (Pens, pencils, markers, etc.)
❏ Desks
❏ Folding Tables
❏ T-shirts or any other worthwhile chum
❏ Unopened Food/Bottled Water
❏ Dry erase boards/butcher paper
Secure or Donate:
❏ Clipboards
❏ Printers
❏ Phones (mobile and landline)
❏ Computers
Scrub for any personal data, log ins, etc.:
❏ Computers
❏ Tablets
❏ Mobile Phones
Digital:
❏ Develop a plan for your website (are you keeping your URL?)
❏ Decide how you will use your social platforms moving forward and who is
responsible for overseeing them
Staff:
❏ Give a hard stop date (at the beginning of the campaign, if possible)
❏ Contact your payroll and tell them when employees are going off payroll
Talk to lawyer/accountant about:
❏ Files you need to save
❏ Issuing W2s to employees
Return:
❏ Any keys to offices, union halls, etc.
❏ Loaned supplies (computers, phones, etc)
❏ Any leased office supplies
Self care:
❏ Take a nap/Get rest
❏ Spend time with friends and family
❏ Process what it was like to run a campaign
Like our post-election checklist? Anything we missed on planning for the campaign shutdown? Add it in the comments section below.