Getting Started with RunningMate

You’ve joined RunningMate - that’s great! Now what?

Setting up your account

After your organization has decided to join the platform, signed the user agreements, and submitted your payment information, you will receive an email inviting you to finish creating your RunningMate account.

The subject line will say “Welcome to RunningMate!” and will come from no-reply@runningmate.io. It will contain a message like the one in the screenshot below prompting you to complete your account setup. You will then receive an email from a team member with more information to get started.

Click the Complete Registration link to create your password and finish the account setup. Once complete, you can log in by visiting runningmate.io. Your district will be shown when you log in.

Add Users

Add volunteers, data managers, or data viewers to your RunningMate instance. Admins can click their name in the upper right corner of RunningMate, then select Users.

Visit the Roles and Permissions help article here, to better understand the user roles.

If you have any questions or run into any issues when setting up your account, reach out to the Civitech client success team member who onboarded your team or email support@runningmate.io.

Watch a quick walkthrough video here, or keep scrolling to continue reading.

Using RunningMate

Target Summary

After logging in, users will be able to view their assigned district. The center Target Summary shows the overview of the District with whichever filters are currently set. The map itself is interactive: users can click precincts to isolate them or zoom into the map all the way to the household level. Use the filter panel on the left to filter and narrow down your target populations, then download the lists and perform outreach. The Target Summary in the middle will reflect the audience represented by the filters.

Use the Filter Panel to narrow your target audience.

Users have the option to use Civitech’s pre-set Base, Turnout, Persuasion, and Registration filter settings, or to mix and match according to the needs of their district. Filter by precinct, actual voting history, or modeled partisanship and turnout. Use demographic filters to help tailor your campaign’s messaging plan across the district. The flexibility of the filters should help identify audiences, including primary voters, for use in exports and communications - simply by using the vote history or the scoring sliders.

60-100 should represent folks that lean Democratic.
- In districts that tend to vote heavily Democratic or Republican, the model may show few "Likely opposite party" targets, with some unknown targets.
  - You know your district better than we do, and RunningMate empowers you to import data to reflect the realities of your district's constituents.
  - In these cases, users may need use other creative filtering methods, such as Demographics or past voting history.
- Narrow the audience further by selecting 70-100 Party Lean, or by layering demographics onto the filter criteria.

Types of Filters

If the user has already imported data with support scores or custom tags, use the filter panel to create lists of these targets for further outreach.

Downloading Voter Information

Use the Download Tool to download the list you’ve filtered.

Download Registered Data: Use that CSV download option to view the voter file with the selected filters, and current support scores or tags that may have been added by the campaign, It will also include vote history, primary voting history, voting districts, etc about each person.
Download File for Outreach: Update support scores in the new_support_score column, or add custom data tags using the new_tag columns.
Download Unregistered Data: Download the unregistered data with the currently selected filters.
Unzip the downloaded file, so it can be used in Excel, Google sheets, etc.
- To unzip the file on a Mac, double click the downloaded zipped file.
- To unzip the file on a Windows computer, right click and select Extract.
  - Some computers will need to have a tool installed to unzip files, if it does not already have one. We recommend visiting https://www.7-zip.org/ to download the 7-Zip tool.

This is what the exported zipped file will look like in your downloads.

Use that list to canvas, make phone calls, send mailers, or any other outreach your campaign is able to accomplish this cycle.

Adding & Importing Data

Data can come into RunningMate and be reflected in a person's voter profile in a couple of ways: importing a CSV or making changes at the individual level.

Imports:

These are the columns included when users download the File for Outreach. The blue shaded column-headers are the Civitech-specific columns needed for importing data back into the platform.

Bulk-add tags or survey scores via this type of spreadsheet.

Sample of the exported file, using the Download for Outreach.

Add your tags and survey responses to the sheet in their appropriate columns. Note the columns that say New are those being modified in this upload. The columns that say Current are the tags or survey responses already attached to the person record. Navigate to the Data Management tool, then select Import.

If there are errors with the upload, the platform will notify you how many records were not updated and an error file will be produced for you to better identify the issue. Read the more in-depth help article covering how to import your data, here.

Canvassing on RunningMate via your mobile device or the Search Individuals feature via desktop or laptop

Canvassing and face-to-face conversations with voters is one of the most effective methods for persuading and turning out reluctant voters.

As your team of staff or volunteers makes contact with people in the field, they can log in to RunningMate on their mobile device on a web browser (no app needed!), then search for individual's names or address.

Volunteers can update the Survey Responses, like the Support Score and Registration Intent; they can also add data tags to reflect information gained during those conversations.

The ability to search for individuals by their name or address is also available from the desktop view of RunningMate under the Search Individuals feature. To learn more, click on this help article..

Campaign Goal Tracker

Use Goal Tracker to calculate your win number, set campaign goals, and view your progress-to-goal at the district or precinct level. Steps are outlined below:

Step 1. Clicking the Goal Tracker icon will bring you to this workflow. Click Calculate Campaign Goals.

Step 2. Find election data from past elections. This will include the total voter turnout and the number of registered voters who could have turned out for that election.

Step 3. As workspace users import positive Support Scores (1 and 2), you’ll see the precincts on the map turn a deeper blue, and the progress will be reflected on the overall campaign progress, as well as the precinct-level progress trackers.

Use the Priority Precincts filter option in Goal Tracker to highlight and select the precincts with the most opportunity for progress - those precincts have the most Turnout and Persuasion targets available.

For detailed instructions on using Goal Tracker, visit the Using Goal Tracker in RunningMate help article.

Viewing Multiple Assigned Districts

Users assigned multiple districts can select the others using the dropdown arrow at the top left of the screen.

Viewing Multiple Workspaces

Users assigned multiple workspaces can access them in their profile settings.

Have questions?

Click the '?' in the bottom right corner of the screen. Clicking that allows users to view and search for help articles related to the issue they’re having. Users can also ask Elena, the AI Campaign Assistant. If users still cannot find an answer, click Ask. Doing so will open a form that will allow users to send questions to the Civitech Client Success team. The answer will be sent via email.

Search Our RunningMate Database

Meet Elena: Your RunningMate Campaign Assistant

Ask Elena your RunningMate questions by clicking the microphone icon. Hold it down while speaking.

When using Elena, users can speak or view the conversation log or type in their questions. They can then download the conversation history by clicking the icon in the top right.

Try These Starter Questions with Elena

Not sure how to begin using Elena, your 24/7 campaign assistant? This video walks you through real examples you can try now—whether you're learning to navigate RunningMate, training volunteers, or overcoming language barriers when speaking with voters.

Submit a ticket to our Civitech Support Team

For more information, view the following help articles: