A grassroots Republican rancher fights an establishment Leftist with mobile technology

Self ^ | 10/16/2014 | Andrew L. Jaffee

[forty_years]

Question: How does a grassroots Republican rancher fight an establishment Leftist incumbent swimming in limousine liberal money? Answer: With a grassroots campaign and by leveraging new mobile app technology. Jeff Byrd, a Republican running for New Mexico's 3rd congressional district (U.S. House) against one of the most liberal Democratic incumbents in the House, Rep. Ben Ray Luján, got a bit of help from a small tech firm located in Albuquerque.

The Albuquerque-based tech firm microIT Infrastructure, LLC, released of a free mobile app for the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and iTouch platforms in support of Jeff. The app can be download in the Apple App Store at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jeff-byrd-for-u.s.-congress/id922857886?mt=8

The app puts Jeff's campaign into the palm of users' hands, providing instant access to the following: his qualifications, platform/issues, background, social networking sites, tools for mobilizing constituents, tools for sharing the campaign's message, tools for volunteering and contacting his campaign, his donation website, and guidance and action scripts for canvassing and calling voters. If an app user loses cellular and/or WIFI connectivity, most of the app's features remain available.

The app is logically divided and organized into three parts in this order: "Learn," "Connect," and "Act." It guides users through the process of getting to know Jeff intimately, encourages users to directly contact Jeff's campaign, provides detailed and concrete guidance on how to successfully campaign, and provides all the tools necessary for users to engage in grassroots campaigning. For example, an app user can print a stack of Jeff's campaign flyers and hit the ground running. The Apple app guides the user in what to say while canvassing a neighborhood, and reminds the user to always leave a copy of Jeff's flyer with each voter visited. Users can obtain maps and address lists from the campaign for use during canvassing. There is also guidance and a script for users to make phone bank-like calls from home. The user can get phone lists from Jeff's campaign. The Jeff Byrd app can be used as a model for other political campaigns or any type of grassroots activism.

MicroIT Infrastructure, LLC hopes the app will encourage others to leverage mobile technology to participate in the democratic process and/or philanthropy. The company was happy to donate its time and services to build an app to support Jeff Byrd's campaign. This app has been endorsed and approved by Jefferson L. Byrd for Congress, Robert Lamm Treasurer. MicroIT Infrastructure, LLC, has not and will not accept compensation for the app. The company encourages people everywhere to download and try out the app and learn about using mobile technologies for organizing grassroots activism campaigns.

The app's full feature set can be found here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jeff-byrd-for-u.s.-congress/id922857886?mt=8

For app support, see http://microit.us/jeffbyrd/.

App Screenshots

Jeff's beautiful intro screen; Jeff is standing in front of an American flag and making an intro statement

Platform/issues screen with easy access to Jeff's stances; his prose reaches out to constituents; app users can look up any of his stances while out canvassing, even without an Internet connection

Volunteer form; users can contact the campaign directly, choose from pre-defined volunteer activities, and suggest their own type of desired volunteer activity

One of the six screens organized logically to train volunteers in canvassing; a script is provided for volunteers to interact politely with voters

Jeff's photo gallery; app users can get to know Jeff and his family as they work and live on the family ranch

[2ndDivisionVet]

Do those other countries have crypto-Muslim heads of state?

[forty_years]

Northern and mid New Mexico have socialist congressional reps. To add insult to injury, both our senators are socialists, It’s awful and mainly rural people have to stand up for sanity.

[redheadtoo]

I have a cousin running for the NM state house as a democrat. It leaves me torn. He’s gone over to the dark side but he’s still my cousin. New Mexico is a blue state so he will probably win.

[forty_years]

New Mexico can seem like a Blue State, but there's a major conservative grassroots movement, and a strong independent segment of the population. For example, we've prevented all "gun control" legislation from passing the state legislature, which is pretty evenly divided. Conservatives are getting seriously organized in the Land of Entrapment, er, ar, Enchantment. There's hope as long as there are people willing to engage in the political process. This app is an example of serious grassroots activism among conservatives.