Hanover School Board Referendum

The Hanover County School Board is one of several school boards in Virginia whose members are appointed by the local Board of Supervisors rather than elected. In 2023, a local ballot measure sought to impose an elected school board structure onto Hanover County despite years of exceptional student outcomes.

The ‘Keep Hanover Students First Committee’ hired LINK to craft and execute a grassroots campaign to defeat the ballot measure. LINK developed a robust voter contact plan designed to educate Hanover County voters about the strengths of their current school board model and the risks of adopting an elected model. 

More than half of Hanover County is firmly Republican, and almost a third are considered swing voters. With this landscape, LINK’s strategy was two-fold: in outreach to Republican voters, LINK tied the campaign to the already-popular Republican Board of Supervisors and directed persuasive voter contact materials towards swing voters.

Working with local influencers, LINK identified key messages for each of the two target audiences and delivered these messages to voters through several rounds of direct mail, text messages, and digital advertising. A full-time campaign manager and field staff, under the direction of the LINK team, distributed campaign materials, attended local events and knocked on doors throughout the length of the campaign.

Understanding the political nature of the campaign, the LINK team closely followed developments around the ballot measure. When prominent Democrats began a vote-yes campaign, the LINK team made sure local media knew who was behind the effort: two former secretaries of education under Democrat Governors and former First Lady Pam Northam.  

To foster grassroots momentum, LINK built and promoted a Keep Hanover Students First Facebook page as a central gathering place for supporters. The Facebook page, a testament to the community-focused nature of the campaign, saw hundreds of local voters become active participants. The impact of seeing neighbors on Facebook supporting the campaign was amplified by the presence of yard signs and door-knocking throughout the county.

Voters defeated the referendum by a 53%-47% margin, after countywide voter contact strategies reached the campaign’s target audience at least 10 times per voter.