INTERNSHIP: Aldermanic Political Campaign

Aldermanic Political Campaign Internship

Purpose: To give students in political science an opportunity to
work in a political campaign and provide deeper exposure to the
political process

Phase 1: Petition Drive for Ballot Nomination
The students will participate as petition workers, working in
conjunction with older volunteers to obtain the necessary signatures
for candidate nomination

Phase 2: Canvassing & Voter Registration
Student Interns will canvass with the Candidate throughout the Ward
on evenings and weekends where available. This includes analyzing
voter data and helping to build the candidate "Walking List" based on
analysis and identification of likely voters. Interns will be
exposed to analytic methodologies which work to determine required
turn-out and performance per precinct.

Phase 3: Ongoing Campaign Event Coordination
Student Interns will help to coordinate campaign events, including
fundraising, public speaking engagements and other public and private events

Phase 4: Early Voting Coordination
Student Interns will participate the early voter drive by
coordinating lists of past and likely early voters and helping to
plan early voter events such as transportation to and from the
polling place and scheduling and coordination of post voting events
such as catered events.

Phase 5: Get out The Vote (GOTV) Effort
Student Interns will assist in coordinating and participating in the
effort to determine by precinct, if the early voters have yet voted
on election day, or coordinating with provided transportation to get
voters to the polls where required.

Purpose: To provide students with a structured environment where
they can learn more about the political process and receive valuable
feedback which will help shape their view of politics as a potential career

Structure and Performance Evaluation
Each Phase of the unpaid Intern Program will mirror that of the
actual election campaign process. At the end of each Phase, the
Intern will be evaluated on a set of pre-determined criteria. The
performance will be scored on that basis. At the conclusion of the
campaign, each intern will receive their overall score.

Internship Certification and Offer of Paid Internship
On the basis of those individual scores, the Intern will be certified
by the Campaign Team and the Candidate as having successfully
completed the internship. This will be the basis of receiving
college course credit for the internship with the College/University
Social Sciences department. The interns with the top 3 scores at the
end of the program will be selected to participate in a paid
internship in the Alderman's office, should the Candidate be elected.

For more information, please contact

Valerie Werner, MA, LMFT, Ph.D. (ABD)
Director of the Undergraduate Program in Urban and Public Affairs
Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Affairs
College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs (CUPPA)
University of Illinois at Chicago
412 S. Peoria, Rm. 316, (M/C 350)
voice: (312) 413-2292
fax: (312) 413-8095
vwerne1@uic.edu
http://www.uic.edu/cuppa