Advocacy update: make your vote count: park and recreation efforts depend on electing the right person for the job.

One of the most basic and effective means to advance the cause of parks and recreation at the local, state and national levels is the simple act of voting. We can--and should--vote for candidates who we believe to support parks and recreation.

One-third of the U.S. Senate and the entire House of Representatives is up for election or re-election on Nov. 7. In addition, there are thousands of local and statewide offices up for election. Election time is an excellent opportunity to engage candidates in support of our issues as these candidates embark on an election campaign. If we engage candidates on our issues, we can influence both incumbent and challenger positions and we can secure support from those elected on public park and recreation issues.

How can you make your vote count? There are a number of ways you can engage in the process at any number of levels. Even the most novice advocate can make a difference. Whether you work behind the scenes, or are willing to stand up at a candidates' forum and sling the high, hard fastballs at the candidates, your participation is needed. No matter your style, there is a role you can play if you are willing to commit a little time and energy.

To make our votes for parks and recreation count, we need to leverage the votes of others who feel the same about our issues. One of the best ways to place park and recreation issues in voters' minds is to have the candidates themselves be advocates by including position statements in platforms and stump speeches.

Fortunately, our best issues are ones that candidates love to include in their platform statements. What politician doesn't support more recreation opportunities for youth in their community? What candidate for elected office doesn't support reducing childhood obesity? What current officeholder looking to get re-elected doesn't commit his or her efforts to improving community health and wellness?

However, getting these issues included into candidate statements can be challenging. One good way to engage candidates is by posing questions to candidates and asking them to respond. This can be done for any level of elected office and questions can be specific-about a pending bond initiative, for example--or generic, such as a question about their level of support for open space protection.

It is appropriate to provide candidates with a briefing paper or fact sheet about the needs for parks and recreation along with your questions. Not surprisingly, astute candidates can find the very answers they need to your questions. Questions can be posed by individuals, but are often more effectively posed by groups. If you inform the candidate that you would like to include their answers in a newsletter or online forum, they have even more of a reason to agree.

Every allied group and state affiliate of NRPA should pose candidate questions to those running for U.S. Congress and post their answers as widely as possible on Web sites and in communications to members. Other allied organizations may be invited to join in asking questions to candidates. Perhaps you can join with a local mountain bike club that is advocating for more trails or acquisition of open space to get them to support park and recreation agency budgets or bond issues.

Or you might seek to join in asking questions with a community health group that is working for better coordination of government services to those at risk. Asking the same questions of all candidates running for office can provide a very good range of perspectives on the relative importance candidates place on your issues.

Candidate questions, whether general or specific, need to be posed in a manner that elicits an answer that shows their depth of knowledge and their true position of the issue. For example, you might ask the question: "Do you support improving health and wellness in our community by increasing resources for parks and recreation?" A better way to pose the question might be: "What specific actions would you take if elected to improve our park and recreation departments in delivering better services and programs to improve health and wellness of citizens in our community?"

There are also other ways individuals can become involved to bring the issues into the public eye. Anyone can write a letter to the editor of a local newspaper telling why they will vote for one candidate over another because of their past or promised support for parks and recreation.

For those park and recreation advocates who want to be even more involved, writing an editorial piece for a newspaper on the value of parks and recreation in your community may be the route to go (ideas can be found on the NRPA Web site under the Top 10 values of parks and recreation). Ask how your candidates for local or state office will work to improve these valuable services, and if you have specific legislation, ask for their support.

It is also effective to engage the campaign manager, staffers or volunteers of those running for office by phone, e-mail or in person, in a discussion of why it would be good for their candidate to take a position publicly supporting parks and recreation. Note to them that such expressed support is non-controversial as it shows the strong community roots of the candidate and can burnish a candidate's environmental credentials.

State affiliates of NRPA should also encourage members and allied organizations to track candidate campaigns locally and statewide and report on statements and responses to questions. Such reports and comparisons of positions help inform park and recreation advocates and civic leaders as well as citizens.

Tax exempt, 501(c)3 organizations may not take partisan positions, but they can inform their membership in a non-partisan fashion of candidates' views on key issues and legislation. Non-profit organizations can encourage members to vote as well.

Make your vote for parks and recreation count in 2006. The needs have never been greater nor the challenges more daunting. Every vote counts!

Know the Issues

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has been collecting information on state bond issues for parks, recreation and land conservation for nearly 20 years in a database called LandVote. Public support for such measures has historically been above 75 percent. The TPL LandVote database provides a year by year analysis of local and state land conservation ballot measures, and a section entitled "upcoming elections" gives an overview of every major land conservation ballot initiative proposed at the state or regional level for 2006.

Visit LandVote at www.tpl.org/landvotel.

If you write an editorial or letter to the editor about parks and recreation in your community, we'd like to know about it. Please write us at [e-mail] and let us know about your efforts to bring parks and recreation into the public eye for November elections.

Richard J. Dolesh, CPRP, is director of NRPA's Public Policy Division. He can be reached at [phone] or [e-mail].