Tripepi Smith Dramatically Expands Ballot Measure Outreach Work for 2024 Cycle
During the November 2024 election cycle, Tripepi Smith partnered with 11 agencies to inform residents about key ballot measures affecting their communities. These measures addressed revenue needs, election reforms, charter reforms and local housing matters. Tripepi Smith has been working on various ballot measures for a decade, but 2024 was the largest cycle ever for the firm.
The ballot measure team is led by President Ryder Todd Smith and Principals Jennifer Vaughn and Jennifer Nentwig. Director Sydni Overly and Senior Business Analyst Sienna Boyd played critical project management roles to ensure speedy execution on the projects. Other key players included Business Analysts Valerie Nevarez, Cailyn Thompson and Kendall Lowery, along with Junior Business Analysts Olivia Rizzuto, Julia Gale and Erin Pinkelman.
“Tackling outreach for a measure is no easy feat. It requires a well-planned process to transparently engage and inform the community. It is not something we do a lot as city staff, so having expertise to support the work ensures we meet the needs of the city council and community,” said Los Alamitos City Manager Chet Simmons. “Tripepi Smith was with us every step of the way. The firm’s expertise in ballot communications was critical and they were hyper responsive to the needs of our educational efforts and customized their work to our community.”
The Los Alamitos community adopted a ballot measure that modified term limits, enabled new lobbying restrictions and expanded the purchasing authority of the city manager to better respond to infrastructure crisis situations.
Outreach strategies aligned to the nature of the measure and the community’s information consumption patterns, but often included social media strategies, informational mailers, town halls, animated videos, photography, graphic design and webpage creation to outline facts about the measure.
“The City of Atascadero has made investments in our street infrastructure that have dramatically improved our road conditions. Sustaining that progress required voter approval to extend a sales tax measure that was set to expire. 70% of voters chose to continue investing in their community,” said Atascadero City Manager James Lewis. “Tripepi Smith was an important partner for our efforts to ensure our residents fully understood their options on the ballot and how their choices could affect the future of our community investments. The firm’s experience with the ballot measure process provided helpful insights to our team at city hall.”
Tripepi Smith is dedicated to effective resident engagement that helps communities make well-informed decisions on local ballot measures. When policy is placed in the hands of the public, it is the obligation of governments to properly inform residents on the policy choices just as they would a city councilmember, with neutral, transparent and honest information. The challenge for direct democracy decisions like ballot measures is ensuring the important information has a fair opportunity to land in the mind of a voter to fully weigh options. That is where the engagement strategies matter most.
“Tripepi Smith is focused on providing effective civic engagement that builds trust and fully informs residents on an array of policy matters. Strong democracies depending on well-informed voters, and our work on ballot measures and beyond are focused on that exact point of need,” stated Ryder Todd Smith, President of Tripepi Smith.
About the City of Los Alamitos
Located in the heart of Orange County, the City of Los Alamitos is a close-knit community. With a commitment to transparency, innovation and public safety, Los Alamitos continues to thrive as a hub for families, recreation and community spirit.
About the City of Atascadero
The City of Atascadero is known for its proximity to beaches and wine country. The town itself is surrounded by rolling hills, oak trees and beautiful architecture. Located in between San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles, it does not fall short of a beautiful place to live, work or raise a family in.
About Tripepi Smith
Tripepi Smith is a California-based marketing, technology and public affairs firm that serves for-profit, nonprofit and public agencies. Its unique mix of marketing and technology prowess provides a competitive advantage to agencies seeking to leverage the internet to achieve their communication goals. The firm provides full content creation services, including: ghost writing, collateral development, photography, video production, aerial imagery, search engine optimization, email marketing campaigns and website design and execution. Tripepi Smith’s diverse clients include: City of American Canyon, City of Calabasas, City of Culver City, City of Cupertino, City of Daly City, City of Grover Beach, City of Indian Wells, City of La Cañada Flintridge, City of Lake Forest, City of Livermore, City of Malibu, City of Napa, City of Palmdale, City of Paramount, City of Tracy, CalChoice Energy Authority, California Joint Powers Insurance Authority, Santa Clara County Fire Department, Costa Mesa Sanitary District, Rowland Water District, California City Management Foundation, Renne Public Law Group, West Coast Arborists, Scripps College, Blind Children’s Center and Climatec.