While emailing candidate questions seems quick, collating the responses is tedious. Campaign staff may wish to change a response(s). Required questions may be skipped. Answers may not be succinct. Dealing with these situations creates unnecessary work for civic organization volunteers creating local voter guides.Who will benefit from this tutorial: This tutorial is for anyone looking to simplify how answers are collected to a series of questions from multiple people using freely and widely accessible tools. Tools required:

• Email account
• Google account (Can be tied to gmail email account)

Alternative Tools: There are a number of online services and website plugins available for creating survey forms. Some options are free; others are not. These other options may be even more robust than the one described into this how to guide.

How to Create a Google Form

In Google Drive, go to New > More > Google Forms > Blank Form

The first part of the cascading menus are shown. Continue to click through to Google Forms > Blank Form.

Select the type of question to be asked by clicking on the right.

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Add Description

Add Data Validation Tips

• Check form permissions
• Can customize look of form

To make it even easier for the candidate, pre-fill data that you already have.How to do pre-filled Google Form:

• Click three dots in upper right hand corner of the page to access drop-down menu. Then select ""
• On next screen, follow onscreen instructions to answer questions and press "Submit." Then, copy the pre-filled link that will be shown at the top of the page with the candidate or candidate's representative.

Tips:

• If there are fields that are important, make sure to mark them as required.
• Concerned that answers may be too long? Add data validation
• Collaborators can be added to the questionnaire. Add them by clicking the three vertical dots in the upper right hand corner.
• Turn on email notifications to receive updates when form responses are received.

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Once the data is collected, can choose to share it in different ways:

• Use Google's "Publish to the Web" option.
• Download the answers as a .csv file. Copy and paste into a flyer or webpage.
• Share the document with someone who can add the content to a webpage or post on the organization's site.