There's been a lot of talk about how our very democracy is on the ballot this November. No matter who you vote for — all sides have a version of this. For the first time in my life before a major election, the "health of our democracy" is topping polls as an issue.

The elections we had have been governed by a complex of rules we've inherited from a time and place where people recognized on some level that both sides needed to contribute to the rules of the game. In a sense, they were...legitimate.

Now we are entering a period where there have been cases and expansion of single parties deciding the rules of an election, without concern for everyone having input. This all but guarantees to have losers questioning the legitimacy of elections from everything from school board to president,  where questions largely did not exist in the past.

Deciding Election Rules Together Was And Needs To Be A Nonpartisan Issue.

Assuming we're stuck with this "single party" trend for some time — it feels akin to putting toothpaste back into a bottle with all sorts of politicians right now squeezing all over the place with reckless abandon — we all have another concern. Are our candidates themselves legitimate? What does that even mean?

For the longest time, we have had broadcast media — one voice that was supposed to appeal to everyone. The broadcast system disconnected people from their government , while the internet slowly broke people into tribes.

This isn't new anymore. Yet, despite a ton of fanfare, the way we organize our politicians for elected office has not caught up. A tremendous amount of money this cycle is still going to be spent on television, despite not knowing the last time I actually saw a TV ad. Even my 70+-year-old parents are cutting their cords and are hard to reach with ads.

Social networks like Facebook are on the decline. Newer ones like TikTok do not accept political ads and almost all campaigns this year don't know how to use it at all, let alone have the community you need in order to effectively use it. There are a whole lotta people who don't even know there's an election happening in a few weeks, let alone who's running and what they're about.

The Democrats' reliance on a younger and more diverse base has them much further behind because the way they reach their base changes more frequently. Despite an early lead on digital in web 2.0 long in the rearview mirror, the disappearance of places like the New Organizing Institute & the appearance of some tech-forward initiatives that have mostly ignored legitimacy — the Democrats are in fact, behind on making sure their candidates are actually widely popular — especially with our diverse base.

Creating Candidate Legitimacy Is Not Just One Thing.

I recently visited the district of Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz. Everyone in his district seems to know his name. When they have a primary challenger, people tend to activate. In a sense,  he has built an actual relationship with his constituency, convincing them he's representing their general and sometimes specific interests . Above all else, he has even reached out to people who don't like him or know his name.

How Do We Solve Our Legitimacy Problem?

While this seems like a new problem — the older solutions before the mass media actually work better. Think of ward bosses in Chicago — block by block making sure their areas are represented — but with an extreme update — actually including the interests and sentiments of all of those people.

Include Everyone   We need to again see our elections as the addition of a myriad of different groups instead of a subtraction.

Don't forget to define yourself as a candidate  Too often this cycle, Democrats are running against a "crazy person." This strategy could have some really dangerous consequences. Talking about your opponent so often can increase their name recognition and appeal. An over-reliance on assuming your opponent will fall down, while failing to fully give supporters of diverse backgrounds a reason to vote for you smells an awful lot like 2016. Give people multiple clear and compelling reasons to vote for you, no matter who you're running against.

Be About Something as a Person While the issues of the day are important , making them fit who you are as a person, over time , makes it easy for people to make the case for why people should vote for you.

Be a Real Person  This is hard if you're not one , but people don't trust people they can't relate to. If you want to be a legitimate candidate and not just a party-line placeholder, people need to get a sense that you have actual interests, people like you and that you are someone they could relate to. It has often been said it needs to be someone they can have a beer with , but one of the main moments where I questioned Hillary's legitimacy was when she tried to have a beer. People can relate to hard-working people who are smart, as long as they have friends and seem to be real people.

Stop talking AT people   Voters often know what crazy is for themselves and have made their own determinations. Having a politician repeatedly define it for them is condescending. Strong attacks against your opponent if you can land them effectively is a different story.

Paid ads can't buy legitimacy alone  Political ad spending does not amount to legitimacy or a winning result. We will unfortunately have quite a few more examples of this during the present cycle , but clearly Donald Trump in 2016 is something to study if you think you can spend your way to victory. Yes, having some paid media is important, but if you don't have a legitimate base or you neglect building one  —  in tough races, no matter what your polls may say — on Election Day you will likely have a bad result.

Let your supporters help make your case  Instead of doing just about everything to try to guess or figure out how to include dozens of different groups in a campaign — why not just include them? Have your supporters make the case for you — in their own words as often as you possibly can. Even if you are an incredible candidate, no one person can speak for or TO anyone these days. It helps having people make the case for you, early and often.

Show Not Tell. Be Visual.  It's better to show visual things online than to have long pre-approved statements or lectures. It's also more inclusive when dealing with people of varying backgrounds. A picture often says a lot more than a prepared speech or a rant.

Look Popular   Elections are popularity contests. Looking popular leads to more popularity. If you're actually popular and you're not showing it, you won't continue to be. There are multiple ways to do this, all of which don't involve ads  —  having rallies, good sign penetration  —  but also having a dominant online presence on every platform you can.

Prove the Inclusion every day  The work of legitimacy doesn't end on Election Day  --  it begins. When you use an idea from a community, use the same channels you've built to get them involved in the legislation. Tell them the result. Do it often and early. Keep your supporters engaged.

Daniel Beckmann is the CEO and co-founder of Soapboxx, a video collaboration and distribution platform that helps major organizations, governments, campaigns & brands lift up and include the voices of their strongest supporters in pursuit of progress. He was director of supporter-generated video for Obama's historic 2008 campaign.

Elections