Elections in hybrid regimes contain elements of both uncertainty of process and uncertainty of outcome. They are often characterized by clientilistic practices, but such practices often co-exist with more policy-oriented relationships. This paper argues that the degree to which actors choose either or both of these strategies depend on the quality of information they receive, both from other voters and from other elites. By using ethnographic material from recent electoral contests in Uganda, Kenya, and Zambia, it looks at what kind of challenges the people responsible for bringing out the local votes –party mobilizers – face in terms of information, how they respond to these challenges, and how variation in challenges and response strategies account for different types of voter-mobilizer and mobilizer-elite relationships.