Simone Lawson
With the 2024 election approaching, Americans have been experiencing a surge in political text messages. These messages are a cost-effective way for political campaigns to directly reach voters' personal devices. While some people find these messages annoying, others are concerned about the potential for scams and the proliferation of unsolicited messages since a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court ruling loosened consent requirements.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Reason for political text messages | Political campaigns have increasingly turned to text messaging as a preferred mode of communication due to its relatively low cost and high engagement rates |
| Who sends them? | Political campaigns, data brokers, and volunteers |
| How do they get your number? | Voter registration lists, consumer purchases, social media activity, and other sources |
| How to stop them? | Reply with "STOP", "ENDALL", or "CANCEL"; change phone settings to filter out unknown senders; use a filtering app; block the number; or change your phone number |
| Risks | Malicious links, personal information scams, and malware |
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What You'll Learn
- Texting is a low-cost, high-engagement mode of communication
- Voter information is public and accessible to campaigns
- Texts are sent from volunteers' personal phones, bypassing regulations
- Texts are a direct line to voters' devices, allowing targeted messages
- Texts are more effective than emails or calls, increasing voter engagement
Texting is a low-cost, high-engagement mode of communication
Political campaigns have increasingly turned to text messaging as a preferred mode of communication, surpassing traditional methods like mailers or phone calls. Texting is a low-cost, high-engagement mode of communication that has become pivotal to outreach strategies. Unlike emails languishing unread in an inbox or phone calls going unanswered, text messages are immediate and seen promptly by recipients. This direct line to voters' personal devices allows campaigns to deliver targeted messages, solicit donations, and provide crucial updates—all with a few taps on a smartphone screen.
Text messages are also more likely to be read than emails, and younger generations are more likely to engage with a text than a phone call from an unknown number. Campaigns can create detailed voter profiles using data from voter registration lists, consumer purchases, and social media activity, allowing them to target specific demographics. Texting enables campaigns to reach a wider audience, including younger voters, and to send targeted messages to specific voter segments.
The low cost of sending text messages makes it an attractive option for political campaigns, especially when combined with the high engagement rates. Campaigns can send out thousands of text messages for a relatively low price, making it a cost-effective way to reach a large number of people. The high engagement rates mean that enough people respond to make texting a valuable tool for campaigns.
However, the increase in political text messages has also led to concerns about privacy and unwanted messages. Voter information, including phone numbers, is often publicly available, and campaigns can access this information to send text messages without explicit consent. While there are regulations in place, such as the requirement for campaigns to register with a relevant text-messaging registry and comply with opt-in and opt-out procedures, the rules can be confusing, and unwanted political texts can fill inboxes, creating a challenge for recipients to distinguish legitimate messages from potential scams.
To manage the influx of political text messages, individuals can take steps such as replying with "STOP," blocking numbers, or using filtering apps to manage unwanted messages. While texting is a powerful tool for political campaigns, it's important for senders to respect recipients' preferences and provide clear opt-out instructions to maintain trust and avoid frustrating their audience.
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Voter information is public and accessible to campaigns
Political campaigns have increasingly embraced text messaging as a preferred mode of communication, surpassing traditional methods like mailers or phone calls. This is due to the relatively low cost and high engagement rates of text messaging. Text messages offer a sense of immediacy and are more likely to be seen promptly by recipients. Voter registration data is crucial to democracy in the United States. Public voter lists are a vital tool that candidates use to communicate with potential constituents. This data is used by campaigns and others promoting voter participation to create detailed voter profiles that can be used to target specific demographics.
Nearly every state in the US has a public file containing essential information about voters' eligibility, including address, age, districts, precinct, and polling location. This information is used by groups outside of the government, such as journalists, scholars, and election integrity experts, to independently verify the rights of voters and the integrity of US elections. Additionally, election security is a critical concern, as hacking into a voter database could change election outcomes. Therefore, maintaining the confidentiality of addresses is essential for protecting voters' safety and privacy.
While some states have implemented address confidentiality programs to protect the personal information of vulnerable individuals, such as domestic violence victims, voters' emails, phone numbers, and full birth dates should also be excluded from the public version of the voter file. States can implement measures such as "fingerprinting" each copy of the voter file to trace any misuse and increasing penalties for commercial or criminal misuse of voter data.
It is worth noting that political campaigns must follow specific rules, such as obtaining prior express consent for autodialed or prerecorded voice calls and text messages to mobile phones. Additionally, campaigns should honor opt-out requests if recipients reply with "STOP." Voters who wish to reduce the number of political text messages they receive can change their phone settings to filter out unknown senders or utilize spam-blocking features on their smartphones.
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Texts are sent from volunteers' personal phones, bypassing regulations
Political campaigns have been increasingly turning to text messaging as a preferred mode of communication, surpassing traditional methods like mailers or phone calls. This is due to the relatively low cost and high engagement rates of text messages. Text messages are seen promptly by recipients, offering a sense of immediacy. Campaigns can deliver targeted messages, solicit donations, and provide crucial updates on campaign events.
However, this has led to a rise in unwanted political text messages, with many people receiving daily political texts that they consider annoying or invasive. These messages can also be dangerous, as bad actors may exploit them to deceive recipients into clicking malicious links or divulging personal information.
To comply with regulations, political campaigns must register with a relevant text-messaging registry to verify their legitimacy and ensure compliance with industry standards for opt-in and opt-out procedures. Nevertheless, some campaigns find loopholes to send texts without a software application. They use volunteers' personal cell phones to send texts directly to voters' phones, which is considered person-to-person (P2P) messaging. This practice is not subject to the same stringent regulations as A2P messaging.
By using volunteers' personal phones, campaigns can bypass the need for prior express consent, which is required for political text messages sent using autodialer technology. This loophole has been exploited by campaigns to send texts to publicly available voter registration numbers without asking for consent. As a result, many people receive political texts that they never signed up for or did not realize they had consented to receive.
To stop receiving political text messages, individuals can reply with "STOP," ENDALL, or CANCEL. Additionally, they can change their phone settings to filter out unknown senders or install filtering apps to flag potential spam. However, this may result in missing important text messages from other senders.
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Texts are a direct line to voters' devices, allowing targeted messages
Political campaigns have increasingly embraced text messaging as a pivotal component of their outreach strategies. Text messaging offers a sense of immediacy that other forms of communication, such as emails or phone calls, often lack.
Text messages are seen promptly by recipients, and campaigns can deliver targeted messages, solicit donations, mobilize volunteers, and provide crucial updates on campaign events—all with a few taps on a smartphone screen. This direct line to voters' devices allows campaigns to reach people who might otherwise be less engaged in politics.
Campaigns often use data brokers who specialize in collecting and selling consumer data, including voter information, to create detailed voter profiles. This enables them to send targeted messages to specific demographics. Text messages are also relatively inexpensive to send, and younger generations are more likely to engage with them than with phone calls from unknown numbers.
However, the influx of political text messages can be overwhelming for voters, leading to frustration and concerns about privacy and security. Many people receive texts from campaigns they did not consent to or even know about. While there are ways to opt out of receiving political texts, such as replying "STOP," it can be challenging to completely unsubscribe from all political messaging. Additionally, bad actors may exploit political texts to deceive recipients into clicking malicious links or divulging personal information.
As a result, it is essential for voters to treat political texts with caution and verify their legitimacy before clicking any links or providing personal information.
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Texts are more effective than emails or calls, increasing voter engagement
Political campaigns have increasingly embraced text messaging as a preferred mode of communication, surpassing traditional methods like mailers or phone calls. This is because text messages are more effective than emails or phone calls in increasing voter engagement.
Text messages offer a sense of immediacy and are more likely to be seen promptly by recipients compared to emails, which often languish unread, or phone calls, which may go unanswered. This direct line to voters' personal devices allows campaigns to deliver targeted messages, solicit donations, and provide crucial updates on campaign events, all with just a few taps on a smartphone screen. The relatively low cost of sending texts, coupled with higher engagement rates, makes text messaging a powerful tool for political campaigns.
Additionally, text messaging enables campaigns to reach younger generations more effectively. Younger individuals are more likely to engage with texts than phone calls from unknown numbers, making text messaging a strategic choice for campaigns aiming to connect with younger voters.
Text messages also facilitate personalized communication. Campaigns can create detailed voter profiles by collecting and analyzing consumer data, including voter registration lists, social media activity, and other publicly available information. This enables them to send tailored messages to specific demographics, increasing the likelihood of engagement and impact.
While text messaging has proven effective in increasing voter engagement, it is important to respect individuals' privacy and preferences. Campaigns should always obtain prior express consent from recipients, especially when using autodialer technology, and honor opt-out requests. Recipients have the right to revoke consent at any time by replying with keywords like "STOP," "ENDALL," or "CANCEL."
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Frequently asked questions
Political campaigns have increasingly turned to text messaging as a preferred mode of communication, surpassing traditional methods like mailers or phone calls because of the relatively low cost and high engagement rates.
Your number may be sourced from publicly available voter registration information. If you’re registered with a political party or affiliated with a voting-related organization, you may have willingly handed over your phone number.
Legitimate text campaign operators should remove you from the list if you just reply with a keyword like "STOP", “ENDALL”, or “CANCEL”. You can also change your phone settings to filter out all unknown senders or install a third-party filtering app.
Not always. Sometimes bad actors exploit political texts to deceive recipients into clicking malicious links or divulging personal information. Treat political texts as alerts and never click through or interact with them unless you can verify that they’re legitimate.
