How To Reach Un-Textable Voters

This post is sponsored by Campaign HQ.

The biggest threat to your texting program is something you might not even be paying attention to: opt-outs and landlines. When every vote counts and election results are razor thin, you need a plan to reach ALL of the people who could vote for you. Your target universe must include people outside of traditional texting – those with landlines and those who may have opted-out of getting your texts. If you’re not accounting for ways to communicate with those people directly before Election Day, it will cost you the race. 

AARP reports that of 45-64 year-olds, nearly 53% still have landline phones and of those 65 or older, 76% still utilize their landline phone. We know that traditionally these voters are more reliable and will be voting either early or on Election Day. If a campaign is only sending text messages, they’re missing out on intentionally communicating with people who are significantly more likely to vote.

Another danger of a “text only” approach to voter contact is opt-outs. 

Even under the best conditions, every text message you send generates opt-outs. That's with quality messages tailored to your audience, effectively reaching supporters, undecideds, and low-propensity voters. But most campaigns don't execute this thoroughly, leading to high opt-out rates and dollars wasted texting people who are dead, hostile, or already voted. 

If you’re like most campaigns, you don’t even realize this is happening when your vendor just loads the same list as last time, scrubs the opt-outs, and continues to send repeated messages using the same medium. 

As a result, by the time you’re at the last day of early voting or to request a mail-in ballot, it’s not unusual for a campaign to go “radio silent” on 10-20% (or more) of their target universe because of text opt-outs and ignoring the landlines. 

During the 2022 election, the NRA launched a massive ground effort in support of Sheriff Joe Lombardo campaign for governor of Nevada. They knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors and sent nearly half a million texts. But over time, they amassed a list of over 40,000 voters who had opted-out of their text messages. Additionally, there were 26,000 of their targeted voters with a landline, but no cell phone. In both instances, they were leaving voters who would vote for Lombardo by the wayside. 

The solution is to match the voters to the best mode of communication … rather than having vendors apply their tools to your voters. You need a plan that incorporates a multi-pronged approach, to ensure that no voter is left in the dark. 

Make sure your plan includes: 

Automated Calls

Automated calls are the fastest and most affordable way to deliver your message or survey a large audience. Using a script that delivers the most succinct, powerful message possible is essential. Hosting an event or earned a really great endorsement? These are also a very effective way to share that information directly with voters. But beware of new FCC rules that could trip you up, and make sure your vendor has a plan to keep you in compliance. 

Live Calls

You can effectively introduce your candidate to persuadable voters with live advocacy phone calls. Get low propensity voters out to the polls and encourage supporters to make a plan to vote, whether by mail, early, or at the polls. Using a professional call center will also help you connect with those who have not heard from your campaign, taking pressure off your volunteers and staff to focus at the doors, where they have the most impact. 

Telephone Townhalls

Your campaign and candidate can reach an audience of hundreds or even thousands with a telephone townhall. This will allow you the opportunity to learn what voters think, engage with them and identify supporters or volunteers.

In the case of Lombardo for Governor, persuading and turning out the more than 65,000 un-textable voters with a comprehensive phone strategy made the difference. The margin of victory was roughly only 16,000 votes. 

Every vote truly matters and having a strategy to successfully reach every voter is essential.

Nicole Schlinger is the President of Campaign HQ, a full-service texting and call center.