Every campaign has voters that are hard to reach, people in rural areas, transient housing, or disconnected from traditional media, or simply wary of outreach. Texting reaches some of these voters that mail and phone miss, but it isn't a magic solution, and the honest approach is to understand where text helps, where it doesn't, and how to combine it with other channels to close the gap. Here's how.
Who are hard-to-reach voters?
Voters that standard channels struggle with: people in rural or remote areas where canvassing is inefficient, transient or unstably-housed voters whose mailing address is unreliable, people disconnected from local news and mail, and voters wary of unfamiliar contact. What they share is that the usual voter-contact channels, the door, the mailbox, the landline, don't reliably land, so they're under-contacted and often under-mobilized despite being reachable in principle.
Where does texting help?
Where a phone travels with the person and a mailbox doesn't. Text reaches a voter wherever they and their phone are, which helps for rural voters far from a canvass, transient voters without a stable address, and people who ignore mail and don't answer calls. For a voter whose mobile number is the most reliable way to reach them, text is often the best, or only, practical channel. That makes texting genuinely valuable for populations other methods struggle with.
Where are the limits?
Text isn't universal either. Reaching a hard-to-reach voter by text still requires their number and their consent, which can be harder to obtain for exactly these populations. Some hard-to-reach voters are hard to reach by any channel, including text. And wary voters may distrust an unfamiliar text as much as any other outreach, which is where a trusted messenger matters. So text closes part of the gap, not all of it.
How do you close the gap?
Combine channels and lean on trust. Use text where a mobile number is the most reliable contact, relational outreach to reach wary voters through people they trust, and other channels where they fit, an integrated approach reaches more hard-to-reach voters than any single method. And prioritize getting these voters' consent early, through registration drives, community partners, and events, so you can text them when it counts. The goal is a layered strategy where text does the reaching a mobile phone enables, and other tactics fill in around it.
Frequently asked questions
Who are hard-to-reach voters?
Voters the usual channels struggle with, rural or remote residents, transient or unstably-housed people, those disconnected from mail and local news, and wary voters. Their mailing address or landline is unreliable, so they're under-contacted.
How does texting reach hard-to-reach voters?
By reaching a voter wherever they and their phone are, which helps for rural voters far from a canvass, transient voters without a stable address, and people who ignore mail and calls. A mobile number is often the most reliable contact.
What are the limits of texting for hard-to-reach voters?
It still needs their number and consent, which can be harder to get for these populations, some are hard to reach by any channel, and wary voters may distrust an unfamiliar text. Text closes part of the gap, not all of it.
Keep reading: relational texting and where texting fits in an integrated campaign. For carrier registration, see The Campaign Registry.