Voter contact is the umbrella term for how a campaign reaches voters directly to persuade them or turn them out, the doors, the phones, the texts, the mail, the digital ads. It's the core work of a field and voter-outreach operation, and texting has become one of its most important channels. Understanding what voter contact is, and where texting fits, helps a campaign think about text as part of a whole rather than a standalone tactic.
What does voter contact mean?
It means direct communication with individual voters aimed at moving them, either persuading them toward your candidate or getting them to vote. It's distinct from broad advertising and earned media, which reach audiences at large; voter contact is targeted at specific voters in your universe, usually identified from the voter file. The classic voter-contact channels are the door (canvassing), the phone (phone banking), the mail, and now text and digital, each a way to reach a voter one at a time or in a targeted segment.
What are the main voter-contact channels?
Each with its own strengths:
- Canvassing (the doors). The most personal and persuasive, and the most resource-intensive.
- Phone banking. A live conversation when someone answers, though answer rates have fallen.
- Mail. Broad, tangible, but one-way and slow.
- Texting. Fast, high-reach, two-way, cheap, the reach-and-mobilize workhorse.
- Digital. Reaches new people and drives opt-ins, though it's more advertising than direct contact.
Where does texting fit?
As the fast, high-reach, two-way channel for people you have a relationship with. Texting excels at mobilization, reminders, fundraising, and persuasion of your identified universe, the jobs where getting read fast and reliably matters. It's less suited to introducing the campaign to strangers (digital and the doors) or long-form content (mail). In a modern voter-contact program, texting is often the connective tissue: it reinforces the doors, follows up the calls, and delivers the GOTV push, integrated with the other channels rather than replacing them. It didn't displace voter contact; it became one of its most-used forms.
Frequently asked questions
What is voter contact?
Direct communication with individual voters to persuade them or turn them out, through channels like canvassing, phone banking, mail, texting, and digital. It's targeted at specific voters, distinct from broad advertising.
What are the main voter-contact channels?
Canvassing (doors), phone banking, mail, texting, and digital. Each has strengths: doors are most persuasive but resource-intensive, texting is fast and high-reach, mail is broad but one-way, and so on.
Where does texting fit in voter contact?
As the fast, high-reach, two-way channel for people you have a relationship with, excelling at mobilization, reminders, fundraising, and persuasion of your identified universe. It reinforces and connects the other channels rather than replacing them.
Keep reading: where texting fits in an integrated campaign and texting vs phone banking. For carrier registration, see The Campaign Registry.