I’m The Person Who Sent You That Political Campaign Text. Here’s What I Want You To Know.
By: Rebekah Kuschmider
Tags: Democrats, Election 2020, Get Out The Vote, Politics

I’m The Person Who Sent You That Political Campaign Text. Here’s What I Want You To Know.

I know get-out-the-vote texts are annoying but I don’t care

Photo by Maxim Ilyahov on Unsplash

Hi! I’m the person who has sent you a text from a political campaign. I’ve been joining text banks every week since September because I really, really, REALLY want a new president elected. Doing voter outreach is my way of being part of the solution.

I’ve noticed that as we get closer to the election, voters don’t want the outreach. And I get that. I really do. But I’ve done the mental math and I’ve decided that I’m willing to annoy hundreds of people if it means I can help just one person get to the polls this year.

And I do mean hundreds. I send texts via rapid dialer apps that protect the privacy of both the text-er and the text-ee. I only see a name on the screen and never use my personal phone to contact voters. The apps mean I can send out texts in batches of 300 at a time and field responses for days afterward. I’ve texted thousands of people since September. The people who do text back run the gamut from excited and positive to hostile and obscene.

People like me usually exist in a green bubble so I wanted to break out of the screen and tell you a little about me before you growl and stab the delete button with an angry finger.

I’m a real person. If you’re getting a text that says, “Hi! This is SoAndSo from SuchAndSuch,” that’s the truth. There is a real person with that name texting you. It’s not a chatbot. (You can identify chatbot texts because they prompt you to respond by typing a particular word or number.) The messages sent by real people end with an open question and invite you into a live conversation. I’m a real person who would probably remind you of your high school librarian. I’m a middle-aged white lady. Most of the other people I’ve met volunteering for these events are also middle-aged white people. Some are older white people. Most of us wear reading glasses to text. We’re not cool or edgy. We’re just people who have the time to volunteer this way so we feel a responsibility to help. Hold that image in your mind when you get campaign texts. Don’t send me pictures of your penis. I mean, nothing is stopping you from sending me pictures of your dick but, let me assure you, I have seen better. Do you really want a stranger in reading glasses who reminds you of your school librarian examining your dick and finding it wanting? I’ve heard it all before. I’m a middle-aged political activist. I’m not offended by a little cussing. I’m also not impressed by it. Your number was obtained legally. Your info came from your voter registration. That data is available from your state board of elections. It’s the same info that campaigns have been acquiring for decades. In the past, you got mailers and people knocking on your door. In 2020, you get calls and texts. If you want voter outreach to stop, you will need to change state laws about how voter registration information is shared. I’m not the same person who texted you yesterday. I’m probably not even from the same campaign. Every political campaign and a whole lot of advocacy organizations are running ground operations to turn out voters. Most of them use the same web app for texting, so it seems like the same entity every time. It’s not. You need to unsubscribe from all of them. If you want texts to stop, reply STOP. We are legally required to stop texting if you clearly ask us to do so. Saying “Stop” or “Don’t text me again” or “Take me off your list” means I will opt you out of future texts if you ask for that. But, like I said before, I can’t share that information with every texting operation in the country. The next text you get will be from a different campaign, and you’ll have to start the whole process again with them. Sorry. I’m not persuadable. I’m a volunteer enduring unimpressive dick pics to get Democrats elected. Calling me names and yelling at me to vote for Trump might make you feel cool, but it won’t change my mind. Save us both the keystrokes and just type STOP. I’ll opt you out, and we’ll never have to speak to each other again. We’ll both be happier that way. The data isn’t perfect. I’m sorry if you’re getting texts addressed to the person who used to have your number. Sometimes the campaign lists have outdated or incorrect information. I am not lying when I say I’m making a note of that. I am checking a box that says “wrong number” and the campaign will change it in their files. But again, only that campaign I’m working on gets the update. The other ones who have the same list don’t get that news. I don’t think you’re too stupid to vote. Some people complain that the barrage of texts is making them feel like campaigns don’t trust them to vote but that’s not it. Campaigns are afraid you are too busy to vote. We hope that we catch you at a moment when you can grab your mail-in ballot and fill it out right then. We want to share info about ballot drop-off sites near you to save you the step of looking it up. We’re trying to make it easier. We’re sorry that our sincere desire to help is overwhelming and annoying. However, we are terrified that if we don’t offer, you might not know what you need to know.

The calls and emails and texts are going to keep coming until November 3, 2020. Until then, please remember that the people on the other end of the message are doing this because we care so much about America that we want to get involved in the Democratic process.