If the impeachment “trial” in the Senate has shown us anything, it is that we the voters are going to have to be the ones to hold Trump and the complicit Republicans accountable. They have shown time and time again, both at the state and federal level, that they are willing to sacrifice our Constitution and our democracy in order to get and keep power.
That ends in November.
But winning in November means we have to start activating and energizing voters right now. We can’t wait until the week before Election Day to get their attention. We need to be planting seeds now to make sure they will show up and vote for Democratic candidates up and down the ballot.
Introducing, Open Progress
Today, I want to recommend Open Progress to you. You know about door-to-door canvassing and phone-banking, right? Well, they do that but with texts.
I’ve done multiple campaigns with them, both for huge statewide races and super-local races. The best part is that I get a ton of flexibility working with them. I can see what days they’ll be running texting campaigns well ahead of time and can help whenever I’m available to give them some of my time.
Open Progress let me know that in 2020, they’ll be focusing on the battleground states that are important for the presidential, U.S. Senate, and state legislature elections. They will also be targeting states with key Attorney General races.
For example, right now, they are reaching out to Democratic voters in North Carolina, Texas, and Arizona and identifying those that are pro-choice. This is so they’ll have a super-targeted list of voters to reach out later in the election cycle. And this is only the campaign they’re running right now. You can always check their calendar on their website to see what campaigns they’re currently running. You can see that HERE.
How It Works
Super important point: You will NOT be using your personal cell phone number.
Nope, you’ll be using their program, called TextOut, that you access through a web browser. You’ll be sending your texts through that program, but for the voters, it’ll appear as a normal text on their phone. The text is already pre-written for you, and you just send them. A lot of the time, voters will see your text but not respond. But if they do (yeah!!), Open Progress has nearly every possible response all laid out and waiting for you. It’s like they’ve thought about literally everything a voter might say back at you and pre-written a response for you. You just choose the right response, click, and send it. Did I mention I think they are awesome?
In addition to the texting platform, they also have a Slack channel that they’ll ask you to sign up for. This is so they can communicate with all of their texting volunteers, and also is a great platform in case you have any questions getting set up, or once you’re in the middle of a texting campaign. I’ve found them to be super responsive. I don’t know how they do it, but they are ON IT.
Check out their short explanation HERE, and check out the testimonials HERE.
At Political Charge, we have a bias for action. Taking action is the only way we’re going to get the results we want in November. Every voter that is spoken to, every voter who receives a text is another voter who is made aware just how important their vote is this year. Thank you for taking a look at Open Progress. And since I’ve used it, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me!
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Thank you for this. I will check this out. My anger at what’s going on right now is as high as ever. I’ve been thinking about ways to affect change in this years election. This looks like something I may be interested in!
I really do recommend it. Give yourself a little time the first time you text—the Open Progress folks will look over your work and be there to give you pointers as necessary. But once you’ve got it, you can send so many texts! It feels good to do the work and gratifying when you connect with an enthusiastic voter!
I’ve only done anything like that once in my life. It was when I phone banked for Obama in 2008. I have to admit, it made me feel proud to do so.
I’ve found that it feels really, really good. You just KNOW that you’re making a difference.
I’ve never felt more motivated!
So I received a text today that said it was from a company called VBC Research. I googled it and there are quite a few others that have received texts from this company going back to 2016. My concern with randomly texting people is they will be As unsure about it being a scam as I am about the one I got today. In a world where text messages are regularly used to scam, smish, fish or whatever other teen you want to use, is this really the best way to reach people?
Hi ltrlredx –
Yes! Texting has a huge impact on races and it’s where the majority of where Americans are at. More than 6 in 10 Americans of all ages send and receive text messages, enabling progressive campaigns and organizations to talk with people like never before. Check out how texting has made an impact here: https://www.textout.io/case-studies
The best, and most effective, way to engage voters is to canvass. But let’s say you live in true blue California and want to help make a difference in a swing state. Phone banking and text banking is the next best way.
Term not teen, sorry for the typo
I did some texting with them for the November election in KY and I agree it was pretty easy to get started! Planning with a friend to get together every Friday to take action, this seems like a good place to go if they’re running campaigns on Fridays – will check the calendar!
Great! Thanks for jumping in to help, Nicola.