A study from researchers at Princeton University and the University of Michigan showed that sending text message reminders increases youth voter turnout.
The study, done in collaboration with Working Assets Wireless and Student PIRG’s New Voters Project, observed that text messages sent on the eve of the 2006 election led to a 4.2 percent boost in youth voting.
“The youth vote matters – 18 to 31 year-olds will represent more than one-third of the country’s electorate by the year 2015,” stated Ellynne Bannon, Director of the Student PIRG’s New Voter’s Project.
Research done by the Student PIRG’s New Voters Project shows that the most effective way to get young people to vote is by directly asking them.
Since young voters are considered a mobile population, text messages are a more effective form of communication than other traditional campaign tools. Fifty-nine percent of the voters who received a text message reminder found it helpful, while 1 percent reported that the reminder made them less likely to vote.
The text message reminders cost $1.56 per additional vote generated.
The study compared this to other forms of campaigning such as traditional phone calls, which had about the same effectiveness as text messaging but cost $20 per additional vote generated. Door-to-door canvassing had a 7-9 percent increase but cost about $30 per additional vote generated.
Several different text message reminders were tested, and a short, to-the-point reminder was found most effective. The messages were sent to half of a group of about 12,000 new registrants chosen for the study between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. on the eve of the election. Of the half who received text messages, 56 percent voted, while 53.2 percent of the half that did not receive a reminder voted.
Working Assets is a wireless telephone company that sponsors national and international social justice, environmental and civic participation programs. Its customers vote online to decide which programs receive the funds raised. The company has been involved in voter registration efforts since 2003, during which time they have helped register more than 1.2 million voters.
Student PIRG’s New Voters Project has been in existence since 2003 and is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that works to increase youth participation in the voting process and draw the attention of political leaders to the issues of young people.
“Although it has not been fully decided exactly how we plan on incorporating this study into our campaign, we are definitely excited by the results of this study and are in the process of seeing just where the benefits of text messaging will lead both our campaign and the youth in our country,” said Gloria Vidal, media director of Student PIRG’s New Voters Project.
MASSPIRG has also been involved in the New Voters project here at UMass, working to register new voters for the 2006 elections.
“I don’t think a text would make me more likely to vote if I was already planning on it,” said UMass sophomore Leah Tassinari. “Maybe it would help with people who forgot it was Election Day.”
Caitlin Quinn is a Collegian staff writer. She can be reached at [email protected].
