What is early voter vote tripling (EVVT)?
Early voter vote tripling (EVVT) targets the potential relational organizers no one else is talking to: early voters.
EVVT is a low-lift way to re-engage these voters in the political process, and leverage their networks to drive turnout!
We are simply asking people who have already voted: “Can we count on you to remind three friends to vote as well?”
EVVT in four easy steps
Step one: Create your list.
With EVVT, determining who to contact has already been done for you! If you have access to the voter file, simply pull a list of people who have voted early.
Your list will grow as people continue to vote during the early voting period. So, we recommend pulling a more than one list to ensure that your data is as up to date as possible.
Note: We do not recommend collecting pledges past the Friday before Election Day. This is to ensure that you have both a plan and enough time to clean data before sending your reminder on Monday.
Step two: Create your SMS script.
Here, you’ll find our EVVT script with recommended language based on our research.
Need guidance around how to integrate our scripts into your texting program? We may be able to help! Check out our tech guides.
Step three: Conduct EVVT
You may be wondering, “How often should we conduct EVVT?”
Great question! The amount of EVVT rounds you conduct will depend largely on the length of your state's early voting period.
Here’s what we recommend:
If early vote window is 1 week or less = 1 round
If early vote window is 2-4 weeks = 2 rounds
If early vote window is 4+ weeks = 3 rounds
Train your volunteers
The good news is, many campaign volunteers are already somewhat familiar with the concept of texting voters! That means that training them to conduct EVVT via SMS should be fairly simple!
You can find our EVVT Volunteer Training slide deck here.
Ask early voters to make the vote tripling pledge via SMS
Remember, vote tripling via SMS is a two-step process.
The first step is asking early voters if they will agree to remind three friends, and collecting their first names. The second step (which we will explain in step four) is sending out text message reminders to the early voter to remind the three friends they listed to get out and vote. See example below.
Step four: Send out reminders
Data cleaning
You'll need to commit to cleaning your data before sending reminders.
Data cleaning refers to the process of ensuring that your vote tripling pledge data is formatted correctly before importing it into your text platform to send reminders.
When we say formatted, we mean the file has three columns: (i) tripler’s first name, (ii) cell phone number, and (iii) the 3 names of the people they’ve pledged to remind. The columns should be titles in accordance with your texting service’s instructions.
Note: The data in the friends’ names column (iii), may need to be revised for proper capitalization, and format (ex. “your sister, Andy, and Mary”, or “your three friends” for when a tripler pledges without giving 3 names.)
Determine how you will clean data and who will manage the process. Please reach out to Vote Rev in advance with your data needs. If you think you'll need help cleaning data, contact your partner success manager at Vote Rev.
Sending reminder texts
Our recommendation is that you send at least one reminder on the Monday before Election Day. If you can send more than 1 reminder, then opt to send the additional one the week before Election Day.
If you need help determining the best dates for sending out reminder texts in your state, we’ve developed this tool to help you create your timeline: link.
