With more and more states allowing no-excuse absentee voting, campaigns, and organizations are implementing ballot chase GOTV to remind voters to fill out and return
their ballots. DC and 35 states allow no-excuse absentee voting, while states like Washington, California, and Colorado now conduct their elections entirely by mail. If you’re working in any of these states, ballot chase is vital to your GOTV operation.
Live phone calls are a great way to remind voters of mailing deadlines and procedures. In a scientific study conducted in Washington state, a single live ballot chase phone call to Latino voters increased turnout by 1.6 percentage points among successful contacts. For voters who tend to vote only in Presidential elections turnout went up by 5.7 percentage points.
If you have limited funding and can only contact voters who have Ballots in hand once, we recommend running ballot chase calls between 3 to 5 days prior to the date the ballots must be in the mail or dropped off.
History shows that voters usually return their vote by mail ballots in two waves - an early wave and then a late wave. It is often said that this pattern looks like a bell curve. If you have enough funding, we suggest one set of calls early - right after voters receive ballots and one wave right before the ballots are due to those who have not returned their ballots. Often when people have returned their ballots, it is on the voter file. We can help you use this information to make your chase calls even more effective. Finally, getting regular updates on who has already turned in their ballots means those folks can be taken out of your contact universe.
One caveat: live calls are sometimes not the preferred method of contact for the youngest of voters. We recommend using voter file Texting to remind them to return their ballots.
Stones’ Phones has developed some of the best testing GOTV methods ever deployed. Check out: Convince Yourself to Vote and Adopt-A-Voter.
So how much does it cost? In the 2019 edition of Get Out the Vote! by Alan Gerber and Donald Green, the cost per additional vote was only $33 with phone calls. Compare this to the $36 that is standard for GOTV to in-person mobilization.
Phone calls are a cost-effective and efficient way to do ballot chase GOTV. Contact us today to reach more people than ever before with ballot chase calls!