Menu
The Voting Project team focuses on experimentation and testing to inform our work and pivot our outreach strategies to ensure we make the biggest impact. When launching a new campaign we will test the messaging, creative, outreach format, and other parts of the campaign to ensure the final product reaches the most people and ultimately impacts voters. Below are some of our results in key states:
The Voting Project team launched an experiment to study the ways that several types of messaging and modes of contact can increase turnout under the state’s new no-excuse absentee ballot laws. We found that social pressure postcards increased voter turnout by 2.1%, netting 16,768 additional votes in Michigan, ultimately pushing us past the loss margin experienced in 2016.
With this experiment, we discovered what methods of outreach worked the best at persuading voter turnout, and determined on average that we could persuade 62 votes per $1,000 spent.
In the 2021 Georgia runoff election, The Voting Project saw an opportunity to increase voter registration and turnout in underrepresented areas of Georgia. We launched a set of “Vote Today” billboards and text messages in key cities like Decatur, and Atlanta ahead of the election to ensure we were reaching communities in real time on voting day.
This effort led to a 15% increase in voter turnout, leading to more voices being represented in this pivotal election.
We tested a direct mail piece in Florida to target a key subset of potential voters. What we found was that a plain black and white mail postcard was much more effective than a highly designed mail piece. This plain mail piece led to a 0.8% increase in voter turnout (~20,000 voters).
We launched an early outreach program in Arizona to reach underrepresented voters, and encourage long-term absentee voting. We sent 2 to 3 million texts in June, July, and August to get folks on the permanent absentee list so that they’d receive their absentee ballot.