Support does not count until it is a ballot.
Every campaign has supporters who never vote. Get out the vote is the work of finding them, giving them a plan, and checking them off as they cast their ballot.
What is a GOTV program?
A get out the vote (GOTV) program is the final phase of a campaign, focused on making sure identified supporters actually vote. URSA builds a chase list of supporters in Culper, removes voters each day as the county's early voting roster comes in, helps the rest make a voting plan, and uses peer-to-peer persuasion scripts, rides and polling place asks to bring them to the polls.
The voters you already convinced are the cheapest votes in the race. Most campaigns still lose some of them.
How Our GOTV Works
Build the chase list
Supporters and lean supporters identified through P2P, block walks, surveys and modeling, scored for how likely they are to vote on their own.
Scrub every morning
Each day of early voting, the county publishes who voted. Culper matches it to the chase list, and those voters drop out of every channel.
Make the plan for them
When, where and how. Research on plan making shows people who think through those three questions are more likely to follow through.
Ask for a favor, not a vote
A sign shift at their polling place, a ride for a neighbor, a report on the line. Persuasion scripts that put supporters at the polls.
Solve the obstacles
Rides, polling place and vote center locations, hours, and what to bring.
Election Day
Whoever is left on the chase list gets the final asks, in order of how likely they are to need one.
Put supporters at the polls.
Someone standing a sign at their own polling place at 7:00 votes before they leave.
GOTV Channels
Peer-to-peer texting
The backbone of the chase. Personal, two way and tracked to the voter record. See P2P texting.
Streaming TV and digital
"Vote now" creative to the remaining chase list only, with voters removed as they vote. See streaming TV.
Block walking
Door knocks on the highest value remaining supporters, logged live in the Culper app.
Polling place presence
Signs and volunteers outside the 100 foot line at early voting and Election Day locations.
What is a chase list?
A chase list is the set of identified supporters who have not voted yet. During early voting it shrinks every day as the county reports who voted, so the campaign spends its time and money only on supporters who still need to vote.
When does GOTV start?
In Texas the chase usually begins when early voting opens, about two weeks before Election Day, and runs through the close of polls. Persuasion and supporter identification should happen before that.
Does a GOTV program target everyone?
No. GOTV focuses on supporters. Talking to opponents during GOTV can turn them out too. Culper keeps the chase list to identified and modeled supporters.
What is an early vote scrub?
An early vote scrub is matching the county's daily list of voters who have already voted against the campaign's lists and removing them, so no more money or volunteer time is spent on them.
Keep reading.
- Peer-to-Peer TextingReal one to one text conversations between volunteers and voters, run on Culper P2P with URSA persuasion scripts, opt outs enforced, one conversation per household, and every answer saved to the voter record.
- Persuasion PsychologyWhy "go vote" fails and a one to one ask works. URSA writes persuasion scripts for Culper peer-to-peer texting that turn supporters into voters, built on decades of turnout research.
- Voter Data and TargetingURSA builds every campaign universe from the voter file and vote history, county appraisal district parcel data, licensed L2 and i360 data and daily early vote rosters, resolved in Culper into one record per voter.
Your victory starts here.
Tell us where you are running or what is on your ballot. We will show you who decides it, what moves them, and what it costs to reach them.
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