POLITICAL CALLS, TEXTS, AND EMAILS IN THE VOTE 2018 SEASON

In the 2018 midterm election season, voters received election and political calls, texts, and emails.  Some say such outreach is a helpful reminder. Rebecca Fipps was one of those:  “I’m very forgetful so it helps to be reminded to vote, and it’s nice to get messages telling you about the candidates.”

Others, however, didn’t find them very effective.  “Just given the fact that I delete them with like no second thought cuz I don’t care, not that I don’t care about elections, I just don’t care about them in text form because that’s just weird,” said Ally Gonzalez

The First Amendment protects political speech; therefore, candidates are allowed to contact voters through these means. Whether or not they are effective is for you to decide. Ally did not find them effective: “I just put mark as read and at the end of the day I go back and I delete them.” But Rebecca did: “I don’t really care I guess, it’s just reminding me to vote, its not anything really other than that.”