you mentioned textbanking to reach out to potential leftist voters in the tags on one of your posts - what org was that through? it sounds like something concrete and useful to do
It absolutely was! It felt really satisfying, especially when we'd go back to the campaign Slack channel and learn that we'd hit all the outreach goals for that day and more numbers would be released tomorrow.
I went through my main state Democratic party (so, California Dems) for a few reasons. One: they were keeping an eye on all candidates and issues, so I felt like my efforts were probably being directed toward the area of greatest need/risk. (Why you might not do this route: you really care about certain specific candidates/issues, and don't want to show up to volunteer one day and see that voters are being contacted about other things.)
Two: voters can be contacted by multiple groups, which obviously annoys them after a while. (This was in fact the thing that I did dislike about this process.) People get taken off the contact roster with a STOP response, but as political parties and PACs are forbidden by law from coordinating with each other, being removed from one group's roster doesn't mean they'll be removed from another group's. I liked going with the main party because they've been doing this the longest and have already contacted the most people, so I thought they'd probably have a contact list that was already the most edited. (Why you might not do this route: you don't care as much about this problem as me, and you care more about connecting all people who are aligned with you on [issue] instead of contacting the general left-leaning population.)
Three: this state party approach put me in touch only with California voters, and sometimes they do want to ask a few questions about greater details, or even what you personally care the most about. I felt qualified to talk about pretty much anything/anyone on our state ballot, so that was a good match. (Why you might not do this route: you don't want to be limited to contacting people in your own area, and you instead want to contact voters anywhere about [issue].)
So, broadly put: you can work with your own state party or with some PAC that focuses on specific issues (environment, schooling, foreign policy, etc.), depending on what sounds more appealing based on what I described above. There is of course the option of working with some other state's party, as well. For example, someone might think "well, I'm in IL and that's safe blue, so can I spend my energy elsewhere?" That's what I faced in California, and I decided to help our with our own swing districts and initiatives. But someone else near me might have decided to textbank for the swing states of AZ and NV, instead. That person in Illinois might decide to volunteer for, say, Wisconsin. (Which is probably the best-run state Dem party in the country, by the way!)
You also might do this if you're in a blood red state. It might feel like you're doing more good to volunteer for Georgia or Arizona (slowly turning blue) than to volunteer for your own state of Wyoming (the reddest state in the country). That can be a good investment of your time! On the other hand, it's still valuable to contact the locals. Even if they vote for Republicans, people can vote differently on specific local issues. For example, in Wyoming, there's momentum for huge developments in wind power that some entrenched oil/gas companies are pushing back against. If someone really cares about the environment, they could decide it's better to volunteer in WY than GA.
What does textbanking do, exactly?
You might be wondering if you'll be expected to argue with people, answer complicated questions, or what. No! There are texting portals that have a lot of pre-programmed answers to basic questions, like "What is [candidate's] stance on abortion?" If you contact someone who's argumentative or tells you to fuck off, you just click the "should be removed from list" button and disengage. If you contact someone who has questions you're not prepared to answer, you hop back into the Slack channel and ask an organizer to take over the conversation.
So, what are you doing, then? You are identifying voters who are likely to vote blue but are lower-motivation.
This is an incredibly important step to do in the lead-up to election days. If someone votes left and tells you that they've already taken advantage of early voting, you thank them and click the "has already voted" button. Then, the database removes them from further contact for this cycle, because their vote is banked and no more resources need to be spent on them. On the other hand, if there's someone who (for example) cares about abortion access but hasn't had time to vote yet, or doesn't know if they're registered, etc., they can be aided with information on how to vote/register. They can be offered transportation on Election Day, if they don't have a car. Textbanking helps to target the party's resources the most effectively, and get the most low-likelihood voters over the finish line.
In other words, textbanking is all about reaching tons of people and seeing where to aim more in-depth resources. Textbanking is largely not about converting uncertain moderates into blue voters. That's phonebanking and door-to-door visits, because talking with people is more convincing. But you can identify who might benefit from that kind of follow-up via textbanking.
If you're thinking "sure, the state party approach sounds like it'd work for me," that's very easy to get started. Just google "[state] democrats texting" and you'll see a variety of options to get started. Or, you can go to the homepage of the state party, and there will be volunteer options listed there.
Alternately, you can go to the Democratic Party events page and see all volunteer events across the country, of every type. So there's not just textbanking, but other things that may uniquely appeal to you, like helping mobility-limited voters. (You can filter by type of event & location.)
If you want to work with a specific charity or PAC on a specific issue, then you'll need to track down their volunteer options. For example, I went to the Sierra Club and found this volunteer page, which has a bunch of options, but not a bunch of direct outreach. On the other hand, they do seem to have a texting team, but it's only visible if you log in, probably? Unfortunately, charities/PACs aren't as standardized and visible as the Democrats' volunteer options. However, once you become familiar with your organization of choice, then you're over the hurdle.
I find volunteering via textbanking to be satisfying, and also a way to burn off nervous stress during political seasons. Not only is it a distraction from the world, but it's also a distraction that achieves something.
What if I care about something, but I can't find textbanking for it?
At this time, you may be thinking "okay, I'll do textbanking for a ceasefire!" I thought the same thing, and started looking for options, assuming there would be some organization that was encouraging people to contact their rep/senators. And... I didn't find one. I did find multiple charities that made it easier to send emails and letters to politicians via online forms, which is certainly good! But I didn't find any charity that was directing people to those resources via texting the broad voter population.
In cases like this, you may choose to do your own unofficial "textbanking" by making posts about those resources, and drawing upon your own networks like they're the database you're contacting. That's certainly better than nothing, and it's a way to take action. If I see an option for this, I will definitely share this. I am obviously a fan of engagement via textbanking. Obviously.
