WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Phone2Action, the world’s most innovative digital advocacy and stakeholder management platform that connects citizens and public officials by powering grassroots engagement, has a new online election center to help organizations educate, register and turn out voters in the 2020 election.
Phone2Action upgraded its Civic Action Center suite for 2020, allowing companies, nonprofits and associations to create state-of-art election centers, providing vital election information and key election dates and deadlines and a simple interface to engage. In English or Spanish, voters can learn which candidates are running in their district; check their registration status and register to vote; find polling locations on a digital map; and obtain information about absentee ballots and early voting.
“This could be the most important election in a generation,” said Ximena Hartsock, co-founder and COO of Phone2Action. “Americans will look to employers, nonprofits and associations as a source of truth. These organizations are uniquely positioned to empower people to participate in the electoral process, serving as a microphone to make their voices heard and make every vote count in 2020.”
One of the companies that used the technology in 2018, Walmart, is gearing up for another push in 2020. Walmart first turned to Phone2Action for its expertise ahead of the 2018 election cycle as the retailer joined nearly 150 other major companies including Patagonia and Lyft in the “Time to Vote” campaign, a nonpartisan effort to increase voter turnout in the 2018 election.
Using Phone2Action’s GOTV technology, Walmart promoted the SMS keyword “WEVOTE” and a related short-code on signs in their stores to encourage customers to check their voter status and register to vote. The company urged employees to do the same via the company’s intranet login page. Walmart also rolled out the program to its partner brands, significantly expanding the reach of campaign. Through Walmart’s efforts tens of thousands of employees and customers used the technology to participate in the 2018 election.
“Phone2Action’s software was so easy to use, it unlocked several key stakeholder engagement goals for our public affairs team. We were able to quickly launch a Get Out the Vote campaign to our entire company, both internally and in our stores across the country,” said Lee Culpepper, Vice President of Public Affairs and Government Relations, Walmart. “Our employees and customers loved that they could send one text and immediately access information about the election and check their voter registration status."
Civic Action Centers are quick to set up, customizable and completely mobile-responsive. Organizations can direct people to their center using email or easy-to-use text shortcode keywords (e.g., Text VOTENOW to 52886). The platform provides a dashboard with key metrics on center performance to help organizations identify how effective their outreach efforts are. Bilingual support allows organizations to serve audiences in English or Spanish, including the largest voting minority, Latinos.
“We spend a lot of time talking to organizations of all types who do advocacy,” said Andrew Stanley, Vice President of Product at Phone2Action. “We heard again and again that these organizations want intuitive tools that just work to help voters participate. The tools need to meet people where they are - on their smartphones - and be simple and fun to use. Off the shelf tools don’t work - they need to be easy to brand so they resonate with users and don’t create privacy concerns.”
To find out more about Phone2Action’s Civic Action Centers, visit phone2action.com/gotv or call 202-888-7439 to speak with a Phone2Action GOTV expert.
About Phone2Action
Phone2Action is a comprehensive digital engagement and communications platform for grassroots advocacy, public affairs, and government relations. Phone2Action's innovative, user-friendly products make government participation accessible in the digital age. The world’s leading nonprofits, associations and companies have used Phone2Action to build their advocacy programs and support their public policy goals since 2013. The Phone2Action platform includes solutions for grassroots advocacy, strategic communications, and stakeholder management.