Voter turnout in the United States is notoriously low: about 60% of eligible voters cast their ballot during presidential election years, and the percentage of participation drops below 50% during midterm elections. That’s why organizers are constantly working to encourage more eligible voters to turn out on Election Day, searching for the most effective tactics to reach thousands of Americans.
So, what's one of the best ways to get out the vote? Vote tripling. This method, popularized during the 2018 elections by Voter Rev (then called VoteTripling.org), is a favorite of many organizing teams. Learn more about vote tripling and get started with these three steps:
What is Vote Tripling?
Consider this: would you rather complete a request asked by a stranger or a friend? Most people are more responsive to requests from people in their network, and that’s the premise of vote tripling. Vote tripling is a relational organizing tactic that encourages voters to get three people in their life to cast their ballots. This method of engagement is especially helpful for reaching low-propensity voters (voters who are least likely to vote regularly) since they’re encouraged by someone they know.
Relational organizing, the foundation of vote tripling, is the single most effective way for campaigns to mobilize voters. Studies show that this tactic increases voter turnout by up to 8.3%! Plus, vote tripling is cost- and time-efficient for campaigns and organizations. They can begin outreach to an initial list of voters and achieve exponential impact with vote tripling.
Triple the Vote in 3 Steps
- Reach out to your list of voters. Compile your initial list of supporters to reach out to; these will be the contacts that engage in vote tripling. Then, use your outreach method of choice to message your supporters. Ask them to commit to getting three people in their life to vote, and make sure to ask them for the names of these people so you can help keep them accountable for making the ask.
- Follow up with your voters before Election Day. The most important step of vote tripling is following up with your supporters to hold them accountable for making the ask of their friends and family. In your follow-up message to your supporters, inquire whether they've reached out to their intended contacts; if they haven’t, offer a friendly reminder. For the most effective follow-up, remind supporters of the three specific names they initially pledged to contact. This detail motivates supporters to stay engaged with the vote tripling effort.
- Encourage your supporters to ask their contacts to join your vote tripling campaign. This step is how vote tripling drives exponential civic engagement! Once your supporters have encouraged their contacts to vote, they can also ask those contacts to ask three people in their life to triple the vote. As the chain of influence grows, more and more voters are ready to turn out on Election Day.
Vote Tripling with Impactive
Built for political organizing, Impactive offers a whole roster of tools to drive powerful GOTV efforts. Use Custom Voter Registration to create one-of-a-kind custom, gamified voter registration campaigns that allow your supporters to share out personalized referral links. These links allow all registration checks they've prompted to be attributed back to them. Supporters can earn points for their outreach, which comes in handy if your team provides incentives, like a giveaway, to spur more action. Then, use battle-tested outreach tools like Peer-to-Peer Texting and Broadcast Texting to send hundreds of vote tripling messages in just a few minutes.
Vote tripling gives voters a clear call to action and allows organizing teams to leverage an effective and efficient way to drive more voter engagement. In the end, more votes pour in as reluctant voters are motivated to head to the polls by those they know best.
