How do you increase the number of Hispanic, multicultural, and millennial voters?

Drive both voter registrations and election turnout.

Univision Communications Inc. (UCI), sought to increase the turnout of Hispanic, multicultural, and millennial voters in the 2016 primaries and general election by focusing on two major goals:

• Register 100,000 voters directly through their Vote for Your America campaign
• Enlist 100,000 new text subscribers to increase turnout

Include text messaging in Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaign strategy.

UCI collaborated with its partners Democracy Works/TurboVote, the NALEO Educational Fund, Mi Familia Vota, Hispanic Federation, National Council of La Raza and League of United Latin American Citizens, among others, to encourage registered constituents to vote. The nonpartisan campaign launched Vote For Your America to provide information and tools to make voting as easy as possible.

As part of this campaign, UCI leveraged an innovative text messaging strategy with timely, nonpartisan election updates and reminders, personalized voter registration status, and, real-time answers to voting-related questions (through their partnership with the NALEO Educational Fund). Subscribers were also able to text their request for mail-in ballots. Additionally, all subscribers received special nonpartisan messages of encouragement from Univision talent, including Karla Martinez of “Despierta America,” Carlos Calderon of “Sal y Pimienta” and Univision News’ award-winning anchors María Elena Salinas and Jorge Ramos.

Surpass goals.

Univision directly registered more than 100,000 people to vote on its website, and (along with its partners) registered an additional 100,000+ at community events and phone banks. Together, as a direct result of the Vote For Your America campaign, more than 200,000 people registered to vote. What this figure does not account for are the many more people who registered to vote through other channels after being motivated by the campaign’s messaging!

Univision inspired 160,000 people to subscribe to their text messaging program, where over 85% remained active throughout the campaign – despite the high frequency of text messages in the final months.

Perhaps most importantly, Univision’s efforts had a concrete impact on voter turnout. Initial data indicated that registered Hispanic voters turned out nationally at a historic level. 84% of the registered Latinos who subscribed to UCI’s text campaign voted in the election.

“Initial data indicates registered Hispanic voters turned out nationally at a historic level, and a staggering 84% of the registered Latinos that subscribed to UCI’s text platform ended up voting,” said Ron Estrada, UCI Vice President of National Community Empowerment. “Clearly, the number of Latinos that registered to vote this election was significant, and we are proud of the efforts that Univision and its partners, including Upland Mobile Messaging, made to promote our communities’ participation. Both our customer success team and the Upland Mobile Messaging software itself were instrumental in us achieving these incredible results.”

Download the case study