Jordan just put up a great post on the Convio Connection Cafe about Rock the Vote’s results with text messaging. An excerpt and video are below:

Rock the Vote’s Executive Director Heather Smith shared one of the organization’s most effective strategies on a panel earlier this year: fueling the youth movement on the “4th screen” to mobilize youth voters like never before. And though text messaging may sound like an unlikely tactic to get Gen Yers to take action (and rather one that’s primarily used as a social communications tool) Rock the Vote’s results are astounding.

Out of the 1.4 million names they have in their email house file (as of May of 2008), 12% opt in to cell phone messaging. And when texts are sent out on Election Day with a reminder to vote and a link to the voter’s poll location, turnout increases by 4%.

I think one of the main points to be emphasized is the personal nature of text-messaging. Heather says that a text message reminder is as effective as a qualified phone call. This is a point that we’ve made before, but is really the thing about text messaging that’s beginning to get a lot of positive numbers behind it.