You can’t send automated calls to cell phones – or can you? This November, Stones’ Phones pioneered a new technique to reach students at Ohio State University on Election Day, urging them to vote for Issue 2 to legalize recreational marijuana. This unique program solved two problems. First, we needed to reach college students who were likely to vote in favor of a marijuana issue. Due to the nomadic nature of college living, students tend to be difficult to reach on a landline. Second, we had to reach this primarily cell phone universe quickly and the best way to do that is with automated calls.
The process was similar to traditional automated dialing, but instead of receiving a pre-recorded message, voters were on the line listening to a persuasive GOTV message from a live operator. This effort was innovative for two reasons. First, cell phone users could be included in the dial because the audience was on the line with a live speaker. Secondly, since young people are more willing to pick up and engage on their cell phone than a household landline, this technique allowed us to target an audience that can’t usually be reached through automated dialing.
We partnered with the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol and pulled from the biggest rivalry in college football, where the University of Michigan’s team was accused of stealing signs from the Ohio State program, to craft our message. We compared the sign-stealing fiasco to Michigan stealing Ohio’s tax dollars, as Ohioans often crossed the state line to purchase recreational marijuana. Of the students targeted for these calls, around 80% were reached either through the live operator or with an answering machine message. Issue 2 ultimately passed and was one of the top progressive ballot initiative successes of 2023, and our inventive phone strategy helped reach key groups of voters on the path to that victory.
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