Yes, local candidates need Campaign Verify if they want to text voters as a campaign. It is required for political texting on 10DLC, toll-free and short code numbers by any 527 candidate, party, PAC or committee registered with the FEC or a state, local or tribal election authority. That includes a village trustee race and a school board race, not just federal campaigns.
It costs $95 per two-year cycle. The time it takes depends mostly on how your PIN reaches you: by email or text it comes quickly, and by mail it takes 5 to 10 business days. Plan on 1 to 2 weeks if you end up waiting for mail, and add a few days after that for carrier approval of your number. This year there is one more timing point that matters: a request made on or after November 15, 2026 lasts to January 31, 2029, while a request made before then expires January 31, 2027.
Campaign Verify is one part of a larger setup. For how it fits with registration, consent and sending, see our guide to political texting.
What Campaign Verify is, in plain terms
Carriers want to know that a political sender is who they say they are. Campaign Verify is the vetting step that confirms your committee is real and registered with an election authority. Once you are verified, you get a token, and that token is attached to your carrier registration so your messages are treated as political traffic from a known sender.
Without it, your political messaging registration cannot move forward. That is why it is the step that most often stalls first-time senders. The form itself is not hard. The waiting is.
Who is eligible
Campaign Verify is for 527 political organizations. In practice, for local races, that means:
- Candidate committees registered with an election authority.
- Party organizations, such as a county or township party committee, with an EIN and a published filing. These are 527 committees and can be verified.
- PACs and other political committees registered with an election authority.
Who is not eligible:
- Candidates with no committee. If you have not formed a committee, you cannot be verified as a candidate.
- Sole proprietors.
- Individuals texting personally. An individual precinct committeeperson texting on their own behalf is not eligible. The party organization they belong to may be. We cover that model in texting your precinct: what a committeeperson can send, and from whose account.
If you are not sure whether you have a committee on file, check with your election authority before you start the request.
What you need ready before you apply
Two things hold up most applications.
An EIN
Your committee needs an Employer Identification Number. If you opened a campaign bank account, you likely already have one. If not, get it before you begin the Campaign Verify request.
A filing published by your election authority
Campaign Verify checks your committee against a filing the election authority has published. That filing also controls where your PIN goes, which is the next point.
Have these on hand as well:
- The exact committee name as it appears on the filing.
- The contact email, phone and mailing address listed on the filing.
- A way to pay the $95 fee.
How the PIN arrives, and why mail adds time
Campaign Verify sends a PIN to confirm you control the committee. The PIN goes only to contact information on your published filing. That is a safeguard: nobody can verify your committee by giving a different email.
- By email or text: the PIN comes quickly.
- By mail: the PIN takes 5 to 10 business days.
If your filing has an old treasurer's email or a phone number nobody answers, you may be waiting on the post office. It is worth checking your filing's contact details first. If they need updating, ask your election authority how to amend the filing, and allow time for that change to publish.
Once you have the token, carrier approval of your number takes days. Put together, the realistic range from starting Campaign Verify to sending your first text is about one week if everything goes smoothly by email or text, and two to three weeks if the PIN comes by mail.
The November 15 timing that doubles the token's life
Campaign Verify tokens run on two-year cycles. The current cycle ends soon, and the cutoff is clear:
- Requests made before November 15, 2026 expire January 31, 2027.
- Requests made on or after November 15, 2026 last to January 31, 2029.
For most local candidates and party organizations, the plan is simple: file on or after November 15, 2026, and your token covers the 2027 consolidated elections and the 2028 cycle.
If you need to text before November 15
Some Illinois candidates are on the February 23, 2027 track, with filing from October 19 to 26, 2026 and early voting from January 14, 2027. If you want to text supporters this fall, you can verify now, but know what that means: your token expires January 31, 2027, in the middle of early voting. You would need to request again for the new cycle before then.
A practical approach for February track campaigns:
- Decide whether you really need to text before mid-November. Many campaigns spend October on petitions and doors, not texts.
- If you can wait, start your request on November 15 or soon after.
- If you cannot wait, verify now and put a calendar reminder for early January to renew, so nothing lapses during early voting.
Candidates on the April 6, 2027 track, who file from November 16 to 23, 2026, can usually line up their request with the November 15 date without losing any campaign time.
What happens if you have no committee
If you are running without a committee, you cannot be verified as a candidate, and you cannot register a political texting campaign as one. Your options are:
- Form a committee if your race calls for one, then verify.
- Work with an organization that is verified, such as your party organization, if it is texting its own opted-in supporters about the races it backs. The organization sends from its own verified account and is responsible for the messages.
- Wait and focus on doors, mail and events until a committee is in place.
What you should not do is text voters from a personal phone at scale. It skips the registration step carriers require and puts your number at risk of being blocked.
The full timeline, step by step
Here is how the pieces line up for a typical local campaign:
- Committee on file with your election authority, with an EIN.
- Check contact details on the published filing.
- Campaign Verify request, $95, on or after November 15, 2026 if you can.
- PIN by email or text (quick) or by mail (5 to 10 business days).
- Token issued.
- Carrier registration for your number, 10DLC or toll-free, with the token attached. Approval takes days.
- First text to opted-in supporters, with "Reply STOP to opt out."
Where CampaignCNX+ fits
We do not sell Campaign Verify and we cannot speed up the PIN. What we do is take the rest of the setup off your plate. CampaignCNX+ files your carrier registration for you, on 10DLC and toll-free, and guides you through the Campaign Verify request so the details match your filing the first time. Once you are approved, you get a two-way inbox for replies, automatic STOP handling, and quiet-hours scheduling.
You can open your account and get everything else ready while you wait on Campaign Verify. Nothing sends until your number is bought and registered. 100 free SMS included. Your number is $5 a month.
If you are running in Illinois, our Illinois political texting page covers the 2027 dates and how we help local campaigns there.
A short summary
- Local candidates who text as a campaign need Campaign Verify.
- It costs $95 per two-year cycle.
- You need an EIN and a filing published by your election authority.
- The PIN goes only to contact details on that filing. Mail takes 5 to 10 business days.
- File on or after November 15, 2026 so your token lasts to January 31, 2029.
- Candidates with no committee, and individuals texting personally, are not eligible.
Get your account ready now
Set up your account, choose your number when you are ready, and let us handle the carrier registration while you work through Campaign Verify.