Texting Voters in an Iowa Local Race: Consent and Setup

To text voters in an Iowa city, school board or community college race, you need three things in place. First, written permission from each person you text, given before your first message. Second, a campaign committee with an EIN (its federal tax ID number) that can pass Campaign Verify, the check that confirms to the mobile phone companies that you are a real campaign. Third, a registered texting number that sends only to people who agreed to hear from you, and only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in their time zone.

Iowa's 2027 calendar gives you time to do this well. Candidates file in August or September, the regular city and school election is on Tuesday, November 2, 2027, and a city primary or runoff may come on October 5 or November 30. A Campaign Verify request made on or after Sunday, November 15, 2026 covers all of those dates. One step needs checking before you apply: Campaign Verify looks for your committee's filing online. This guide walks through consent, the committee, Campaign Verify and setup in order.

For the rest of the campaign, from petitions to election day, see our guide to running for local office in Iowa.

Step 1: Get written permission before you text

Base your texting on prior express written consent: each person has agreed in writing, before your first message, to receive campaign texts from you at that number. In practice:

• Use a sign-up sheet or form that says so plainly. For example: "Yes, text me updates from the Lee for School Board campaign. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help. Reply STOP to opt out." Include lines for the phone number and the date.
• Record the date and where the permission came from. Keep the paper sheets. In your texting account, note the source, such as "doors, July 21" or "library forum."
• Do not text people just because their number is on a list. A voter list, a purchased list, a school directory or a list of neighbors is not permission.

Petition signers are not a texting list

Every Iowa city, school board and community college candidate collects signatures on a nomination petition. The statement at the top of each page says that the signers are making the nomination and believe the candidate is or will be a resident of the district. It says nothing about texts. Do not text everyone who signed.

Do not add a texting line to the petition page either. The page must follow the state's form, and a filing officer can refuse to count lines with information crossed out. Instead, carry a separate sign-up sheet while you collect signatures, and ask each signer whether they would also like campaign updates by text. Keep the two documents apart: the petition goes to the filing office, and the sign-up sheets stay with your campaign. For the petition itself, see the Iowa nomination petition guide on Beacon, our canvassing app's site, and for the consent question in more depth, see whether you can text the people who signed your petition.

A note on the FCC rule you may have heard about

You may read that the FCC requires consent to be given to one sender at a time. That rule never took effect. A federal appeals court vacated it on January 24, 2025, and the FCC removed it in August 2025. Written consent for your own campaign, recorded with a date, remains the standard to follow.

Step 2: Form your committee and get an EIN

Campaign Verify is available to 527 organizations, which means political committees with that federal tax status, registered with an election authority. Candidates with no committee, and sole proprietors, are not eligible.

The Iowa Secretary of State's candidate guides direct committee and disclosure questions to the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board. Ask the Board how and when your committee should file, and keep a copy of what you file. Then get an EIN for the committee from the IRS. You need it for Campaign Verify.

Step 3: Confirm your filing is online, then request Campaign Verify

Check first

Campaign Verify checks your committee against a filing published online by an election authority, and it sends a PIN only to the contact information on that filing. Before you pay for a request:

1. Find your committee's filing online, on the website of the office where you filed it.
2. If it is online, check that the committee name, email, phone and mailing address are current, because the PIN goes only to those details.
3. If it is not online, contact Campaign Verify Support and ask how they handle your situation. Wait for their answer before you submit a request.

We cannot promise that any committee will be found eligible. That decision belongs to Campaign Verify.

Timing and cost

• Campaign Verify costs $95 per two-year cycle.
• A request made before Sunday, November 15, 2026 expires on Sunday, January 31, 2027, long before Iowa's filing windows open.
• A request made on or after November 15, 2026 lasts until Wednesday, January 31, 2029. For an Iowa candidate in 2027, that covers the primary, the November 2 election and any runoff.

Our post on Campaign Verify for local candidates covers the process in more depth.

Step 4: Set up your texting in CampaignCNX+

Once your committee is in place, set up the sending side.

1. Open your account. A new pay-as-you-go account includes 100 free SMS, which you can use once your number is bought and approved. Your number is $5 a month.
2. Let CampaignCNX+ file the carrier registration. The carriers are the mobile phone companies, and they require a registration before campaign texts can be sent. CampaignCNX+ files it for you, either as 10DLC (the registration for texting from a standard local-style number, a one-time $75 for your first local line) or as toll-free. For a toll-free number, the carrier review usually takes about three business days. You buy the $95 Campaign Verify token from Campaign Verify, and CampaignCNX+ files it with your registration.
3. Add your opted-in supporters. Sort them with tags and groups, such as "doors," "volunteers" or "forum," and record the consent date and source in a custom field. Messages are sent to groups, and merge fields such as first name address each text to the person.
4. Plan for replies. Replies can come into a shared inbox, so you and your team members can read and answer them (staffers see the inbox once you allow it). The inbox is an add-on at $12.49 a month and is included on the Enterprise plan.
5. Schedule within quiet hours. Texts send only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the recipient's time zone. You can schedule single texts, repeating texts and drip sequences (a series of texts sent on a schedule), such as a welcome series for new volunteers.
6. Let opt-outs take care of themselves. STOP, HELP and START replies are handled automatically.

What it costs

Pay-as-you-go texting costs $0.06 per SMS segment, and pay-as-you-go credits never expire. An MMS (a message with a picture) uses three credits, or $0.18 on pay-as-you-go. Monthly plans start with Basic at $55 a month for 1,000 texts, and unused plan texts roll over. For worked examples of a local race budget, see what it costs to text a local race.

Step 5: Send the right message at the right time

Iowa's calendar gives you natural moments to text. Keep each message short, name the campaign, and include "Reply STOP to opt out" on the first message to each person.

Welcome, after someone signs up:

Thanks for signing up. This is Pat Lee, running for School Board. I'll text a few updates before Nov 2. Reply STOP to opt out.

Absentee voting, which can open as early as Wednesday, October 13, 2027 at the county auditor's office:

Absentee voting is open at the county auditor's office through Mon, Nov 1. Thank you for your support. Pat

Voter registration, before it closes at 5 p.m. on Monday, October 18, 2027:

Registration for the Nov 2 election closes at 5 p.m. Mon, Oct 18. If you have moved, update it with the county auditor. Thank you, Pat

Election day, Tuesday, November 2, 2027:

Today is election day. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thank you for your support. Pat Lee

In a primary city, the same pattern applies to the Tuesday, October 5 primary, with registration closing at 5 p.m. on Monday, September 20. In a runoff city, plan one more round of reminders for a runoff on Tuesday, November 30. The absentee and registration dates above are based on state law, and counties set their own absentee voting schedules, so confirm your county auditor's dates and polling places before you send. For texting rules across the region, see our page on campaign texting in the Midwest.

A short checklist

• Written, dated permission from every person you text.
• No texts to petition signers or forum contacts who did not separately agree.
• Nothing added to the official petition page; a separate sign-up sheet instead.
• A committee on file and an EIN.
• Committee filing confirmed online, or Campaign Verify Support consulted, before you request.
• Campaign Verify requested on or after November 15, 2026.
• Messages scheduled between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., with opt-outs handled.

Get set up before filing season

Open your account in the summer, and have your number registered before the busy weeks of August and September. Start your CampaignCNX+ trial.