Texting Voters in a Kansas Local Race: Consent and Setup

To text voters in a Kansas 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.

Kansas's 2027 calendar gives you time to do this well. The filing deadline is noon on Tuesday, June 1, 2027, the primary (where one is needed) is on Tuesday, August 3, and the general election is on Tuesday, November 2, 2027. A Campaign Verify request made on or after Sunday, November 15, 2026 covers all of it. One step needs checking before you apply: Campaign Verify looks for your committee's filing online, so ask your county election officer whether yours is posted. This guide walks through consent, the committee, Campaign Verify and setup in order.

For the rest of the campaign, from filing to election day, see our guide to running for local office in Kansas. For the general steps that apply in any state, see how to text voters.

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 Rivera 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, June 12" 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

Kansas city and school board candidates who choose a petition instead of the $20 fee collect signatures on Form CP, the Kansas Non-Partisan City/School Nomination Petition. The form records each signer's name, address and the date, and it nominates the candidate. It says nothing about texts. Do not text everyone who signed. Carry a separate sign-up sheet while you circulate, and ask each signer whether they would also like campaign updates by text. The same applies to people you meet at forums, at board meetings or at the door: ask, and write it down.

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.

Kansas city, school board and community college candidates deal mainly with the county election officer, who is the county clerk, or an appointed election commissioner in counties with more than 125,000 people. Ask that office what your committee needs to file and when, and keep a copy of what you file. Questions about the rules for the committee itself go to your county election officer or the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission.

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. Ask your county election officer whether your committee's filing is posted online, and where.
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 a county filing that is not published online. 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, four months before the Kansas filing deadline.
• A request made on or after November 15, 2026 lasts until Wednesday, January 31, 2029. For a Kansas candidate, that covers the August 3 primary and the November 2 election, so there is no reason to request earlier.

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. Request the token for the kind of number you use, 10DLC or toll-free, because Campaign Verify issues a separate token for each.
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. If your district spans more than one county, tag supporters by county too, because each county sets its own advance voting sites and hours. 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

Kansas's calendar gives you natural moments to text. The voter dates below are computed from state law, because the Secretary of State has not yet posted its 2027 calendar, so confirm them and your county's advance voting hours before you send. 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 Sam Rivera, running for School Board. I'll text a few updates before Nov 2. Reply STOP to opt out.

Voter registration, before it closes on Tuesday, October 12, 2027:

Registration for the Nov 2 election closes Tue, Oct 12. If you have moved, update it with the county election office. Thank you, Sam

Advance voting, which may begin on Wednesday, October 13, 2027:

Advance voting is open. Check the county election office for sites and hours. In-person voting ends at noon Mon, Nov 1. Thank you, Sam

Election day, Tuesday, November 2, 2027:

Today is Election Day. Mailed ballots must reach the county election office by 7 p.m. Thank you for your support. Sam Rivera

If your race has an August 3 primary, the same moments come earlier: registration closes on Tuesday, July 13, advance voting may begin on Wednesday, July 14, and every county must offer in-person advance voting from Tuesday, July 27. 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.
• A committee with an EIN, and its 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 the summer

Open your account in the spring, and have your number registered before the busy weeks after the June 1 deadline. Start your CampaignCNX+ trial.