Texting Voters in a New Jersey Local Race: Consent and Setup

To text voters in a New Jersey 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.

New Jersey's 2027 calendar makes the timing straightforward. The nonpartisan May municipal elections are on Tuesday, May 11, the primary is on Tuesday, June 8, and the general election is on Tuesday, November 2, 2027 (all based on state law). A Campaign Verify request made on or after Sunday, November 15, 2026 covers all of them. Two points need care in New Jersey. Every candidate collects petition signatures, and a signature is not permission to text. And Campaign Verify looks for your committee filing online, so check where it is published before you apply. 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 New Jersey.

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 Council 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, April 10" 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 New Jersey candidate files a nominating petition. A party primary petition says the signers endorse you for the nomination. A nonpartisan municipal certificate says the signer joins in your nomination. A school board petition says the signers endorse you for the board. None of them says anything about texts, so do not text everyone who signed.

Keep the two documents apart. Never add a texting line to the official petition or certificate, which goes to the filing officer. Instead, carry a separate sign-up sheet while you circulate, and ask each signer whether they would also like campaign updates by text. Beacon's guide to New Jersey nominating petitions covers the petition itself, and our post on whether you can text the people who signed your petition explains the consent question in more depth.

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.

If you have not formed a committee yet, check with the Election Law Enforcement Commission for any other filings. Then get an EIN for the committee from the IRS. Campaign Verify needs it.

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. Ask the Election Law Enforcement Commission whether and where it is published.
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 you cannot find it 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, before any 2027 New Jersey election.
• A request made on or after November 15, 2026 lasts until Wednesday, January 31, 2029. That covers the April school elections, the May municipal elections, the June 8 primary and the November 2 general election.

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 "petition drive," 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 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

New Jersey'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 Sam Rivera, running for Council. I'll text a few updates before June 8. Reply STOP to opt out.

Voter registration, before it closes on Tuesday, May 18, 2027 for the primary:

Registration for the June 8 primary closes Tue, May 18. If you have moved, please update it before then. Thank you, Sam

Early voting, Tuesday, June 1 to Sunday, June 6, 2027:

Early voting for the primary is open Jun 1 to 6. You can vote at any early voting site in our county. Thank you, Sam

Primary day, Tuesday, June 8, 2027:

Today is the primary. Polls are open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thank you for your support. Sam Rivera

Adjust the moments to your election. For a May 11 nonpartisan election, voter registration closes on Tuesday, April 20, and early voting happens only if your municipality adopted it. For the November 2 general election, registration closes on Tuesday, October 12, and early voting runs from Saturday, October 23 to Sunday, October 31, 2027 (all based on state law). Confirm your county's early voting sites and hours before you send. For texting rules that apply to every campaign, see our page on political texting.

A short checklist

• Written, dated permission from every person you text.
• No texts to petition signers who did not separately agree, and no texting line on the official petition.
• A committee with 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 petition season ends

Open your account in the winter, and have your number registered before the busy weeks of spring. Start your CampaignCNX+ trial.