Voter Registration on Impactive lets you set up a custom-branded voter registration check portal that you can share with your supporters to help them check their voter registration status, and take the first step to get registered to vote in their state if they aren't registered yet. Impactive voter registration check actions are also (optionally) gamified, with optional incentives, leveraging the basics of relational organizing to drive even more registration checks.
Voter registration actions are accessible via public URLs; they are different than other Impactive action types in that they do not require log in to Impactive in order to participate. You can share voter registration URLs anywhere - in emails, in social media ads/posts, via QR codes at in-person events, etc.
Introduction to Voter Registration Actions
There are several components of a voter registration action; these components will be referred to throughout the article below.
Action Intro Page: The default page that appears upon visiting a voter registration action URL:
Action Page with Auto Open: The pop-up that appears after clicking Get Started on the intro page; use the auto-open URL to send participants to this pop-up by default, so they can skip the step of clicking Get Started:
Click here for the full walkthrough of the participant experience.
Public Leaderboard: An additional public URL with a leaderboard of top individual volunteers and/or top teams, according to how many referrals they generate for the voter registration action:
How to Set Up a Voter Registration Action
To create a new voter registration action, head to Actions > Voter Registration and click + New Action in the top-left corner of the table. You'll be taken to the action's edit page, where you can fill out the following settings:
Assigned Folder(s) - Optional
Optionally, assign this action to one or more folders. Learn more here about using folders as an internal organizational system within Impactive.
Primary Image - Optional
Optionally, upload a 1,600px x 780px primary image; it will be used in the "About the Action" section on the action's intro page, and as the main image on the screen to begin checking registration.
Desktop Header Image - Optional
Optionally, upload a 1,600px x 780px image that will appear as the header image at the top of the action's intro page on desktop. The header image has a colored overlay, so this is not the ideal spot for graphics with text.
Mobile Header Image - Optional
Optionally, upload a 800px x 1,200px image that will appear as the header image at the top of the action's intro page on mobile. The header image has a colored overlay, so this is not the ideal spot for graphics with text.
Action Title - Required
An action title is required; it will be shown when a participant starts checking their registration.
Action Description - Required
An action description is required; it will be shown when a participant starts checking their registration, and in the "About the Action" section on the action's intro page.
Terms & Conditions - Optional
Optionally, add custom terms and conditions language that will be displayed at the bottom of the initial registration check form.
Terms & Conditions URL - Optional
Optionally, paste the URL (including https://) of a custom terms and conditions and/or privacy policy webpage, which will be linked alongside Impactive's default terms and conditions and privacy policy at the bottom of the initial registration check form.
Show Contacts in Leaderboard By Default - Optional
By default, those that check their registration will be shown on the leaderboard for this voter registration action (though participants can un-check the box to not be shown). Optionally, turn this off so the box is unchecked by default, so participants will need to explicitly opt in to being shown on the leaderboard.
Start Button Label - Optional
Optionally, choose a different button CTA that participants will see when they start checking their registration.
Background Color - Optional
Optionally, choose a different color for the background of the screen to begin checking registration. This will also be the background color for the action's public leaderboard.
Button Color - Optional
Optionally, choose a different color for the "Check my voter registration" primary button on the screen to begin checking registration. This will also be the secondary color shown in the Individuals/Teams tab of the voter registration campaign's public leaderboard. Button text automatically adjusts to white or black to best contrast with this button color.
Goal Start Label - Optional
Optionally, designate a label for the start of the goal thermometer on the voter registration campaign's intro page. This label appears above the "1" indicating the beginning of the thermometer. If Goal Number of Registrations is blank, this label will not appear.
Goal Number of Registration Checks - Optional
Optionally, designate a number of registration checks that is the goal for this campaign. If this field is filled, a goal thermometer will appear on the voter registration campaign's intro page.
Incentives - Optional
Optionally, add one or more incentives for this voter registration action. Incentives can be benefits that those who check their registration win or earn for sharing this campaign with their network. Incentives are shown with title, description, and image on the campaign's intro page, their titles are listed on the screen to begin checking registration, and their titles are listed on the concluding screen after checking registration (next to the CTA to share the campaign). Read more about leveraging incentives to run a gamified voter registration campaign here.
Facebook Pixel ID - Optional
Optionally, paste in a Facebook Pixel ID to track a conversion whenever this voter registration check form is submitted; this helps close the loop of data tracking if using Facebook ads to promote this action.
Google Analytics 4 Pixel ID - Optional
Optionally, paste in a Facebook Pixel ID to track a conversion whenever this voter registration check form is submitted; this helps close the loop of data tracking if using website components to promote this action.
Snapchat Pixel ID - Optional
Optionally, paste in a Facebook Pixel ID to track a conversion whenever this voter registration check form is submitted; this helps close the loop of data tracking if using Snapchat ads to promote this action.
Enable Automated Texting Integration - Optional
Optionally, link this voter registration campaign to a texting automation to send a text message immediately upon form submission. Texts will be sent to respondents who opt-in via the opt-in checkbox at the bottom of the initial registration check form.
Getting Supporters Involved
Once your voter registration action is set up, you can publish it and begin sharing it widely. To publish the action, first save the draft; then, on the action's homepage, click Make Public in the top-left corner. The action will now show as Published / Public, and you'll see Share Options with two URLs:
The Web Link URL will open the action's intro page; the Web Link with auto-open URL will open that same page, but with the actual pop-up to begin checking voter registration pre-opened - i.e. as if "Get Started" was already clicked. Most clients prefer to use the auto-open link, saving participants one click on the way to checking their registration.
Copy whichever URL you prefer to use, and begin distributing it widely! Read more here about what participants will experience when they check their registration.
Voter registration actions are different than other action types like Peer-to-Peer Texting, etc. in that they do not require user log-in to participate, and thus do not appear in the Impactive action feed for web/mobile. Voter registration actions are instead shareable via public URLs that can be sent or used anywhere.
But, if you would like to share a voter registration action with your users in their Impactive action feed for web/mobile - you can use an Open a Webpage action to share the voter registration URL.
Tracking Results
Use the action's View Results page to monitor the progress of your voter registration action. That page displays the total number of voter registration checks you've generated, and the number of those checks that were generated via referral links (rather than via the main action link).
The View Results page also shares links to the public leaderboard for this action, which displays the number of referrals that each individual volunteer, or each team, have generated. Read more here about gamifying voter registration checking via referral links. (There are two versions of the URL; one that opens to the individual leaderboard, and one that opens to the team leaderboard, though both individual and team tabs are accessible at either link.)
Finally, the View Results page also displays the actual submissions you received via your voter registration check action. You can export the full data to CSV with the Export Registrations button at the bottom of the page; that's where you can access participants' full information (first/last name, phone number, email address, full address, and date of birth), plus their registration status.
There are a few different registration statuses that you'll find in that export:
Registered: The participant located themselves in the national voter file and is registered to vote at their current address.
Unregistered: The participant could not locate themselves in the national voter file and is not registered to vote.
Different Address: The participant did locate their voter registration in the national voter file, but it was under a different (usually an old/outdated) address, and they indicated that they want to re-register at their new address. If you'll be doing any follow-up outreach, you'll likely consider these participants unregistered, since they do not have an active registration at their proper, current address.
Referral Link: Voter registration actions offer an option to "Help others register to vote," where participants can fill out a shorter form to just obtain a referral link for the voter registration action (not actually check their registration). This is often used by folks who know they can't register themselves (due to age, immigration status, etc.) but still want to help, and/or still want to earn entries for any incentives you're offering.
It's important to note that every person who fills out a voter registration action becomes a contact in Impactive; in addition to their basic information, two built-in custom fields will also be filled in:
Completed Voter Registration At: This custom field will store the timestamp of when the contact submitted any voter registration action. (If they submit more than once, the timestamp will reflect their latest submission.)
Voter Registration Status: This custom field will store the registration status, of the four options listed above, of the contact. (If they submit more than once, the field will reflect the status as of their latest submission. Note that this custom field is not automatically kept up to date with the contact's status in the national voter file, i.e. they will not convert from Unregistered to Registered automatically if they do submit registration; however, if they actually participated in the voter registration action subsequently and did locate themselves as registered, their status would be updated accordingly.)
For Further Reading
Interested in digging into more advanced capabilities of voter registration actions? Read on!