How 20 Volunteers Built a 1,425-Voter Turnout Program in an 18-Day New York Congressional Primary
A New York-based 501(c)(4) used UpVote to combine personal relationships, curated voter lists, and sustained peer-to-peer outreach in New York’s 13th Congressional District.
In a congressional primary where every vote mattered, a New York-based civic organization set out to increase participation through trusted community outreach. The organization did not rely on one undifferentiated voter list. Instead, it ran a two-layer program: volunteers mobilized people they personally knew while also reaching voters on curated lists the organization built for them.
A Small Volunteer Team Built a Meaningful Voter Contact Program
Build Trust, Activate Quickly, and Finish Strong
An 18-Day Mobilization Window
The organization opened its UpVote program less than three weeks before the primary. There was no long runway for a conventional field operation. Volunteer activation, voter identification, messaging, and follow-up all had to happen quickly.
Two Ways for Volunteers to Contribute
Some voters had direct personal relationships with volunteers. Others appeared on curated voter lists the organization built, with no personal connection to the volunteer contacting them. That second layer gave volunteers who preferred not to share their contacts a way to contribute.
Depth Over Raw Volume
Of the 143 people given app access, 33 completed contact match and 20 conducted outreach. The objective was not to inflate signup totals. It was to help a focused group of connected organizers build voter universes they could genuinely work and follow through Election Day.
Turn Outreach Into Measurable Participation
The program needed to do more than send messages. Organizers wanted visibility into who had been reached, which relationships were being activated, and whether those voters ultimately participated in the primary.
A Dual-Layer Community Organizing Program
Match Personal Networks to the Voter File
UpVote surfaced potential voter matches from volunteers’ phone contacts. Volunteers confirmed 648 unique eligible voters they personally knew, after duplicates and voters identified as opposed were removed. This created a relational universe built around real-life connections rather than cold voter lists.
Extend Outreach Through Curated Voter Lists
The organization also built curated voter lists and gave volunteers access to them through UpVote’s group feature. Volunteers reached 777 voters on these lists who had no personal relationship with them. No contact sharing was required, so every volunteer could take part in this layer.
Use Repeated, Personal Peer-to-Peer Outreach
Volunteers sent 1,850 peer-to-peer messages through UpVote across both outreach layers and were active on 19 consecutive days. The program prioritized continued follow-up over one-time contact, allowing volunteers to remind, answer questions, and reinforce the importance of voting.
Concentrate Activity Near Election Day
Volunteer activity continued throughout the program, and 45% of all outreach occurred during the final 48 hours. The result was a deliberate get-out-the-vote finish at the moment when voters were deciding whether to participate.
Three Voter Groups, Three Distinct Turnout Rates
At the end of the primary, certified vote history allowed the organization to compare turnout across three groups within the same election: voters personally known to volunteers, voters reached through curated lists, and the general electorate outside both outreach universes.
| Voter group | Voters | Voted | Turnout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal relational contacts People volunteers personally knew |
648 | 502 | 77.5% |
| Curated-list voters Reached by the same volunteers, with no personal relationship |
777 | 407 | 52.4% |
| General electorate outside both universes Eligible voters never reached by the program |
323,533 | 71,993 | 22.3% |
The personal relational group turned out 25.1 percentage points above the curated-list group. Both groups were contacted by the same volunteers, through the same app, in the same 18 days and the same election. The clearest difference was whether the volunteer and the voter actually knew each other.
The curated-list group turned out 30.1 percentage points above the general electorate. Part of that gap likely reflects how the lists were built, but it suggests volunteers can add value even without a personal relationship.
The key takeaway: direct personal relationships were associated with the strongest turnout, and curated-list outreach extended the program to volunteers who did not share contacts. The two layers worked together, while producing meaningfully different outcomes.
What This Program Teaches Us About Relational GOTV
Plan Around Active Volunteers, Not Registrations
The organization gave 143 people app access, and 20 of them carried all of the outreach across a 1,425-voter program. A campaign plan should be built around the people who will actually identify contacts, send messages, and complete follow-up.
Recruit for Depth of Network, Not Headcount
Only 23% of users given app access completed contact match, yet the program produced 77.5% turnout in its relational universe because the people who participated had deep community networks. Campaigns should identify highly connected community members early and give them the support needed to activate their networks.
Repeated Contact Is More Valuable Than a Large Untouched List
Volunteers sent 1,850 messages and stayed active on 19 consecutive days. The program worked a focused universe repeatedly instead of collecting a larger list that volunteers could not meaningfully contact.
Curated Lists Can Extend a Relational Program
Curated-list outreach did not perform like direct personal outreach, but it still turned out at 52.4%, well above the general electorate. It requires no contact sharing, making it the natural option for volunteers who will not sync their contacts, and campaigns can use far more of their lists than this program did.
The Final 48 Hours Matter
Nearly half of all outreach occurred in the closing two days. For a turnout-focused program, volunteer capacity should be preserved for timely reminders and personal follow-up as voting concludes.
Technology Should Make Relationships Actionable
UpVote connected phone contacts, voter-file matching, outreach tools, and post-election turnout data in one system. The technology did not replace community organizing. It gave organizers the infrastructure to coordinate and measure it.
Methodology and Important Limitations
Turnout figures are based on certified post-election vote history uploaded to UpVote after the June 2026 primary. All three groups were drawn from the organization’s 324,961-record district file and were eligible to vote in the NY-13 primary.
Personal relational contacts are every voter associated with at least one volunteer, excluding voters identified as opposed. Curated-list voters were contacted through UpVote’s group feature, where the organization gave volunteers access to curated voter lists; they had no prior volunteer association. The general electorate includes eligible voters outside both the personal relational universe and the curated lists. Outreach counts texts, WhatsApp messages, emails, and calls sent by volunteers through the UpVote app and excludes phone-bank activity. Voter file data was supplied by the organization.
This was not a randomized experiment. Volunteers selected which personal contacts to add, and those contacts may have been more likely to vote before receiving outreach. The curated lists were built by the organization and may include voters more likely to vote than the district as a whole, so the comparison with the general electorate likely overstates the effect of list outreach. The comparison between personal contacts and curated-list voters helps narrow that concern because it holds the volunteer operation, platform, timeframe, district, and election constant, but it does not eliminate selection bias. These results should therefore be read as strong observed associations, not definitive proof that outreach caused the entire turnout difference.
Relational Organizing in a Congressional Primary
How many volunteers did the organization activate?
The organization activated 20 volunteers during the 18-day program. Together they built a 648-voter personal relational universe and reached 777 voters through curated lists, for a combined outreach universe of 1,425 eligible voters.
What is the difference between a personal relational contact and a curated-list voter?
A personal relational contact was someone the volunteer directly knew and confirmed through their own phone contacts. Curated-list voters appeared on voter lists the organization built and shared with volunteers through UpVote’s group feature. They had no personal relationship with the volunteer contacting them.
How much outreach did the volunteers conduct?
Volunteers sent 1,850 peer-to-peer messages through UpVote across both outreach layers and were active on 19 consecutive days. Forty-five percent of the program’s outreach occurred during the final 48 hours before the primary.
What does the turnout comparison show?
Personal relational contacts turned out at 77.5%, curated-list voters at 52.4%, and the general electorate outside both universes at 22.3%. Curated-list outreach was associated with higher turnout than the general electorate, while voters with direct personal relationships showed the strongest turnout.
Can this case study prove that UpVote caused the entire turnout difference?
No. The program was not randomized, and volunteers chose their personal contacts. The findings show a strong relationship between the type of connection and turnout, but they should not be interpreted as a definitive causal estimate.
Can a 501(c)(4) organization use UpVote for community mobilization?
Yes. UpVote can help civic and advocacy organizations organize volunteers, match personal contacts to eligible voter files, run peer-to-peer outreach, work curated voter lists, and measure participation after an election. Organizations remain responsible for ensuring that their activities comply with applicable legal and tax requirements.
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