Relational Organizing in 18 Days
A 501(c)(4) Advocacy Organization | New York Congressional Primary, June 2026
A 501(c)(4) advocacy organization set out to mobilize voters in a New York congressional district ahead of the June 2026 primary, with eighteen days and a small group of committed volunteers. The result was the highest certified turnout rate we have recorded: 648 voters personally known to volunteers turned out at 77.5%, against 22.3% among voters in the same district the program never reached. More usefully, the program ran two kinds of outreach side by side, which lets us measure what the personal relationship itself is worth.
The Challenge
Eighteen days from launch to Election Day, in a low-turnout primary, across a district of 324,961 eligible voters. Success depended on turning a small group of deeply connected volunteers into productive organizers and keeping them working through to the close.
The Plan We Ran
Relational Network Mapping. UpVote surfaced voter-file matches from volunteers’ phone contacts, helping the organization confirm 648 unique eligible voters its volunteers personally knew.
Authentic Peer-to-Peer Outreach. Volunteers sent 1,850 messages from their own numbers, averaging 2.85 per voter rather than relying on a single mass blast.
Curated List Outreach. Alongside personal contacts, volunteers were given access to targeted voter lists built by the organization, reaching 777 additional voters with no contact sharing required.
Focused Finish. Volunteers stayed active on 19 consecutive days, with 45% of all outreach in the final 48 hours.
Turnout by Outreach Group
Both groups were contacted by the same volunteers, through the same app, in the same eighteen days, in the same election. The only difference is whether the volunteer and the voter actually knew each other.
What Happened in 18 Days
Twenty active volunteers built a 648-voter relational universe, an average of 32 personal contacts each. Those voters turned out at 77.5%. Voters reached by the same volunteers through curated lists, with no personal relationship, turned out at 52.4%, and voters never touched at 22.3%.
The personal relationship was worth roughly 25 points over organized contact from a stranger. And that contact was still worth 30 points over no contact at all, meaning volunteers who prefer not to share contacts can contribute substantially.
both universes
list outreach
relational contacts
See what this could look like for your campaign
Book a free 30-minute walkthrough. We will show you how a relational universe gets built from your volunteers’ real relationships, and what a program the size of yours could realistically produce.
Schedule a demo→ 30 minutes on Zoom · no preparation neededMethodology: Certified post-election vote history among 324,961 eligible district voters. The relational universe counts every voter associated with at least one volunteer, excluding those identified as opposed. Curated list outreach refers to voters contacted through UpVote’s group feature with no prior volunteer association. Outreach excludes phone-bank activity. Voter file data was supplied by the organization. Volunteers selected their own contacts, so results show a strong association rather than definitive causation.