From Rights to Votes: Understanding political knowledge and mobilization via text messaging among system-impacted groups

Last registered on November 08, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
From Rights to Votes: Understanding political knowledge and mobilization via text messaging among system-impacted groups
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010154
Initial registration date
September 30, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
October 03, 2022, 5:44 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
November 08, 2022, 1:55 PM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of California, Irvine

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
University of California, Berkeley

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-10-05
End date
2023-09-30
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Individuals with criminal records often have very low voting rates in states where they are legally eligible to participate in elections. Misinformation about eligibility, lack of knowledge, and lack of interest are all thought to prevent this population from voting. Even though text messaging interventions to increase voting rates are commonplace among the general population (even if not very effective), it is unclear whether text messaging can address barriers to voting among system-impacted groups (i.e., individuals with records, those with incarceration histories, and those affected by a family member’s incarceration), who have unique needs and challenges to voting.

Using a randomized controlled trial (RCT), we experimentally test whether and how text messaging interventions can address misinformation and low motivation among system-impacted groups to increase their electoral participation. Within the RCT, we leverage insights from adaptive text messaging interventions, which address variation in individuals’ responses to interventions by tailoring treatment to time-varying characteristics observed throughout the study. Using information about participants’ registration status by the state’s registration deadline, we adjust our interventions to tailor prospective messages accordingly. This design is well-suited for the identification of efficient ways to address heterogeneity in voting behavior in the weeks leading up to an election, and will move forward the knowledge about electoral participation among system-impacted individuals.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Sugie, Naomi and Emily Zhang. 2022. "From Rights to Votes: Understanding political knowledge and mobilization via text messaging among system-impacted groups." AEA RCT Registry. November 08. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10154-3.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We will use text messaging to reach individuals impacted by the criminal justice system and experimentally test whether and how text messaging interventions (addressing misinformation and low motivation) increase voter registration and voting rates.
Intervention Start Date
2022-10-05
Intervention End Date
2022-11-09

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Voter registration (whether participants registered and if yes, when they registered to vote) and voter turnout (whether participants voted) in the November 2022 election among study participants and their household members.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Voter registration and turnout data will be measured via administrative records on registration and voting (state voter files) and self-reported responses.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
The level, extent, and content of text-message replies from participants during the interventions and the level and extent of engagement with partner organization.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
The intervention encourages participants to text back with voting-related questions, and we will measure how much participants in each experimental group (except control) respond and seek help from the research team. We will also ask our partner organization to track member engagement by recording their attendance at group events and responsiveness to other text messages sent by the organization.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We experimentally test whether and how text messaging interventions can address misinformation and low motivation among system-impacted groups to increase their electoral participation. Within the RCT, we leverage insights from adaptive text messaging interventions, which address variation in individuals’ responses to interventions by tailoring treatment to time-varying characteristics observed throughout the study.
Experimental Design Details
Participants will be randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups (control, T1, T2, T3 described above). After the registration deadline, we will conduct a secondary randomization among participants in T2 in some states and incorporate an adaptive intervention framework to the RCT. Adaptive interventions are an important tool for the development of more effective outreach interventions, as they employ time-varying characteristics of participants to tailor the treatment provided to respond more adequately to the participant’s needs.T2 participants who have registered to vote by the registration deadline of their state will be randomly assigned to one of two groups; one will continue receiving the same treatment as before the deadline, and the other will begin receiving the treatment that prior to the secondary randomization was only administered to T3. The same secondary randomization strategy will be employed to randomly assign participants who are not registered by the registration deadline (or those with an unknown registration status) to two groups - one that will receive T3 and one that will continue receiving T2.
Randomization Method
Randomization done via software.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
Approximately 16,000 (this number is subject to change due to the rolling enrollment of new individuals).
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
The sample of approximately 16,000 individuals will be divided into the treatment arms in the following way: 3000 participants will be assigned to the control group; 3000 will be assigned to the first treatment group; 7000 will be assigned to the second treatment group; and 3000 will be assigned to the third treatment group. These numbers may vary depending on the enrollment of new individuals.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
With 3000 control participants and 13000 treatment participants (across all treatment groups), for the binary outcome of registration the minimum difference in rates to detect a significant difference between the control and treatment groups at the 0.05 level with power 0.8 is 2.33%. For the binary outcome of voting, the minimum difference in rates to detect a significant difference at the 0.05 level with power 0.8 is 1.33%.
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of California, Irvine
IRB Approval Date
2022-05-26
IRB Approval Number
1483
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials