If your phone is blowing up with text messages on behalf of political candidates, you are not alone. They are difficult to block, but experts say there are steps to slow them down.

Why are so many of us getting text messages from campaigns? The AJC’s David Wickert reports that 2020 spending on political text messaging in Georgia is higher than all previous years combined, according to records from the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission.

Campaigns obtain phone numbers from voter registration records and from information brokers. They use other data to target voters likely to be receptive to their message.

According to the FCC, senders of political text messages do not require the recipient’s permission, as long they follow FCC rules.

What can you do?

Replying “STOP” usually will unsubscribe you from a texting list. That will only stop texts from that sender. So you may have to reply “STOP” way more than once -- each time you get an unwanted text.

Often the instructions are included on the message you receive, according to an article on the Clark Howard consumer web site.

The calendar may help, too. The political texts should slow down after Election Day on Jan. 5.

About the Author

Keep Reading

A Fulton County elections workers prepares absentee ballots for counting during the county's second recount of Presidential Election Day ballots at the Georgia World Congress Center, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2020. The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday filed a federal lawsuit seeking copies of ballots and other documents from the 2020 election. (Alyssa Pointer/AJC)

Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC

Featured

Waymo autonomous vehicles operate across 65 square miles inside I-285 and have been involved in six incidents with Atlanta Public School buses since May. Waymo issued a recall because of their cars briefly stopping or slowing down before continuing forward while a bus was stopped and flashing its lights. (Courtesy of Atlanta Public Schools)

Credit: Courtesy of Atlanta Public Schools