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Cindy Siegel was walking through a Houston-area grocery store as she pulled up an app on her phone. With a few easy clicks on Abbott Impact, she could see everyone in her contacts and whether they were registered to vote and had cast a ballot yet. The Harris County GOP chair banks up to 200 messages or calls per day, in between coordinating with campaigns and helping set up polling locations. The app awards 10 points per voter contact. If she calls enough people, she could win a grill, Abbott campaign-branded shirts, a Yeti cooler, a Dyson air wrap, or even a dinner in the governor’s mansion (if he wins).

“It’s the way of the future,” Siegel told RCP. “Let’s face it, my daughters will text me more than they’ll call me. But even with both options, this is a very effective tool.”

Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa is challenging incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott this year. Although Abbott leads the RCP Average by 3.5 percentage points, Texas Republicans have insisted that the party not become complacent, particularly during a midterm year. His campaign launched the Abbott Impact app last week. In most states, data on whether a person voted is public record, though voting choices remain private. The app identifies both phone contacts and geo-locates a user’s self-identified neighborhood to encourage users to go vote. Some precinct chairs have told Siegel they have been sending out thousands of messages since early voting began.

Siegel likes to personalize a text message, but if she’s short on time, she can send an auto-filled one. Sometimes she lets her personal friends know she found them on the app. In her neighborhood, she simply lets people know where their polling precincts are and encourages them to go vote, preferably Republican.

The method has its pros and cons. For one, Siegel told RCP she hears complaints from constituents all the time about a flood of campaign texts and calls, particularly asking for donations. She worries that more technological outreach will muddy the waters, even as it helps her reach more voters.

“I think it burns people out, unfortunately,” Siegel........

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