My brother has done texting on behalf of Harris and said they did have to read and reply to text for the campaign he was volunteering for. Most replies are canned, but they do have to be chosen based on what reply they got. I know he mentioned Black Voters Matter as a group he was working with.
FCC rules prohibit using a robo-texter to contact people without their consent. For this reason, when texting voters, campaigns have humans pressing the the actual button to "send," even though software & canned responses automate most of the process. However, for fundraising texts, campaigns most of the time technically have consent (if you give money or sign up for something and provide your phone number, there is usually a disclaimer that says you are giving them consent to text you, and campaigns can then sell your number), and so they can use a robo-texter without reading any responses. Most of the time, this is outsourced to consulting firms who aren't connected to the campaign. For this reason, it is best to just reply "STOP" to any fundraising texts (blocking the number doesn't work because robo-texters use multiple numbers & they can still sell your data to another campaign/PAC, while campaigns are legally required to remove you from their list if you reply "STOP") and only donate via actual campaign websites in races you know are competitive.
As far as I can find, the Tester campaign is not currently doing any text-banking (https://www.mobilize.us/bigskyvictory/ is a list of all of his events), but their website has a phone number you can reach out to if you have questions about donating or volunteering which presumably is monitored by actual humans (+1 406-272-2487).
Only blocking numbers ever works, and they're probably using a robo-texter or something, nobody's actually reading the texts back.
My brother has done texting on behalf of Harris and said they did have to read and reply to text for the campaign he was volunteering for. Most replies are canned, but they do have to be chosen based on what reply they got. I know he mentioned Black Voters Matter as a group he was working with.
FCC rules prohibit using a robo-texter to contact people without their consent. For this reason, when texting voters, campaigns have humans pressing the the actual button to "send," even though software & canned responses automate most of the process. However, for fundraising texts, campaigns most of the time technically have consent (if you give money or sign up for something and provide your phone number, there is usually a disclaimer that says you are giving them consent to text you, and campaigns can then sell your number), and so they can use a robo-texter without reading any responses. Most of the time, this is outsourced to consulting firms who aren't connected to the campaign. For this reason, it is best to just reply "STOP" to any fundraising texts (blocking the number doesn't work because robo-texters use multiple numbers & they can still sell your data to another campaign/PAC, while campaigns are legally required to remove you from their list if you reply "STOP") and only donate via actual campaign websites in races you know are competitive.
As far as I can find, the Tester campaign is not currently doing any text-banking (https://www.mobilize.us/bigskyvictory/ is a list of all of his events), but their website has a phone number you can reach out to if you have questions about donating or volunteering which presumably is monitored by actual humans (+1 406-272-2487).