Campaign Verify: what it is and how political 10DLC senders use it

Campaign Verify is a nonpartisan, nonprofit vetting service. It confirms that a US political campaign, committee or organization is who it says it is, then issues a Campaign Verify token that carriers accept as proof for political 10DLC registration. If you want to text supporters from a regular 10-digit number under the political use case, you get verified first and then attach that token to your brand and campaign registration.

This post covers who needs Campaign Verify, what it checks, where the token goes in A2P 10DLC registration, and a realistic timeline. It also covers what political texting on Ready involves today, including the step most political senders skip: getting our written OK before the first text goes out.

What is Campaign Verify, and why carriers ask for it

Carriers treat political traffic as a special case. Election-season texting creates a lot of spoofed "campaign" messages, donation scams and impersonation, so carriers wanted a single trusted source that confirms a sender is a real campaign or committee. They didn't want to evaluate each one themselves.

Campaign Verify is that source. It doesn't approve your messages, read your copy or judge your politics. It confirms your identity and your authority to speak for the campaign, then hands you a token. During 10DLC registration, the token tells the registry "this political sender has been checked."

Here is what the token does not do:

• It doesn't register your brand or campaign. You still file 10DLC registration separately.
• It doesn't replace consent. TCPA rules on who you can text still apply.
• It doesn't guarantee delivery. Content filtering still happens after approval. We cover that in why approved campaigns still get filtered.

Who needs a Campaign Verify token

As a rough guide, you need a token if you're texting as or for a political entity and want the political use case on 10DLC. That typically includes:

• Candidates and candidate committees at the federal, state, local and tribal level
• Political party committees
• PACs and Super PACs
• Political organizations such as 527s, and some advocacy groups whose texting is election-related
• Ballot measure committees

You probably don't need it if you're a 501(c)(3) charity texting donors about programs, or a business that happens to mention a local ordinance. Those senders register under non-political use cases. If you're unsure whether your traffic counts as political, assume it does and ask. Registering political traffic under a generic marketing use case is a common way to get a campaign rejected or suspended later. Our use-case picking guide explains why matching the use case to what you actually send matters.

Vendors and consultants

If you're a consultant or agency texting on behalf of several candidates, each candidate or committee is the verified entity, not you. Plan on one verification per campaign you represent, and on each being registered as its own brand.

What Campaign Verify checks

Campaign Verify's job is to tie the person applying to a real, filed political entity. Expect it to look at three things.

1. Your public filing. Federal campaigns and committees are matched against their FEC filing and committee ID. State and local campaigns are matched against the state or local election authority's records, such as a filing ID or registration number.
2. Proof for entities without an online filing. Small local races, tribal elections and newer committees may not appear in a searchable database. In that case, expect to upload documents such as a candidacy filing receipt, ballot qualification paperwork or a committee registration form.
3. Your authority to apply. Campaign Verify checks that the applicant is connected to the filing. That usually means the contact details have to line up with what's on the public record, or with a verification step sent to them.

The details of each tier, and Campaign Verify's own fee, are on Campaign Verify's site. Check there for current requirements rather than relying on a blog post. The practical advice is simple: make sure the name, address and contact on your filing exactly match what you'll put on your 10DLC brand. Mismatches between the filing, the token and the brand are the most avoidable cause of delay.

How the Campaign Verify token is used in 10DLC registration

Once verified, you receive a token: a long string tied to your verified entity. The overall flow looks like this:

Token expiry

Tokens are tied to an election cycle and expire. Check the expiration date on yours. If you're a committee that operates across cycles, put re-verification on your calendar. An expired token in the middle of a get-out-the-vote push is a bad time to discover the date.

Campaign registration still has to stand on its own

The political use case doesn't relax the usual campaign checks. You still need clear sample messages, a described opt-in path, your organization's name in the messages, and STOP language. Rejections for vague samples happen to political senders too, and our sample-message rewrite guide applies here as well. For the full list of what reviewers look at, see 10DLC rules and requirements.

Political texting on Ready: the worked example

We make Ready, so here is how the process works on our platform, with every cost spelled out.

Step zero: email us before anything else

Political texting needs Ready's written OK first, under our acceptable use policy. Email support@tryready.com before you register a political campaign or send the first text to supporters. Wait for our reply. Signing up and paying for registration is not enough on its own. Ready doesn't file the political use case or take a Campaign Verify token in the app or the API yet, so our reply tells you whether and how we can take your traffic.

The same applies to fundraising appeals. Donation asks by text need our written OK before the first one goes out.

Registration costs

A registration Ready files has no setup fee:

• At submit: $25, which is the first month
• Monthly after that: $25/mo for registration + $2 per number

Campaign Verify charges its own verification fee, which is separate from anything Ready bills. Optional third-party brand vetting ($79 Standard / $179 Enhanced, one-time) is a different product from political vetting, and most senders don't need it. We explain when it pays off in is 10DLC brand vetting worth $79.

Messaging cost: a worked example

The assumptions:

• 4,000 supporters who opted in on the campaign website
• A volunteer-shift reminder of 150 characters, plain text, no emoji (1 GSM-7 segment)
• Sent on Ready's Standard rate

The math: 4,000 × 1 segment × $0.0075 = $30.00 at the Standard rate, plus 4,000 × $0.0045 = $18.00 in carrier fee ($48.00 all-in).

Now add one emoji and stretch the message to 175 characters. It becomes 3 unicode segments, because the limit drops to 70 characters (67 per part once the message splits). The same send is 4,000 × 3 × $0.0075. That's $90.00 at the Standard rate plus 12,000 × $0.0045, which triples the cost for one smiley face.

Two more line items to know about:

• Replies are billed like sent texts. If 1,200 people reply "YES" (one segment each), that's another 1,200 × ($0.0075 + $0.0045).

Ready's all-in prices per segment include the carrier fee but not screening: Scrub lists and Number validation, the two switches in Settings under Compliance, each add $0.003 per segment when switched on, shown as screening on your bill, and both are off by default. Unless you turn the opt-out footer off, the first text to each contact, and one again from time to time, also gets "Reply STOP to opt out" and your business name if the message does not already have them, so a text close to the segment limit can bill one more segment.

Ready is not the lowest per-segment option. Raw carrier APIs cost less per text. What you get with Ready is registration filed in the app, opt-out handling, quiet hours and scrubbing already built in. Full rates are on our pricing page, and our 10DLC cost breakdown itemizes every registration fee.

Compliance that matters more in election season

A Campaign Verify token proves who you are. It says nothing about whether the person you're texting agreed to hear from you. TCPA exposure runs roughly $500 to $1,500 per text, and election season brings plenty of plaintiffs. Our stance is plain: reach cold contacts by phone and mail, and send SMS only to people who opted in or replied.

On Ready, the following safeguards apply to political accounts as they do to every account:

• STOP handling. STOP and UNSUBSCRIBE are honored automatically and apply across all campaigns.
• Quiet hours. Sends are held outside permitted hours in the recipient's local area. Campaigns, drip campaigns and automations wait up to 24 hours for the window; a one-to-one or API text is held only if the window opens within 6 hours, otherwise it is not sent, and you send it again once the window opens; a one-to-one reply to someone who texted you in the last 24 hours goes out at any hour.
• Litigator and DNC scrubbing. The scrub is $0.005 per contact standalone, or a per-segment surcharge when switched on at the account level.
• Attestation records. Ready records the sender's attestation on each campaign you send and on each API send that attests consent: who sent, to how many, and when. That is not a per-contact consent record. Your signup form and CRM have to keep each supporter's opt-in time, wording and page.

None of this makes a campaign lawsuit-proof. Compliance is the sender's responsibility, and these tools only reduce the risk.

A realistic timeline

Plan backward from the first send you care about:

1. Week 1: Apply to Campaign Verify. Allow extra time if your race has no online filing and you have to upload documents.
2. In parallel: Email support@tryready.com and wait for our written OK.
3. Week 2: Once we've replied, register the brand and campaign the way our reply sets out, with your token ready. Most approvals take 2 to 7 days.
4. Before go-live: Send internal test messages, confirm STOP works, and check segment counts on your real copy.

Three weeks before a deadline is comfortable. Three days is not.

The practical takeaway

Get verified early, keep every detail consistent between your filing, your token and your brand, track the token's expiry, and text only people who opted in. If you plan to run political or fundraising texting on Ready, start with an email to support@tryready.com. When we've replied, the quickstart guide walks through setup, or you can create an account.

FAQ

What is Campaign Verify? Campaign Verify is a nonpartisan, nonprofit service that verifies US political campaigns, committees and organizations. It issues a token that carriers accept as proof of identity for political texting registration.

What is a Campaign Verify token used for? The token is attached to your 10DLC brand as political vetting, which lets you register the political use case. It doesn't register the brand or campaign itself. Those are separate filings.

How long does Campaign Verify take? It depends on how easy your filing is to match. Entities with searchable public filings tend to move faster than small local races that need documents uploaded. After you have the token, most 10DLC approvals take 2 to 7 days.

Does a token mean I can text anyone on a voter list? No. The token verifies your identity, not your consent. TCPA rules still apply, and we recommend phone and mail for cold outreach and SMS only for people who opted in or replied.

Can I sign up for Ready and start political texting right away? No. Email support@tryready.com before registering or sending, and wait for our written OK. That applies to both voter outreach and fundraising appeals.