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Texts without your permission are usually illegal, but the political messages fall under a couple exemptions.

Of course the government is usually pretty worthless at stopping them.

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What are these political text messages? And are they legal?

Joshua Bowling, Arizona Republic Published 6:00 a.m. MT Oct. 26, 2018

Texts without your permission are usually illegal, but the political messages fall under a couple exemptions.

Political groups aren't just relying on snail mail and TV spots to attack opposing candidates and ask for your vote as the November election approaches.

They're texting you.

Political groups and volunteers are turning to text messages that bear eye-catching calls to action such as, "Abortion will be illegal in Arizona very soon ... Vote Democratic on November 6th" and "Democrats are already voting. President Trump needs you to go out and VOTE."

While campaign ads are nothing new, these unsolicited and personalized texts take a more direct approach.

Arizona Republican and Democratic parties did not respond to a request for comment. Calls to multiple phone numbers behind the text messages, some carrying northern Arizona area codes, were met with busy signals.

What's legal and what isn't?

Sending a text message to someone without their consent is illegal, according to the Federal Trade Commission. However, there are a couple of exceptions to the rule:

Non-commercial messages, which include political surveys and fundraising requests, are exempt.

And companies you do business with can send you warranty information and regular statements.

Existing laws prohibit mass-sending and auto-dialers — technology that randomly dials a phone number.

These texts differ because each one is sent by one sender, to one person, according to a filing with the Federal Communications Commission.

A 2016 FCC decision stated that texts manually entered are "permissible without prior express consent."

A trade group that represents peer-to-peer texting apps — services that let groups communicate directly with users through a personalized text message — in May asked the FCC to clarify whether the practice fell under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

The P2P Alliance filed the request, which states "Political campaigns, political committees, and their supporters use ... texting to share information with voters, activists and donors." The group says the messages "cannot be sent without human intervention."

"During the 2016 Democratic Presidential primary, the Bernie Sanders campaign used P2P texting to connect with voters and encourage supporters to attend rallies," the filing says. "Use of P2P text messaging has grown tremendously over the past several years."

An FCC spokesman said the commission doesn't comment on pending petitions. The commission will review public input before issuing a ruling, he said.

Mimicking conversation

The texts don't always feel like campaign ads — they often attempt to mimic conversation and address the recipient by first name.

Sometimes, it doesn't quite work.

Mike Noble, chief pollster and managing partner for OH Predictive Insights in Phoenix, has a series of tweets chronicling several text messages he didn't sign up for.

One text addressed Noble as Armando.

"The guy called me Armando, and I'm like, 'Huh?'" he said.

It wasn't just the one text message.

"I've probably gotten, over a month or so, about 20 total," he said. "It's from all sides."

These unsolicited campaign text messages this cycle are interesting. For example; here is one from an outside group pushing for @dg4az although they have my name as “Armando.” 🤔 Do you believe this helps or hurts the candidate they are endeavoring to support? 🤔

Other Twitter users have posted screenshots containing text messages addressed from Newt Gingrich, Republican National Committee Headquarters and others.

Can you make it stop?

If you can figure out who's behind the text message, you can reach out to them directly and ask to be taken off their list.

That's your best bet. If you can't figure out who's behind the campaign, putting your cell phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry won't help much. The registry only prohibits sales calls, according to the FTC.

How to tell if a text is spam

Many of these texts are from political groups and volunteers seeking votes for a specific candidate or proposition.

Others are rife with misinformation and intend to dupe voters. Several Mesa residents were confused by texts from "Democrats for Mayor John Giles" in October. The mayor is a Republican and the city is investigating if the messages violated state election law.

The FTC has a few tips for spotting spam:

Be wary of texts asking for account information or passwords.

If you don't trust it, don't reply.

If you don't trust it, don't click on links, because they may install malware to steal your information.

AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and Bell customers can copy the message and send it to 7726 to report it.

Phoenix area No. 1 in U.S. for campaign ads The campaigning onslaught doesn't stop with text messages or snail mail.

Phoenix ranked No. 1 in the U.S. for political TV spots between Sept. 3 and Oct. 16.

Reach reporter Joshua Bowling at jbowling@azcentral.com or 602-444-8138. Follow him on Twitter @MrJoshuaBowling.