Good Question: How do political campaigns get my cell phone number?

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Now that the primary is over, your phone may be ringing a little less. One viewer had a question about that.

For today’s Good Question, Jim asks, How do political campaigns get my cell phone number?

Well, they probably paid for it. There are companies whose entire job is to mine data about us so they can sell it to advertisers, researchers, and political parties.

Your voter registration is one source they use for that.

All states, including Kentucky, allow access to voter data for election purposes. That includes information about your political party affiliation, address, and even your phone number if you’ve included it.

It’s also possible you signed up for information about a political party. They will certainly hold onto that number.

Campaign calls and texts are exempt from do not call list requirements.

The rules are different depending on whether it’s a mobile number or landline. For a mobile device, the FCC says they can’t be robocalls or robotexts without your prior consent.

However, in a report last year, our Garret Wymer said campaigns can bypass those robotext rules by using technology to send one message at a time rather than all at once.

If you think you’ve received a political robocall or text that does not comply with the fcc’s rules, you can file an informal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission.

If you have a Good Question you’d like us to try to answer, send it to goodquestion@wkyt.com.

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