Hillary Clinton ran a registration drive during her presidential campaign, and Stacey Abrams, a Democrat running for governor in Georgia, has made it a major focus in 2014 she founded a nonprofit called the New Georgia Project for voter registration. Democratic campaigns have made a point to weaponize voter registration. Republicans also register voters, but as a practical matter many of the unregistered-the young, the poor-tend to lean left. Many voter registration efforts are presented as nonpartisan affairs, all about apple-pie democracy. This is one reason the second-most-populous state has some of the worst voter registration and turnout rates in the nation (44th and 47th, respectively). The principal goal of a campaign is to guide a voter down the final slope of the funnel, but what Smith and others realized was that the entry into the political funnel in Texas was so narrow that it limited the consumers coming out on the other end. Top-of-funnel marketing is a slick BMW ad in a glossy magazine further down the funnel is the Google ad that pops up when you search “local BMW dealer.” The political top of the funnel is the voter registration process, which makes you a consumer of a product called a political party and sends you down the funnel that ends in a voting booth and the “purchase” of a particular candidate. Once interest is sparked, you’re subtly guided down to the bottom of the funnel, where interest is massaged into intent and eventual sale. At the top of the funnel, marketers create brand awareness-the mystical process that turns your thoughts of bright, clean laundry to Tide and not any of the other indistinguishable detergents. What marketers call “the funnel” is the narrowing procession of potential consumers ambling their way toward a product. Here we pause for a metaphorical aside from the world of marketing.

Tech for Campaigns cofounder Jessica Alter and campaign relations director Greg Dale (far left) with volunteers Erez Cohen (second from left) and Dan Egnor.

Red Nations by Jeremy Smith