A new study by researchers at Princeton University, the University of Michigan, Working Assets and three prominent voter registration organizations confirms what many political insiders already suspected: text messaging is the cheapest, most effective way to get voters to the polls.

According to the study, voters who received a text message reminder to vote the day before the 2006 elections were 4.2% more likely to vote than voters who didn't. Messages that were concise and to the point produced even higher turnout. And here's the kicker: the cost per vote generated was $1.56 - drastically cheaper than every other mobilization technique. (Conducting "quality" phone calls can also boost turnout by 4-5%, but at a cost of $20 per vote. And while door-to-door canvassing can turn plump turnout by 7-9%, it's even more expensive at $30 per vote.)

Believe it or not, though, there's more. The study's authors reported that while youth are quite responsive to GOTV efforts, traditional campaign mobilization techniques aren't keeping pace with their lifestyles. In particular, young people frequently register shortly before elections, which means that their names don't appear on the rolls that campaigns use to organize their outreach efforts. Even more importantly, young people change addresses often, and many don't use landlines. By 2006, 25% of Americans under the age of 25 used a mobile phone exclusively, and that trend is accelerating. (By the '08 presidential election, 30% of the American public will be mobile-only.)

As if that weren't enough, get this: young people prefer being contacted via "passive" outreach - mobile and email, for example - versus a phone call or a knock on the door. In a post-study survey, 59% of participants said they found the text message reminder helpful, and only 1% indicated that they were less likely to vote after receiving the message.

Of course, GOTV isn't the only way to use mobile. John Edwards has been using text messaging to reach out to supporters, conduct call-in campaigns, solicit feedback, and even raise money since early 2006, and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton launched their own mobile campaigns earlier this year. Over the next year, these and other campaigns will continue to use mobile to interact with supporters in all kinds of innovative ways. One thing is certain, though: come Election Day 2008, smart campaigns will be using text messages to do what campaigns do best: getting people to turn out and vote.

Jed Alpert CEO Mobile Commons