Local campaigns texting voters ahead of Wisconsin primary

MILWAUKEE COUNTY (CBS 58) -- Technology is changing how candidates get out the vote.

You may have received text messages in the days leading up to the election.

Candidate for Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes says his campaign hosts what are known as "texting parties." Volunteers get together to text the contacts in their phone, encouraging them to support a candidate.

"More people get mad when they get a phone call in the evening than they do about a text message. If someone doesn't want us to text them we opt them out. We make sure we mark that number as a person that doesn't want to be contacted over message," said Mandela Barnes, Democratic Candidate for Lieutenant Governor.

Barnes faces Sheboygan businessman Kurt Kober in the primary. Kober's campaign says he also sends out texts to voters.