Text message reminders increased voter turnout in 2025 county and municipal elections

A text message pilot carried out in connection with the 2025 county and municipal elections showed that text message reminders with information about elections increase voter turnout. The results confirm earlier findings on the effectiveness of text message reminders.

In the text message pilot carried out in connection with the 2025 county and municipal elections, a reminder to vote in the elections was sent to over 345,000 eligible voters. The target group consisted of eligible voters residing in municipalities that use the electronic voting register. 

A randomly selected group representing around one fifth of all Finnish and Swedish-speaking eligible voters in these municipalities received a text message reminder, while the control group did not. 

The study found that the reminders raised voter turnout to a statistically significant extent among both young and older voters. Voter turnout increased among Finnish and Swedish speakers aged under 30 by an average of around 0.9 percentage points and among older voters by an average of around 0.7 percentage points. For older voters, the effects were most pronounced in groups with low voter turnout.

Use of voters’ mother tongue and spillover effects enhance impact of reminders

In respect of foreign language speakers, the study also examined the significance of the language of the message. In a group consisting of speakers of the 21 most common foreign languages registered as a mother tongue in Finland, one third received the text message reminder in Finnish and Swedish, one third received it in their mother tongue and in Finnish, and one third acted as a control group.

The message sent in one’s mother tongue proved to be slightly more effective: it increased voting by 1.1 percentage points, while the reminder sent in Finnish and Swedish increased it by 0.6 percentage points. Messages written in one's own mother tongue were particularly effective for people coming from Western European countries.
The study also found that the effects of the text message reminders extended beyond individual recipients as they also affected the voting behaviour of those living in the same household as the recipient. 

Study confirms earlier findings on effectiveness of text message reminders

The objective of the 2025 pilot was to see whether the findings of earlier studies that had focused on young voters – that text message reminders have a positive effect on voter turnout – would be similar when applied to the entire population eligible to vote.  A new aspect studied was whether reminders received in one's own mother tongue would be more effective in increasing voter turnout. The study found that voter turnout increased across the population. In addition, a message sent in one's mother tongue was found to be slightly more effective.  

The study was carried out by the University of Turku, the Ministry of Justice and the Finnish Behavioural Policy Team (FINBEPOL) of the Prime Minister's Office in cooperation with Statistics Finland and the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. It was funded by the Strategic Research Council (SRC). 

Earlier studies conducted by the same research team only focused on young voters. In the study conducted in connection with the 2022 county elections, text message reminders increased voter turnout most strongly among those young people who lived in low voter turnout households but had themselves voted in previous elections. The messages also increased voter turnout among the parents of young people who received them. The findings were similar in the pilot carried out in connection with the 2023 parliamentary elections. Another finding was that the text message reminders do not affect voter turnout in subsequent elections.

Voter turnout among young people still low

In Finland, voter turnout is significantly lower among young adults than among older voters. Around 34 per cent of eligible voters aged under 30 voted in the 2025 county and municipal elections, while around 54 per cent of eligible voters aged over 30 did so. In addition to age, factors that have a considerable negative effect on voter turnout include a low level of education, a low income level and an immigrant background.  

Low voter turnout may lead to a situation where not all groups are equally represented in decision-making. Based on studies, text message reminders are a simple and effective way to increase voter turnout and reduce gaps between population groups.  

Inquiries:

Salomo Hirvonen, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Turku, [email protected], +358 40 158 5628
Janne Tukiainen, Professor, University of Turku, [email protected], +358 50 308 3620
Niklas Wilhelmsson, Ministry of Justice, [email protected] +358 295 150 348