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Those text messages you receive that contain one-time authentication codes from your bank, your pharmacy, or your insurance company are often sent to your phone from a 5- or 6-digit number known as a “short code.” Short codes are used by political campaigns and businesses to reliably send and receive high volumes of text messages. Short codes are only used for text messages; they do not support telephone voice calls. Short codes are a trusted communication channel used to facilitate consumer and voter engagement through information updates, alerts, and multiple other use cases, including fundraising and “get out the vote” messages.
Established by CTIA – The Wireless Association and its member companies, the short code program adheres to industry best practices and actively preserves the brand integrity of entities using these codes. CTIA administers both the short code program and the registry website (www.usshortcodes.com), which serves as the platform for obtaining short codes.
After successful verification from Campaign Verify, entities should provide their Short Code Authorization Token to their Campaign Service Provider (CSP), the campaign’s text messaging provider. The CSP will share the token with its Direct Connect Aggregator (DCA), which will submit the token to a major U.S. wireless carrier for final approval.
CTIA recommends that users follow CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices Guide. Additionally, CTIA launched a website tailored for political campaigns ahead of the 2024 election season: Keeping Political Text Messaging Spam Free.
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