GOTV data runbook: the final 60 days, in order

T-minus 10 weeks: audit before volume

Run the consent-first implementation checklist end to end. Everything below assumes the gate works. If it does not, nothing else here matters.

T-minus 9 weeks: request the keys you do not control

Some credentials have human beings in the loop and cannot be rushed:

• NGP VAN production keys must be requested by you from inside VAN. A vendor cannot request one on your behalf. Start now.
• Political 10DLC registration and your Campaign Verify authorization token take time and are not something to discover in week two.
• Partner-only platforms — i360, Numinar, the voter file providers — do not have a self-serve path at all. Plan around CSV.

T-minus 8 weeks: configure routing, once

Map intent signals to tags and activist codes. Decide which destination owns which intent. Turn on Slack alerts for the top slice only — an alert channel that fires 400 times a day gets muted by week three.

T-minus 6 weeks: dry run

Push fifty real records through the whole path. Check for duplicates in every destination. Check that consent fields populated. Fix now, while there is slack.

T-minus 4 weeks: separate the SMS list deliberately

Filter to SMS-consented records only. Confirm your consent language actually collected express written consent for automated texts. Expect your platform’s own opt-in confirmation on API-added subscribers — plan the welcome flow around double opt-in rather than being surprised by it.

T-minus 2 weeks: freeze configuration

Stop changing routing rules. Whatever is running is what you are running. Monitor delivery logs daily and keep an eye on webhook failure counters — some platforms disable a webhook after a fixed number of consecutive failures.

Election week: monitor, do not rebuild

Watch the delivery log, work the alerts, and resist the urge to change anything. Anything broken enough to need a rebuild in the last week needed the rebuild in September.

The day after: export everything

Pull a full CSV including consent columns and put it somewhere durable. Whatever happens to the campaign entity, the record of what people consented to should outlive it.