From signup to a first shift
This is the realistic path from a new account to the first doors knocked. The minute marks show how the steps flow together — they're an illustration, not a stopwatch promise. Voter-file access, team availability, and your own decisions set the real pace.
Minute 5
Create your campaign
The campaign is the container everything else lives in: your voter list, your team, your routes, and your results.
Before this step
- An Activate account — email signup, free, no credit card.
- The basics of your race: a campaign name your volunteers will recognize, and a rough sense of the area you're running in.
What you do
- Create the campaign from your dashboard and name it.
- Confirm the basics. Nothing here is locked — you can adjust details later without starting over.
What exists when you're done
Your campaign exists with you as its manager, ready for a voter list and team. Every account receives 25 free Credits once its email is verified; campaign managers can use them for metered import preparation, storage overage and campaign messaging. SMS uses purchased Credits. Core campaigns, canvassing and exports stay free.
Running a program for an organization rather than a race? When you create the campaign, choose Civic and community programs, or for a voter-participation program choose Political campaigns and then your organization. You name the program, set its start and end dates instead of an election date, and write your own field question as the last step.
Next: Bring in your voter dataMinute 15
Bring in your voter data
Your voter file is the raw material of the field program: the names and addresses that become routes and walk lists.
Before this step
- A voter file you are authorized to use, or for an organization program, a contact list your organization is permitted to use: CSV, Excel, delimited text, or a ZIP containing supported tables. The state directory below links to official request sources if you need a file. Keep the original unchanged and check the terms that came with it.
What you do
- Upload the file directly. Activate prepares the list for import; voter PII stays out of AI services.
- Check the prepared list, included sources, preview rows, accepted and skipped counts, and quoted Credits. Your confirmation approves the records and cost.
What exists when you're done
Your confirmed list is encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM and ready for route preparation. Check the imported count against the rows you approved. Each canvasser sees one assigned record at a time.
Preparation time depends on the file. State request timing also varies. Volunteers can join while you wait for the list, and the import shows its costs before you confirm.
From file to field
A voter file becomes a plan for your team
Bring a voter file you are authorized to use. Activate prepares it for import, then shows the list and quoted Credits before you approve it. Here is a small example you can use to plan a walking shift.
Try the small synthetic example
The downloadable file contains fictional people and addresses. It includes split street columns, units 2A and 2B, and ZIP 02134. One row has only a voter ID and is skipped.
- source rows
- 9
- accepted records
- 8
- skipped row
- 1
6 people have street addresses: 4 household stops across 3 buildings. The 2 accepted records without a street address need review before walking assignments.
People and household stops are different counts
Two people share unit 2A. The person in unit 2B is a separate household stop in the same building. Keep those units distinct when you plan the shift.
| Household stop | People |
|---|---|
| 101 N Example St · 2A | 2 |
| 101 N Example St · 2B | 1 |
| 103 N Example St | 1 |
| 105 N Example St | 2 |
Fictional addresses. This is a manual planning example, not an application screen, an optimized route or a promise about travel time.
Minute 20
Prepare the team invite
Your team joins through one shared code — no account creation on your side, no app to distribute.
Before this step
- A campaign (minute 5). Voter data can come later; inviting the team doesn't depend on it.
What you do
- Open the invite screen and get your canvasser QR code and link. Managers get a separate code, so coordination access stays deliberate.
- Share it where your volunteers already are: the group chat, the kickoff meeting, a printed sheet at the campaign table.
What exists when you're done
One reusable join code per role, valid for 30 days, with a fresh code issued when one lapses. If a code spreads further than you meant, replace it — the old link and QR stop working immediately, and everyone who already joined stays on the team.
Next: Volunteers scan and joinMinute 30
Volunteers scan and join
Joining is the step where friction costs you volunteers. Here it's a scan, not an installation.
Before this step
- The invite code or link in your volunteers' hands (minute 20).
What you do
- Volunteers scan the QR code or open the link and create an account in the browser — no app-store download.
- They land on your campaign as canvassers, ready for an assignment.
What exists when you're done
Your team list shows everyone who joined and their role. Removing someone later is a separate team-list action, and it releases their assigned voters back to the campaign.
Next: Run the first shiftMinute 60
Run the first shift
Routes, doors, and a dashboard filling in — this is where the setup pays off.
Before this step
- An imported voter list (minute 15).
- At least one canvasser on the team (minute 30).
What you do
- Set your route size and let Activate group addresses by street and building into routes — an apartment building is one stop, not forty duplicates.
- Canvassers open their assignment and swipe through their doors, logging each response with one tap.
- You watch completion and responses come in on the live dashboard and hand out the next route when someone finishes.
What exists when you're done
Submitted doors are on your dashboard — completion by route, responses, team activity — and your campaign's data exports as CSV whenever you want it. From here, the job is rhythm: the next shift, the next routes, the next review.
Keep reading
Start the first step.
Campaign creation, canvassing and exports are free, with no subscription or per-seat fee. Import preparation and other metered utilities show their cost in Credits in the app.
Last reviewed: 2026-08-01