We test what we build, and we build on what's already been tested.
TVP runs its own pilots and surveys — and draws on decades of academic and field research on turnout, civic knowledge, and social capital. This page holds both.
Our research: where it started, and what the pilot found
In early 2025, TVP piloted a digital, nonpartisan voter guide for San Antonio's May 3 mayoral election — paired with a post-election survey run in partnership with UTSA — the first real-world test of the idea that became TVP's Information Infrastructure.
Worth noting: this pilot tested one digital guide, in one race, in one city. It's the seed TVP's current two-infrastructure model grew from — not a description of that model today.
Where this started: an honors thesis
Before starting TVP, Sophia had a different question to answer. In 2018, she wrote her University of Oregon honors thesis, The Institutional Disaffiliates: Understanding Why Millennials Did Not Vote in 2016. It found that registration and accessibility weren't what kept millennials from voting in 2016 — motivation was. Millennials weren't disengaged; they were distrusting and ambivalent about formal politics.
That distinction — not apathy, but distrust — is the throughline from that research to TVP's Information and Social Infrastructure today.
Learn more about our founder →The case for San Antonio
Nearly 70% of voters surveyed had never seen a nonpartisan voter guide before. San Antonio was gaining roughly 24,000 new residents a year — mostly people in their early 30s without established local voting habits — while turnout in the May 2025 municipal election fell to a modern low: 5.8% in early voting, under 10% overall. Fast growth plus a real information gap made it a natural test case.
What came back: the May 3 results
Delivered as a digital, mobile-first guide and paired with a post-election survey conducted in partnership with UTSA.
Usefulness held up across ideology — from 79% among right-leaning respondents to 85.9% among left-leaning respondents.
"It was very helpful, I enjoyed it!" · "…pretty comprehensive. I like the use of hyperlinks because it provides the option to learn more but doesn't flood the page with information." · "…I was feeling very overwhelmed by the large number of mayoral candidates but this was informative, easy to digest, and helped me to narrow down my choices."
— May 2025 survey respondents
Research we build on
TVP's approach also draws on published field experiments and academic research on turnout, civic knowledge, and social capital — not just our own numbers.
Field Experiments
A nonpartisan guide delivered via SMS/digital ads to low-propensity young voters moved turnout +0.3 points, significant — SMS slightly outperformed Facebook.
Mail reassuring overwhelmed voters they "know enough to vote" was competitive with standard social-pressure GOTV mail among under-35 voters specifically.
Voter guides and spatial-map tools increased voting closer to one's own views, with effects concentrated among low-knowledge voters.
Civic Knowledge & Social Capital
Adults under 25 are 20–30 points less knowledgeable than older adults on which level of government does what — a gap that explains roughly half the youth turnout gap. (Also cited on Election Prep.)
Foundational research on America's declining civic and social capital — the grounding for TVP's Social Infrastructure work and its focus on third places.
Practitioner Guidance
A practitioner playbook on social pressure, timing, and mode-by-mode tactics (mail, digital, phone, SMS, canvass) synthesized across many campaigns.
A survey of remote and digital GOTV tactics (SMS, digital ads, postcards, vote-by-mail programs) that emerged from the 2020 cycle.