There are several campaigns over the years I would have contributed to if they could only guarantee I wouldn't be placed on their lists.

You can easily do this by just giving them a throwaway email. They don't check. Legally they just have to record your name but there's nothing saying you have to give them a real email.

How do you propose political engagement could work if nobody were willing to provide contact details?

Hold the bad actors accountable, as easy as that. Make the fines so painful that even the billion dollar campaigns notice.

Given how little the ecosystem is regulated, post Citizens United / PACs, I'm not sure that'd be legally scalable.

An elegant weapon of a more civilized age (the early internet): if they're pushy in requiring one -- just lie.

I'm quite capable of seeking out information from political candidates instead of them spamming me.

But you might not be angry enough!

That's not engagement, it's passive consumption. The system only works if sufficient people are part of the process, and that takes at the very minimum two way communication.

I mean this specifically in America, but does "political engagement" even do anything here? Pretty sure the battle lines have been drawn and you're either spamming or preaching to the choir.

You could use your engagement to live a live infused with your values, as a beacon to other like minded people, or people who were unaware they were like minded, until they saw your light in their tunnel.

Unsolicited spam is not how meaningful political engagement happens anyway.

Represent people in exchange for their vote instead of using First Past The Post voting to lock the competition out of the electoral process.