Vote.org unveils $10M campaign to register young Americans
Voter engagement organization Vote.org is launching a $10 million campaign to boost young voter turnout ahead of the midterm elections.
The campaign effort, called Vote Ready, seeks to reach out to four million voters aged 18 to 30 and register more than one million young Americans by Nov. 8, according to a press release to be published later Tuesday.
Vote.org will use social media and other online resources to inform people how to register, fill out an absentee ballot or navigate election laws ahead of election day.
Vote Ready builds on a previous announcement from the organization to register more than one million young Americans for the 2022 midterm elections.
Boosting young Americans in elections is a key goal for Vote.org. Gen Z is the third-largest generation alive with 17 million youth becoming 18 in time for this election.
Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey said, “younger voters have the power to shape their future but successfully navigating elections can be a barrier to making their voices heard.”
“The first two times someone votes are the most important elections to ensure that voting becomes a lifelong practice,” Hailey said in a statement. “Fundamentally, that must start with educating young people on the power of having their voices heard and represented, making clear the cause and effect of being civically engaged on a national level and in their communities.”
The midterm elections are set to be a tight race between Democrats and Republicans for control of Congress, which could shape the congressional agenda for the next two years.
In 2020, Gen Z came out in record numbers during a high-stakes presidential election, but it’s unclear if that will be matched for a midterm election in 2022, which historically see less turnout.
An April Harvard Institute of Politics poll shows youth turnout is on track to match a record youth turnout for a midterm election in 2018, but 42 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds also said they don’t feel like their vote matters and expressed other discontentment with the political system.
The elections also come amid a number of hot-button issues that youth are passionate about, including climate change and LGBTQ+ rights.
Jack Knoxville, the founder and executive director of the Trans Empowerment Project, said his organization is working with Vote Ready to empower his community in the November elections.
“The disenfranchisement that many of us feel is by design – there are some who do not want us to vote,” Knoxville said. “That very fact should be clear evidence as to how powerful your voice really is.”
Vote.org led its largest ever voter turnout drive in 2020, registering more than four million voters that year.
This year, Vote.org is concentrating its efforts on boosting young voter turnout in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Nevada and Pennsylvania, which the organization estimates to be “key states pivotal to increasing youth turnout.”
Vote Ready is partnering with the NAACP, Taylor Swift, the NBA, Sony Music Group, The CW, Meta and OkCupid to engage youth this year.
The CW CEO Mark Pedowitz said in a statement his television network was honored to partner with Vote.org.
“We will be working with Vote.org to create and share new content with our audience so they can make their voices heard, this election cycle and beyond,” Pedowitz said.
Source: TEST FEED1
