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Time to Vote: New Hampshire & Vermont Businesses Boost Voter Participation
May 29 2020
Organizer: Business for America
Voting is an essential right of all Americans and critical to the well-functioning of our democracy. However, many employees find themselves having to choose between voting and earning a paycheck. The Time to Vote project is mobilizing businesses to help more Americans to vote in November 2020, while also contributing to a national culture shift needed to increase civic health. As a business leader, you can help!
Location: Webinar
Civic Ed
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Ariel Skelley/Getty Images
Pandemic or not, young people remain key to elections — and democracy
May 29 2020
Kiesa is director of impact for CIRCLE, which conducts research on the civic engagement of young voters at Tufts University.
<p>The 2020 election will almost certainly be unlike any other in modern history, as Americans will vote this November in the shadow of Covid-19. </p><p>Many election administrators, democracy advocates and media are understandably focused on the unique challenges posed by holding an election during a pandemic. But we should not forget one of the perennial opportunities and challenges for a representative and vibrant democracy: ensuring all young people can participate equitably in elections.</p><p>At CIRCLE, formally the Tufts <a href="http://circle.tufts.edu/" target="_blank">Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement</a> at the <a href="http://tischcollege.tufts.edu" target="_blank">Tisch College of Civic Life</a>, we have been studying youth political participation for nearly two decades. Young people have historically turned out at lower rates than older adults, but recent elections have been encouraging. In 2018, we estimated <a href="https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/28-young-people-voted-2018" target="_blank">28 percent of voters younger than 30 </a> cast a ballot — their highest turnout ever in a midterm election and more than double the rate of four years before.</p><p>That boost was fueled by the tireless work of advocates, organizers and <a href="https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/gun-violence-prevention-movement-fueled-youth-engagement-2018-election" target="_blank">young people themselves</a>, many of whom reached out to engage their peers. The restrictions forced by the coronavirus, necessary as they may be to slow the spread of the deadly disease, threaten to prevent a repeat of such crucial efforts this year.</p><p>Campuses and schools closed this spring, and maybe again this fall, eliminate important places for registering young voters and giving them opportunities for political engagement. Such newer voters often need information and help navigating the elections process — and social distancing makes such outreach more difficult. And the process itself may be changing, with many states altering their usual systems to expand <a href="https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/young-people-and-vote-mail-lessons-2020" target="_blank">voting by mail</a>.</p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-reach-young-voters-when-theyre-stuck-at-home-135280" target="_blank">These challenges can be overcome</a>, but only if stakeholders make concerted efforts to consider young adults' needs. We should all be invested in assuring every one of them feels prepared and motivated to vote, especially those from historically marginalized communities. </p><p>It matters for the health of our democracy: There are more than 47 million potential voters younger than 30, and their voices are vital to the conversation about issues that will affect them for the rest of their lives. </p><p>And it matters for equity: There are differences in youth turnout based on educational attainment, race and ethnicity — and other factors that first reflect but then perpetuate inequality and marginalization from civic life.</p><p>Campaigns and candidates have another reason to care: Young people can decide elections. </p><p>We recently issued this year's version of our <a href="http://circle.tufts.edu/yesi2020" target="_blank">Youth Electoral Significance Index</a>. Relying on more than a dozen measures of demographics, recent voting patterns and electoral competitiveness, it ranks states and districts where young voters have the biggest potential to decide House and Senate elections as well as the presidency. </p><p>And while it does not predict youth turnout or who will get elected, there is evidence the young cast decisive votes in the most competitive races. Two years ago, for example, the election produced a party switch in 30 of the 50 House districts where we saw the youth vote as most influential.</p><p>Here are three of the most important takeaways from our YESI report for 2020:</p><p><strong>Picking the president. </strong>The 2016 election was decided in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida and Michigan. Donald Trump won them all by less than 2 percentage points, while young people cast many times more votes than his margin of victory. Those states are central to the outcome again this year — and place first, second, fourth and seventh in our youth vote presidential power ranking. Put simply: Young people are positioned to decide whether Trump or Joe Biden is elected.</p><p><strong>Impact everywhere.</strong> Nineteen states are represented across our three different top 10 rankings — for the youth vote's influence on the presidential, Senate and House outcomes. They include red states and blue states from every corner of the country, from Colorado to New Hampshire and Minnesota to Alabama.</p><p><strong>Youth of color.</strong> People of color make up more than half the youth electorate in Arizona (No. 4 in our Senate ranking), Florida (No. 4 on the presidential list) and Georgia (No. 8 for Senate). They represent almost 300,000 potential voters in Alabama (No. 10 Senate). Native American youth in Montana (No. 5 Senate) could impact what looks to be a close race there, as could the 387,000 young black voters and almost 150,000 young Latinos in North Carolina (No. 2 Senate and No. 3 presidential), and the 225,000 young black voters in Michigan (No. 7 for both president and Senate).</p><p>YESI is a powerful tool for all stakeholders seeking to increase youth electoral engagement. The young care deeply about having an impact, and evidence they can sway elections can be a significant motivator in getting them to register and then vote. </p><p>Parties and candidates can see the states where investing in youth outreach can yield the most important results. Local organizations and advocates can point to their state rankings as reason for resources. University leaders can see the virtue of helping their students vote, whether they're on or off campus. Journalists can be reminded that the youth vote is a big story.</p><p>The rankings are also a call to action for advocates and politicians who don't see their states in the rankings. </p><p>Pandemic or not, close election or not, youth matter a great deal to our democracy. In every state, they are an engine driving campaigns by volunteering, organizing, registering peers and making their voices heard by the candidates. Even if they won't cast decisive votes in federal elections, they can influence state and local races that often turn on issues that matter to them. </p><p>Young people need and deserve support to step into these opportunities; they are important for their own civic development and contribute to a culture of electoral participation that stands to strengthen their electoral impact — and the country's future — for decades.</p><div></div><p>The time to start reaching out to youth about the election is now. The pandemic makes these efforts more challenging, but no less important. </p>
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Voting
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Time to engage the biggest electoral bloc: Americans who are not voters
May 18 2020
Fisher is deputy director of Unite America, which works to enact and helps finance political reform efforts and candidates "who put people over party." (It is a donor to The Fulcrum.) This piece was originally published by Independent Voter News.
<p>Had "Did Not Vote" been a candidate for president in 2016, they would have won handedly. With 41.3 percent of the vote, this block of the electorate significantly outpaced the share of all voters who chose Hillary Clinton (28.5 percent) or Donald Trump (27.3 percent).</p><p>Despite the best efforts of both parties to turn out citizens to the polls, voter apathy remains a well-documented reality of American politics. It's an especially alarming reality when compared to our peers. Of the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which represents the world's 32 richest and most developed countries, the United States ranks 26th in voter turnout by eligible citizens. </p><p>American nonvoters are the subject of recently released research, <a href="https://the100million.org/" target="_blank">The 100 Million Project</a>, commissioned by the Knight Foundation and the centerpiece for a Tuesday <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/the-untold-story-of-american-non-voters" target="_blank">online forum on civic engagement</a> sponsored by the Brennan Center for Justice.</p><p>Informed by a survey of 4,000 persistent non-voters nationwide and 8,000 persistent non-voters in 10 battleground states, the research is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of why many Americans don't exercise their civic duty. </p><p>The methodology used is unique in today's political industry. Almost always, pollsters terminate public opinion surveys as soon as respondents indicate they are unlikely to, or will not, vote in the next election. The result is an entire swath of the electorate whose attitudes and preferences go under analyzed and untold.</p><p>There are many reasons citizens don't vote, according to the research. </p><p>First and foremost, non-voters report a scarcity of candidates who truly motivate and inspire them to participate. </p><p>Second, they lack faith in the system; 48 percent of non-voters do not believe the results of elections represent the will of the people, and they are more likely than regular voters to believe election results are not reported accurately. </p><p>Third, non-voters are less likely to believe the actions of the president and other elected officials have an impact on their life. </p><p>And finally, news is viewed 25 percent less often by non-voters compared to voters, suggesting they are less informed.</p><p>There also remain simple reasons that dictate why voters don't participate, including high barriers to entry in our antiquated electoral systems.</p><p>We can help engage non-voters by making it easier to cast a ballot. Proactively mailing every voter a ballot — which is what will happen in just five states this year — could boost participation by up to 9 percent, according to new research. And the gains are equal across party affiliation and most likely to benefit constituencies that tend to vote less frequently — including young people, minorities and the poor.</p><p>To overcome the top reason why voters don't vote — a dearth of options they actually believe in — we should consider reforms that could lead to a multiparty democracy. Lee Drutman's recent book, "<a data-linked-post="2645441124" href="https://thefulcrum.us/big-picture/6-of-the-most-important-democracy-books-of-the-past-6-months" target="_blank">Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop</a>," argues that a combination of ranked-choice voting and multimember districts would open our system up to new competition, and likely give more Americans more reason to vote.</p><p>But perhaps non-voters will change behavior on their own. Surprisingly, 71 percent of the non-voters surveyed say they plan to vote in this year's presidential election, with 78 percent of those respondents saying they were absolutely certain. This seems to be because 57 percent believe the 2020 contest is more important than previous elections and only 33 percent believe the country is on the right track.</p><p>Of course, the political science literature is littered with consensus that the fact voters say they're going to vote is a terrible indicator for if they actually will. </p><p>Candidates, political consultants and organizations who often consume themselves with only engaging the most likely to vote should consider whether — by engaging America's largest political constituency — they take the lead in creating a more representative and functional government.</p><div></div><p><em>Visit </em><a href="https://ivn.us/" target="_blank"><em>IVN.us</em></a><em> for more coverage from Independent Voter News.</em></p>
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The Untold Story of American Non-Voters
May 14 2020
Organizers: Brennan Center for Justice, Knight Foundation and New York University's John Brademas Center
In 2016, 43 percent of eligible voters — nearly 100 million people — didn't cast a ballot in the presidential election. But why? Was it due to a lack of faith in our election system? Or a deficit of information and interest? Who are these eligible citizens? A groundbreaking new report by the Knight Foundation seeks to answer these important questions. Its findings have significant implications for the 2020 election and the future of our democracy.
Please join us for a virtual panel discussion on America's widespread problem of disengagement from the political process. How do we bring these voices into our democracy? What structural changes might facilitate greater participation? And in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, what steps must we take to prevent even lower voter turnout?
Location: Webinar
