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Sara Gifford

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    Voting

    Don’t just get out the vote: Put voters at the center of the process

    Matt Leighninger
    Sara Gifford
    November 08, 2022
    Early voters 2022

    Voters in Columbus, Ohio, cast early ballots on Monday.

    Paul Vernon/AFP via Getty Images

    Leighninger is head of democracy innovation for the National Conference on Citizenship. Gifford is the founder and chief operating officer of ActiVote.

    Many Americans aren’t confident about the choices they are making at the polls; as a result, some voters are making ill-informed decisions and others aren’t voting at all. In fact, roughly 50 percent of all the people who register never actually vote, and closer to 75 percent of those registered don’t vote in primaries and local elections. We would have higher turnout, and election results that better reflect what Americans want, if we put voters at the center of the process instead of treating them as the means to an end.

    This was the overarching finding of the research on voter education we conducted this spring and summer. Our organizations, ActiVote and the National Conference on Citizenship’s Democracy Innovation Project, held focus groups and surveyed existing studies to find out if more customized, accessible, nonpartisan information would help voters. We asked focus group participants to use the ActiVote voter education tool, which allows people to compare how their policy views map with those of the candidates vying for their votes. The focus groups covered three different cohorts of voters: new voters, infrequent voters and “super voters.”

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    We had three more specific findings. First, voters don’t like to feel uninformed. “There are a lot of people that I vote for that I don't know who they are,” said one focus group participant. “I feel stupid every time I'm doing this.”

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    voter education

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    Voting

    Voting rights bills are personal. What is happening in your state?

    Sara Gifford
    May 10, 2021
    Lousiana House chamber

    More than 1,000 bills related to voting rights have been introduced in state legislatures this year.

    John Elk/Getty Images

    Gifford is the founder and chief operating officer of ActiVote, which works to increase voter participation and civic engagement. ActiVote is partnering with the National Vote at Home Institute on a week-long event to highlight bills that affect voting in your state.

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    voting rights
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