When DoSomething.org, the largest organization exclusively for young people and social change, launched its non-partisan 2020 voter registration campaign in January, Our 2020 Vision, it had a goal of registering 250,000 young people to vote ahead of the Presidential election. The nonprofit has surpassed halfway to that goal, having directly driven over 125,000 voter registrations to date this year.
Seeing a recent surge of registrations during COVID-19 and the racial justice events taking place across the country, and with a majority of remaining registrations anticipated in September and October, DoSomething is ramping up its voter registration efforts beyond its already robust SMS and email local election reminders and voting plans, to include a focus on registrations at scale and partnerships that utilize DoSomething’s Online Voter Registration Drive (OVRD) tool. This OVRD tool allows students to easily create a digital personalized voter registration page through a DoSomething.org experience, which they can share to help register friends, peers, and communities to vote, all while tracking that impact through their page.
DoSomething is working with several new partners that are utilizing its ORVD tool to reach young people at scale, including March for Our Lives, whose 250+ chapters at a state and school level will be utilizing the tool to register voters in their community and augment their gun violence prevention work.
“March for Our Lives is proud of our partnership with DoSomething.org as we strive to reach the highest youth voter turnout in modern history. We will continue to work at not only mobilizing, but educating life-long voters,” says Maxwell Frost, National Organizing Director for March for Our Lives.
Also on board as an OVRD partner is the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), which is integrating the tool as an offering for their network of over 33,000 schools across the US and student programming that includes National Honor Societies, National Junior Honor Societies, and National Student Councils.
Additionally, the Rhode Island Department of Education has included the OVRD tool as a part of their summer offerings for distance learning. High school students across the state can sign up and affiliate with their school to run online drives.
“About 77% of young people say they’re more likely, or much more likely, to vote as a result of COVID-19, and 75% say voting is one of the most important things we can do for racial justice,” says Carrie Bloxson, Chief Marketing Officer of DoSomething.org. “We’re harnessing this momentum surrounding our current youth moment, and leveraging innovative technology and crucial partnerships, to drive registration and turnout.”
DoSomething’s ongoing voter registration initiatives include efforts financially supported by Craig Newmark Philanthropies to ensure that all young people, regardless of race, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, income, location, or political affiliation, have the opportunity to make their voices heard by participating in the political process. Newmark has previously referred to this work as “mission-critical efforts.”
DoSomething will be adding get-out-the-vote messaging to its voter registration efforts this fall, and together with support of its partners and supporters will drive youth vote turnout at the polls on November 3.
