Over the years of supporting groups with voter engagement, we’ve had interviews with staff and voters about what works or doesn’t work in nonprofit civic engagement. From local years to presidential years, we heard different motivators and challenges, as well as powerful stories of engagement in communities that need to be heard.
Powerful Emotional Barriers Around Voting
Local elections are often shaped by tight-knit groups, long-time incumbents, and a sense of insiders versus outsiders. Add in the confusion caused by irregular or inconsistent election dates, and it’s easy to see why participation tends to be much lower than in higher-profile elections.
In our interviews, we ran into repeated emotional barriers to voting
- Shame: “I should already know how to vote.”; “I don’t know enough.”
- Fear: “I’ll get it wrong.”; “I’m not capable enough.”
- Isolation: “I have no one to ask.”; “I’m alone in this.”
- Invisibility: “My experience isn’t worth sharing.”; “I’ve been left behind.”
- Powerlessness: “I won’t matter anyway.”; “Voting isn’t for people like me.”
These feelings are valid. They often begin as a form of self-protection. A way to guard against the sting of exclusion from the very institutions that are supposed to represent us.
But when self-protection goes unaddressed for too long, it crystallizes into something deeper: disempowerment. And disempowerment sends a powerful message: “You don’t belong here.” The result isn’t just withdrawal from voting, but from civic and political life altogether.
In the news or in casual conversation with friends and family, we often hear a narrative that “nonvoters” don’t care or are “apathetic”, especially when it comes to local elections, which see low coverage and lower rates of public awareness.
And when registering voters, the problems that come to mind first are logistical : a lack of access to forms, ID issues, or missed deadlines.
So sometimes we naturally conclude, “I guess they didn’t care enough about voting to get over those hurdles.”, or “If they cared enough, they’d figure out how to vote.”
But through conversations with staff who have talked with individual voters again and again to overcome their barriers, we heard that a larger piece to overcome first is the emotional belief that voting is even possible for you.
What is often labeled as apathy and seen as disconnection can actually be a protective shutdown in the face of these logistical barriers; an emotional response rooted in overwhelm from fear, shame, isolation, or invisibility.
“It wasn’t apathy—it was voter depression.” – Khalilah, a faith-based senior organizer (Signal Cleveland, 2024)
For many, voter disengagement stems from a tangle of anxieties that trigger something like a “freeze” response in the fight-flight-freeze response.
“I don’t know enough to vote”, “I’ll get my voter registration wrong”, “My vote won’t matter anyway” are all common phrases.
This is even more true in local elections, which can be convoluted with jargon like “levy taxes”, “councilman”, and “zoning” – terms that our already dismantled civic education don’t define and are also state and locale-specialized.
This lack of civic education, combined with the constant churn of voting law changes and the relentless barrage of “unprecedented” events, often makes voting feel daunting, risky, or entirely unfamiliar.
This is where nonprofit civic engagement is uniquely powerful.
When invested in, nonprofit civic engagement doesn’t just remove hurdles; it builds individual capacity and shifts identities.
When staff meet these emotions with compassion and understanding, creating a space without shame to learn and try, it creates possibility.
Teaching someone how to use a QR code to register to vote says, “I want to include you.”
Showing someone a sample ballot says, “You can do this, and your voice matters.”
Registering someone to vote for the first time says, “You belong here.”
And nonprofits that’ve been in communities for sometimes decades, often know the local politicos and how the issues at stake would impact their communities. Always nonpartisan, they build awareness and understanding, thus inviting people to participate in key issues, while making it accessible. They don’t just show up on election day, they’re here year-round.
This powerful combination of trust, cultural competency, and “real-life” education helps to nurture people to believe in their own capacity and inherent belonging.
As one of the most trusted institutions led by people who deeply understand the struggles and capacity of their communities, their invitations to participate in civic life help people start to say to themselves: “I am capable. I do know enough. My voice does matter.” From survival mode to self-determination, we see them transforming those negative emotions into confidence and connection – a.k.a power.
Read our stories of staff empowering their clients to vote:
- How Julie’s Joy Inspires Me 6 years on – How Julie inspires people who don’t believe in their ability to vote through joy and supportiveness
- Building Bridges Between the Disability Community and Elections – How Marty helps people overcome shame through curiosity and education
Want to hear more? Come to the virtual Independent Sector Conference on Nonprofit Policy and Impact on September 12th, 2025! We’ll be presenting more on this topic and on measuring how to move past these emotions in the civic engagement panel. Register here.
Convened annually by Independent Sector, the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), and Nonprofit Policy Forum.
Need tools, templates, or a simple way to get started? Visit nonprofitvote.org for everything you need to engage your community, no expertise required.
