If there is one thing I would encourage every nonprofit to do in the next few days, it is to sign up as a Community Partner for National Voter Registration Day.
There is a lot of noise around voting right now. Proposed legislation, court cases and policy changes are generating headlines and, understandably, questions about what they mean for voters. Some of these developments are significant, but most of the more problematic measures are fortunately being blocked in court. Even this week’s confusing SCOTUS ruling should not (yet) change people’s mail-in voting plans..
In moments like this, I think one of the most useful things nonprofits can do is also one of the simplest: help people get accurate information and participate.
Nonprofits are particularly well positioned to do that. Political campaigns have limited time and resources and tend to focus their outreach on people with a history of voting. That leaves millions of eligible voters with little or no contact, including many younger and lower-income voters.
Nonprofits reach those same people every day.
We also know that this outreach works. Our Nonprofit Power research found that people contacted by nonprofits about voting turned out at rates 10 percentage points higher than comparable voters who were not contacted. The impact was even greater among several groups historically underrepresented in elections.
That finding has always been at the heart of our work at Nonprofit VOTE. Nonprofits don’t need to become political organizations to have an impact on participation. They can use the relationships and reach they already have to make sure more people, the people they serve, have the information they need to cast a ballot.
National Voter Registration Day is one of the easiest ways to put that into practice.
On September 15, thousands of nonprofits, libraries, colleges, election offices, businesses and community organizations will help people register to vote or update their registration. Since the first National Voter Registration Day in 2012, partners have helped more than six million Americans do just that.
For a nonprofit, participating can be simple. Share a registration link with your email list. Put a QR code at your front desk. Include voter registration materials alongside resources you already distribute. Remind someone who recently moved that they may need to update their registration.
You don’t have to build a new program or become an elections expert. National Voter Registration Day provides Community Partners with the nonpartisan tools and resources to get started. You bring the part that matters most: your connection to your community.
There will continue to be plenty of debate about voting and elections in the months ahead. But there is also important work we can do right now.
We can help more people participate.
So if your nonprofit does one thing before summer ends, I hope you’ll join us.
Sign up to become a National Voter Registration Day Community Partner by August 31 to receive free organizing kit and materials for your September 15 event.
