There is nothing more crucial to changing the course of our country than turning out voters in droves for every election. And to have voters turn out, we need to register them first.
Every year, we have National Voter Registration Day in September — this year it falls on Tuesday, September 24. Go ahead and mark it in your calendar now. We’re all going to be part of this day in one way shape or another.
Last year, the National Voter Registration Day efforts were massively successful and they saw a big increase in the number of registrations. Right before the 2014 midterms, they registered 154,500 but in 2018, they registered over 800,000! Here’s how each state fared:
Infographic from the NVRD 2018 Annual Report
Today, I invite you to join in this nationwide effort to raise the awareness about the importance of voter registration, and to commit to registering a voter this month.
Here’s how you can be involved:
Check your own registration
Right now, take 1 minute and check to make sure that you are registered in your state, and that your voter registration status is active. Voter purges are happening more frequently, so it is in our best interest to check regularly. Check here: IWillVote
Find an event near you
Check to see if there is a voter registration event scheduled near you. You can type in your zip code at their Find An Event link to see what’s closest to you. If there is one already planned, great! Sign up to help! If there isn’t an event close to you, check back again in a week or so. More events are constantly being added.
(If you want to host your own event, the NVRD folks will give you all the tools you need. Get more information about that HERE.)
Learn how to talk to a potential voter
On September 16, the NVRD is hosting a free webinar called “Practice Makes Perfect” to train their partners and volunteers on how to talk to potential voters. This is how they describe what you’ll learn in the webinar:
Talking to people about voting can feel scary, risky, or awkward, but it doesn’t have to be. In this webinar, we’ll cover how to approach people, conversation starters, what to avoid, and how to train the people handling registration forms.
You can RSVP now for that webinar HERE.
Know the rules for your state
Every state has their own rules for how you can register voters. You’ve gotten a potential voter excited about taking part in the next election — you don’t want that effort wasted! The NVRD website has a terrific tool so you can look up the information for your state. Take 3-4 minutes to read this crucial information for your state. This is information you can use well past September, too!
Check out special toolkit
This is my favorite part of the website. Check out all the great tools they offer volunteers, which includes things like posters & stickers. social media assets like ready-made tweets to send out, voter ID wallet cards you can print and handout anytime, etc. There is a wealth of information here that you can use starting right now and leading up to the big day.
Promote National Voter Registration Day
I’m sure there is at least one place you could promote National Voter Registration Day. Just sharing the information about the event, how important you think registering voters is, including helpful links so folks can find an event in their community, all of that will help. The toolkit above has a lot of things you can copy and use to promote the Day.
Thank you for helping to bring attention to voter registration!!
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Categories: Uncategorized
I was a registered voter but I moved and don’t know what to do. I want the ballots sent to my new address
Not knowing what state you’re in, I’d have you start by going to IWillVote.com and follow the instructions there.