Vote.org

I believe that we are strongest when every American has the opportunity to vote. Voting should be accessible to all citizens, no matter where they live or the color of their skin. Yet many of the anti-voting policies that have recently been introduced at the state level would disproportionately impact voters of color. It doesn’t have to be like this. We have the power to hold our elected legislators accountable and enact positive change. For now, we might have to do that by committing to vote no matter what barriers exist. Voting is how we build power and secure the kind of systemic changes that improve lives in our communities.

A consistent challenge for every voting organization, including Vote.org, is our dependence on the Midterm and Presidential campaign cycles for the overwhelming majority of our funding. While we broke records in 2020, over 80% of our investment from funders came late in September and October as the urgency of the election came into the national consciousness. By securing funding now we can lay the groundwork to expand the electorate from the 67% turnout we saw in 2020 to more than 80% turnout in the coming years.

At age 34, my grandfather was the first person in my family to vote. He served in World War II and jumped off a ship into 10 feet of cold water on the third day of the Normandy invasion. But my grandfather came home to a country that used poll taxes and police intimidation to prevent him from voting because he was Black. The message was clear: he could fight alongside his fellow soldiers in war, but he could not stand alongside his fellow citizens at the polls. 

That legacy has shaped my life’s work. For two decades I have worked on political campaigns and nonprofit endeavors, supporting the efforts of presidential and congressional candidates, ballot initiatives, and historic landmarks including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, where I serve on the Leadership Council. In 2016 I joined the board of Vote.org and I took the helm as CEO in 2019, just in time for the most contested election in U.S. history. The people who face obstacles at the ballot box are my family and my community. We accomplished a lot in 2020, but our work is just beginning.

Vote.org is the leading voter registration and get out the vote platform in America, using technology to simplify political engagement and increase voter turnout. We are critical infrastructure in every election cycle - we get underserved voters to cast a ballot by addressing the barriers that make it difficult for them to participate.

The 2020 election cycle saw record turnout among voters, with 67% of eligible Americans casting a ballot. This is a significant improvement over previous years and should rightly be celebrated, as much of the growth was seen in underrepresented communities. Still, the fact remains that in the midst of the most contentious election in 120 years, 80 million eligible voters elected not to participate or could not access the tools necessary to participate.

Vote.org is uniquely positioned to address this issue. In 2020 alone we registered 3.8 million voters and processed 3.3 million absentee ballot requests. As of Election Day 2020, 44% of Vote.org site users were under 34 years old, and our campus engagement efforts at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) show a demonstrated impact that improves voter turnout and fosters a lifelong habit of voting.

Most people know Vote.org from our website and online suite of free pro-voting tools. What’s not commonly known is that we also focus all of our marketing, advertising, and get-out-the-vote efforts on underserved communities of color. From Black neighborhoods in Mississippi to members of the Navajo Nation in Arizona, from Asian American Pacific Islanders in Georgia and Texas, to Latinx voters in Florida, Vote.org uses technology to remove barriers and make it easy for voters to participate.  

In 2020, we changed the electorate. Vote.org helped 34 million voters cast a ballot last year. Of those 34 million, 44% were under 34 and more than half were women. We made more than 650 million contacts with voters in 2020, through text messages, food trucks, billboards, radio ads, and much more. As a multi-racial Black woman, my family and I know what it means to build power at the ballot box - that is where all public policy decisions are made, and where our democracy is built. Voting matters, and 2021 has already shown us that fighting back against the anti-voting agents that would silence our voices and our vote should be our top priority.

Vote.org is working to expand the electorate by ensuring that every potential voter has the information, tools, and access they need to successfully cast a ballot. Our impact is already being felt; since 2018 we have registered more than 4.2 million voters, processed more than 3.4 million vote-by-mail requests, and helped voters find polling locations more than 22.7 million times. We know that if you want to make an impact in your community and improve your country, it all starts at the ballot box. 

We’re currently poised to capitalize on our success in 2020 by continuing to engage voters in upcoming local and state elections; in doing so, we aim to turn first-time voters into lifelong voters. We are also committed to the protection of voting rights in the face of the largest voter suppression campaign in decades, as more than 250 bills to limit or restrict voting have been introduced in 43 states. Finally, we are actively engaged in research to understand and address gaps in civic education and engagement, particularly among young voters and voters of color.