Encourage Others To Vote
Help Get Out the Vote for Kids this Election Season!
As a voter, you know how important it is to make your voice heard. But not everyone does.
That’s where you come in! You can encourage others to register and make a plan to vote.
GET THE VOTE FOR KIDS!
Mark Your Calendar!
National Voter Registration Day is Tuesday, September 17
National Voter Registration Day is a nonpartisan civic holiday dedicated to celebrating our democracy. Here are ways you can celebrate!
- Check your voter registration status at Vote.org.
- Encourage your friends and family to vote. We have an app for that! {link to relational section with links to the app below}
- Organize your own voter registration drive! See our how to below.
How to Organize a Voter Registration Drive?
Voter registration drives are an important way to promote community involvement and increase civic participation in your state and across the country.
Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) is using a tool called Vote.org to register new voters and provide already registered voters with polling information and other updates, such as who is on their ballot.
When planning a voter registration drive, the first step is to research your state’s voter registration laws. Some states have few restrictions on voter registration drives, while other states have more restrictive rules around getting people registered to vote. The best source for up-to-date information on voter registration is your state’s election office. Check out this directory of state election offices to locate your state’s website.
Voter registration drives tend to be most successful when multiple groups are involved. We encourage you to partner with an organization that has expertise in all things voting, like the League of Women Voters, in addition to other allied clubs on campuses.
Dos and Don’ts for your Voter Registration Drive:
- Do partner with a local chapter of League of Women Voters. They are voter registration experts and can provide a wealth of state-specific voting information. Go here to Find Your Local League (lwv.org).
- Do encourage people to use Vote.org to learn about voter registration options and to learn what’s on their ballot.
- Do choose a high traffic area. A high traffic area is one where there are a lot of passersby or consistent foot traffic. Setting up your voter registration drive in an area like this allows you the opportunity to have many conversations in a short period of time. Examples of these kinds of locations: outside of a dining hall during rush hour to reach students or at a library during story hour to reach parents.
- Do assume people want to talk with you and be open to conversation! People respond better when you talk with them and not at them.
- Do practice your hook to get folks to stop to talk with you. Something simple like: “Hey! Are you registered to vote at your current address?” or “Hey! Can we make sure your voter registration is active and up to date?” work well; however, you should figure out what feels right and works for you to best engage folks.
- Do encourage everyone to register to vote or update their voter registration. Voter registration is a nonpartisan activity. You must register everyone who expresses interest regardless of their political belief.
- Don’t be afraid to say that you do not know! You are doing your best and you are not an expert on voting laws. It is always better to point people to official sources (like state board of elections or secretary of state websites) for information than try to guess.
- Don’t encourage someone to register for a particular political party. You cannot ask someone which party or candidate they are planning to support or attempt to persuade.
- Don’t engage with people who only want to argue. Kindly end the conversation with anyone who is not engaging with you in a positive manner.
Engage Your Friends & Family
Get Out the Vote with Relational Organizing
The term “relational organizing” may seem new to you, but chances are you have already engaged in relational organizing in your day-to-day life without knowing you were doing it.
Relational organizing, simply put, is talking with people you already know – your family, friends and neighbors – and encouraging them to vote or otherwise get involved in the political process. This approach to creating change has deep roots in labor and social justice movements, which have been relationally organizing for change for many years.
Relational organizing – or friend-to-friend outreach – is a powerful grassroots tactic that involves leveraging personal relationships to mobilize support for kids. Instead of reaching out to strangers, volunteers tap into their own networks of family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances to have meaningful conversations about issues like early childhood education and child hunger.
Why Relational Organizing Works
Relational organizing may not seem like a groundbreaking concept; however, in today’s world and political climate, trusted messengers are key to delivering messages that are not only heard but result in action.
Talking with people you know is one of the best ways to ensure that our community’s voices are heard and that our issues are top of mind for our elected officials. Every year, elections and policy decisions all over the country are decided by the slimmest of margins – sometimes even a single vote – and encouraging our friends and family to get involved is one way to ensure that kids’ voices are heard. Relational organizing is also about bringing folks into the political sphere.
The reality is that people you reach out to – especially those who don’t usually vote – may not be contacted about the election by anyone else. Reaching out and having a conversation with your friends and family could be the start of their advocacy journey as we work toward better outcomes for kids.
Creating change through relational organizing is supercharged by these three principles:
Trust and authenticity: Friends trust friends and people are more receptive to messages coming from someone they know and trust.
Amplification: By engaging with your networks, you can reach a wider audience, amplifying the issues important to children and families far beyond what traditional methods achieve.
Local impact: All politics is local. Activating connections within your community is what drives change at the local level.
We have an app for that!
SCAN Advocates App was created with YOU in mind! This simple but effective app enables you to quickly reach out to friends and family.
To use this free app, first download it. If you don’t see your state listed, then select the “HQ” option.
Once you’ve downloaded the app, follow these instructions to start reaching out to your network!
Note: While the SCAN Advocates App works on both desktop and mobile, for this action, you’ll need to use your smartphone. Click “Open SCAN Advocates App” to download the app for IOS or Android.
Sending Text Messages
To begin, navigate to the “Actions” page in the SCAN Advocates App. Select the voter contact action and click “Share it with your friends”. Click “Text your friends” to continue.
Step 1: Personalize message to suit your texting style.
Step 2: Add contacts – select “add from phone” to sync your contact list or “add a contact” to manually enter a name and phone number. Once you are finished select done.
Step 3: Send messages – After you import your contacts it’s time to text them! Click on the red “send message” button next to a contact’s name to begin texting. A text message with your script will open in your phone’s native messaging app. You can then send texts as you normally would.
Step 4: Send more messages – Once you’ve sent a text message you will be redirected back to your list of synced contacts. Select another contact and repeat step 3 until you’ve messaged all friends and family.
Step 5: Follow-up – Select “message again” to answer any questions your contacts might have, thank them for being a voter, and ask them to join you in reaching out to their networks.
Note: Below are some scripts and sample text messages you can use to get you started. Tweak these examples to match your unique texting style. Remember, you want your friends to know it is from you and not a standard script that could be from anyone!
Craft Your Message to Connect with Friends and Family — Click Here for our Sample Scripts
Contact Us
You are now all set to start organizing your own community! Got a question or need more information?
Reach out to your SCAN staff contact. We’re here to help and excited to hear from you!
Volunteer With Us
All around the country, SCAN volunteers are texting other voters, organizing postcard writing parties, and more to encourage people to vote.
SCAN’s voter turnout efforts will culminate on October 20 – 26, 2024 during our Get Out the Vote Week of Action! During that week, volunteers will participate in events in person and online. We’ll organize fun activities like “Text banks & Tacos” and “Postcards & Pizza.”
Don’t miss this opportunity to get involved with others who are passionate about improving the lives of kids! Sign up to volunteer today
Victoria Zegler
Add Your Voice
Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) shows up and speaks out for kids. Help us fight to give every child a strong start in life.
899 North Capitol Street NE, Suite 900
Washington D.C. 20002
(800) 243-5075
supportercare@savechildren.org
Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) was created in 2014 as the political advocacy arm of Save the Children, to be the political voice for kids. We work to ensure that the issues critical to children’s lives and futures are given top priority by our elected leaders, building bipartisan support to make sure every child has a strong start in life.