Last month, the Alliance for Youth Action network celebrated another successful National Voter Registration Day (NVRD)—the largest single-day effort to register people to vote across the country. This civic holiday has a special place in our organizing hearts because the Alliance co-founded NVRD in 2012! What started as an idea from young organizers grew into a major holiday garnering support and participation from influencers, elected officials, and nonprofits alike.
This year, NVRD was more important than ever. The coronavirus has drastically changed the way many organizations, including organizations in the Alliance network, conduct voter registration work. The mass mobilization on NVRD to register voters was critical to getting our country safely registered and #VoteReady. And on NVRD, over 1.5 million people were registered to vote nationwide!
Here are some highlights from our network on National Voter Registration Day 2020:
Detroit Action, a project of Tides Advocacy
Detroit Action partnered with eight Black-owned and Detroit based businesses to get them NVRD posters and materials with unique links for folks to register to vote. They also partnered with two homeless shelters in Detroit to have socially distant in-person tabling and voter registration events.
Forward Montana Foundation
Forward Montana held virtual themed phone banks every night during the week of NVRD where 60 volunteers helped young people register to vote. They also worked with local partners to takeover communities with NVRD posters, banners, stickers, street chalk, and more.
New Era Colorado
New Era Colorado registered young people to vote on college campuses in the field and online in seven cities across the state.
Next Up
Next Up, based in Oregon, celebrated NVRD virtually this year with a 4-day concert series featuring young, local artists.
North Carolina Asian Americans Together (NCAAT)
NCAAT hosted multiple online events, campus actions, as well as socially distanced in-person voter registration drives throughout the week of NVRD. They kicked off the week with a Youth Phone Bank where youth callers helped young people register to vote. NCAAT worked with student groups at UNC Sangam, UNC MASH at UNC-Chapel Hill, and with Duke University’s Asian American Student Association to run Campus Takeover events. On campuses, they co-hosted voter education workshops and walked students through their online voter registration portal ncaat.vote/ig. On Friday, NCAAT ended NVRD Youth Week of Action by hosting an IG live while organizers cooked, chatted, and “Dished out the Vote!”
The Washington Bus
The Washington Bus hosted a digital voter registration drive with two dozen volunteers where they contacted unregistered voters via text and social media. They also created a video with volunteers, interns, and fellows as well as launched voter registration ads.
