The voter registration is so hot right now



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Voter registration campaigns have long been trying to reach young voters where they are, but they do better in presidential campaigns when voter turnout is up. This year's organizers hope, however, that things will be different.

"There are certainly a lot of signs of increased participation," said Andy Bernstein, founder and general manager of the non-profit Election Registration Group HeadCount, partner of the On The Run II tour and other brands and musicians. "Everyone seems more engaged."

As of last week, HeadCount has registered more than 40,000 people mid-term. Their goal is 75,000, triple their previous mid-term record. And the advisor just took a 30-second seat in HeadCount, which will be shown on TV and in theaters. They estimate that it will be seen at least 10 million times.

"The Holy Grail is a non-profit organization supported by the Ad Council," he said. "It's the biggest deal."

In recent years, elections have been viewed as a strictly political event, but in 2018, "the media and brands make mid-term elections a message subject and are really trying to make it a cultural event. ". Companies that are "very, very aware of being non-partisan" have really sided with the voting message, "he said.

Corporate CEOs such as Walmart, Southwest, Kaiser Permanente and Tyson have signed Time To Vote, pledging to give employees leave to vote. The group also includes companies whose CEOs have criticized President Donald Trump, such as Patagonia and Gap.

Carolyn DeWitt, president and CEO of Rock The Vote, said she thought that today 's brands were "more willing to invest in creating a culture of rock' n 'roll. civic engagement for their employees and their customers ". His group is associated with brands such as Cosmopolitan, HBO and Tinder.

Rock The Vote is also associated with American Eagle, which sells voting tees and sponsors the Rock The Vote Democracy Class in more than 2,000 high schools. The class is estimated at 160,000 voters, DeWitt said. In a statement highlighting National Voter Registration Day today, she called "the energy and commitment of our youth" since 2016 "unprecedented".
There are other recording efforts, like Twitter #BeAVoter campaign, which includes a special emoji and prompts on user calendars encouraging users to sign up. MTV's "+ 1thevote", launched at the Video Music Awards, is its first mid-term registration drive. The campaign encourages people to vote with them after MTV's research revealed that people aged 15 to 22 are more likely to think that inviting a friend to a polling station encourages others to vote.
Voters voted Tuesday, June 5, 2018 in a polling place located in the National Guard's arsenal in Manhattan Beach, California, United States. the same seats of the American house. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Voter turnout in the United States is behind most other developed countries, with 56% of the voting age population voting in 2016 (62% in Canada and nearly 66% in Mexico). The youngest voters during the mid-term did not show themselves particularly. In 2014, less than a quarter of eligible millennial voters said they voted, according to Pew.
But young voters today could prove to be a powerful political force because of their large numbers. In 2016, according to census estimates, the total number of eligible voters who were 35 years of age or younger rivaled the number of baby boomers.
Young voters could be pushed by opposition polls to Trump. Nearly 60% of 18- to 29-year-olds disapprove of Trump's disapproval of his job as president, the highest rate of disapproval among all age groups.

Bernstein, Executive Director of HeadCount, also credits Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School's activism to the increased interest of youth in voting. "There is no doubt that Parkland students are a catalyst for a lot of people to focus on elections," he said. "It was the first time I remembered that kids were talking to kids about voting.It was the year the message really came from young people and it was not coming from the kids. a celebrity reading a script. "

There will still be a lot of celebrities this year reading scripts, though. And teleprometers. The former first lady, Michelle Obama, co-chair of the voter registration group When We Vote, has recorded an announcement for the group and is organizing events for them.

While her husband is campaigning for Democratic candidates, Obama said she was not going to tell anyone how to vote, and made her speech an apolitical act. It is as if the former first couple had been, during this long-awaited year, to maintain its old ways of the White House. The former president becomes political while the former FLOTUS militates for civic engagement in the national interest.

"No matter what leaders you elect," Obama said Sunday at his "When We Vote" event in Nevada. "If they do not have your vote behind them, they can not do much – it's not about the leader – the power of our democracy is in us."

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