Progressive Turnout Project is thrilled to announce our first Grassroots Grant recipient: the Wayne State University College Democrats (Facebook | Twitter). Each year, the organization registers thousands of new voters and gets the Detroit campus engaged in politics at the national, state, and local level.
Young voters were key to President Obama’s victory in 2008 and make up an important part Democratic voting block. However getting them to show up to the polls is no easy task. In 2014, turnout for voters 18-29 was just 21.5 percent and that was no exception; 18-24 year olds have consistently voted at lower rates than any other are group since 1962. Compounding that problem, young voters are extremely difficult for campaigns to reach, register, and turnout on Election Day. Young voters typically don’t have landlines and move frequently making it tough for volunteers to track them down.
That’s why PTP is partnering with the Wayne State University College Democrats to test new methods of registering and turning out young voters. Our first initiative will test the effectiveness of using cell phones to boost turnout. With the help of Progressive Turnout Project’s Grassroots Grant, the Wayne State College Democrats will register 5000 new voters, collect their mobile numbers and have them take part in a texting-based turnout program. While young voters don’t have landlines or fixed addresses, an overwhelming number of them use their mobile phones to do everything from get news to pay their bills. Mobile numbers stay fixed even as other things change and therefore offer a long-term way to effectively communicate with younger voters.
Here’s how it’s going to work. After registering to vote, students will be asked to pledge to vote via text and their mobile number will be recorded. Then in the weeks preceding the election, one group of students will receive a series of texts giving them information about their polling place and encouraging them to vote using social pressure language proven to boost turnout while another group will act as control group. After the election, our Progressive Turnout Project research staff will sit down with the students to help analyze their data and see how effective their program was.
Finding ways to get new generations of voters to the polls is going to be key to building a strong coalition of Democratic voters in 2016 and beyond. We hope this grant will empower young Democrats to engage their peers in creative ways and help us come up with the best new ways to improve turnout.
We’re excited about this new opportunity to work with local communities. If you have an idea that you want to test in your community, apply for a Grassroots Grant today!
- February 20, 2016
