Our democracy is stronger when all eligible citizens are active, engaged, and using their voices to vote.  This in turn depends on you.  Unlike countries where registering to vote is easy or automatic and where voter rights are protected nationally, the US gives states the right to  determine the rules and methods of voter registration. Some battleground states have created onerous steps that become barriers to registration, while making it  easy to kick inactive voters off the voting rolls, and challenge or disqualify votes.  There are some 51 million Americans who could vote but are not registered, and a majority of them are people of color, lower-income, first-time voters, or single mothers.

If Americans’ right to vote didn’t matter so much, there wouldn’t be so many efforts in battleground states in the U.S. to make it harder to exercise this right to vote.

How we need your help

Voter Engagement Network (VEN) is a group of volunteers committed to ensuring that more of the eligible citizens to vote are registered, and to encourage them to turn out for elections, especially in battleground states and races where their votes can make a difference.  VEN also will engage in voter protection efforts in battleground states and races to ensure that the votes will be fairly counted.

Non-partisanship

We will work exclusively with trusted non-partisan partners in battleground states that we think will make the greatest impact. This means not supporting any candidate or party, but fiercely advocating for the fundamental right and importance of all Americans to vote. 

Engaging the Youth Vote

A significant focus will be on engaging younger voters.   Despite the trope about youth apathy, the fact is that barriers to registration are the #1 obstacle to youth voter turnout. In every presidential election going back to 2004, more than  75% of young people who were registered to vote, actually turned out.  Furthermore, approximately 4 million Americans turn 18 each year, but it’s estimated that fewer than 30% of them are registered to vote. 

Young people care about their communities and the health of the world, but only 6% of them are asked to register in high school. Our work will be to welcome them into our democracy by facilitating registration and instilling a lifelong interest in voting and good citizenship. 

How VEN works:

VEN works collaboratively with our non-partisan partners to plan voter mobilization campaigns. Each project typically includes a letter or postcard design, volunteer instructions, host distribution instructions and access to the VEN host network for fulfillment of the mailing campaign and associated requirements.  There may also be phoning and texting options.

Together with our  partners, we review the literature and design and implement experiments to increase our knowledge of effective tactics to increase voter engagement and participation in the electoral process.  We are constantly working to ensure that our project partners and our volunteers’ time and resources are utilized as effectively as possible.

List of non-partisan partners to preserve democracy and voting rights include:

• Common Cause
• The Center for Common Ground
• The Civics Center
• The Student Vote Research Network 
• The Environmental Voter Project