[On the last Friday of each month the Grassroots Collaboration Project teams up with the Friday Power Lunch podcast (a weekly podcast amplifying the voices of the grassroots on politics, culture, and women making change) to produce a program spotlighting the work of grassroots activists to raise awareness about issues, connect with voters, and get Democrats elected.]
You can listen to the audio recording below or watch the video above. A summary of the program is provided below.
The theme of the April 26, 2024, Friday Power Lunch was the importance of registering Democratic voters.
GUESTS
SUSAN LABANDIBAR (Co-Lead, Swing Blue Alliance) and ANDY LIEBMAN (Co-Coordinator, Unregistered Voters Data Project) discusses Swing Blue Alliance’s groundbreaking Unregistered Voter Data Project currently being tested in Arizona. It was shared that 10 billion dollars will be spent on this election with little provided for voter registration.It was pointed out Democrats are losing voter registrations while Republicans are increasing voter registrations. One tactic is door-knocking campaigns, which is currently underway in Pennsylvania, to find young unregistered voters who live with their parents. They showcase their free app which streamlines data collection and increases the efficiency of door-to-door voter registration. Work is focused on creating clean data lists for the app to ensure knocked doors result in reaching unregistered voters.
LAURA BRILL (The Civics Center) speaks about youth voter registration and their program for high school seniors, "Cap, Gown & Ballot." Laura shares her experiences working as a law clerk for Justice Ginsburg and discussed the importance of civic engagement in promoting a robust democracy. After the 2016 election, many were concerned about the challenges to the independence of federal courts. She recalls Ginsberg’s dissent opinion on the Shelby case, which hindered the Voting Rights Act, and that the dissent impressed the utmost importance on access to the vote. Laura shares that in every state, young people can pre-register to vote before age 18, and from 2004 to 2020, data shows that 75% of pre-registered youth turned out to vote. They run training programs for educators to register young people to vote and provide materials so that graduation season can be voter registration season.
DEBRA TAYLOR (Red2Blue) shares how they serve as a back-office for organizations that register new voters by calling them one month after registration to ensure successful completion of the application and then a GOTV call before the election. Voicemail messages are left for those who do not answer and calls are followed by a text message. This year they are working with Rural Ground Game, which will provide the autodialer, to register 60,000 voters, and Project 26 PA to register 12,000 college students.
ANDREA MILLER (Center for Common Ground) speaks about registering people of color to vote and the new voter engagement tool ActiVote. Their focus is to keep registered voters of color on the rolls. ActiVote notifies people when their voter status and registration changes, , shows every elected official from the White House to the county level, shares bills in your state legislature, and provides contact info for every candidate on your ballot. This tool can also track your ballot and help you evaluate how your views align with candidates’ platforms on the ballot.
ABOUT: The Friday Power Lunch is a weekly podcast produced by the unstoppable women of Network NOVA to amplify the voices of the grassroots on politics, culture and women making change. The program is recorded before a live Zoom audience every Friday at 12pm ET. To sign up to attend the live recording, click here. The video recording is available on YouTube and the audio version is available on Apple Podcast and Spotify. To experience the Friday Power Lunch through the platform of your choice, visit the Friday Power Lunch page.
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