Voter registration deadlines hit, focus shifts to actually getting people to vote

The deadline to register to vote in 2024 has already passed in more than a dozen states, and time is running out in many more places through October.

Millions of Americans have enrolled to cast a ballot this year, with unprecedented recent spikes in new voters posing to shake up a heated race for the White House.

With Election Day just weeks away, campaigns and nonpartisan organizations are turning their attention to another priority: making sure voters actually show up.

Turnout will be a major factor in a presidential election where the candidates are neck-and-neck, with neither holding more than a razor-thin lead in multiple polls.

Democrats, Republicans, and civic-minded groups are taking different approaches to reaching voters and encouraging their participation this November.

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Organizations kick off big swing for voter engagement

Former first lady Michelle Obama launched her nonpartisan initiative When We All Vote in 2018 to increase voter participation. The group’s co-chairs include other powerhouse names such as Tom Hanks, Steph Curry and Megan Rapinoe.

Their focus is on educating voters about decisions up and down the ballot and encouraging a diverse group of Americans to participate this year.

“We’re not telling you who to vote for, we’re just asking you to vote,” said Beth Lynk, executive director.

When We All Vote kicked off their Party at the Polls program, a series of early voting events across the country, with a block party in Philadelphia and a Walk to the Polls with Mark Ruffalo in Arizona on Saturday.

Out of the more than 500 events planned, When We All Vote National Organizing Director Amanda Hollowell said there is something for everyone, such as barbecue parties and barbershop talks. Other events include a “Drag Out the Vote” drag show in Phoenix on Friday and a yoga and spoken word party in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Nov. 3.

“I love how creative people can be when we talk about democracy and their vision,” Hollowell said. “And I love how people are really trying to make this fun.”

Young voters target for get-out-the-vote efforts

Lynk said that in an election rife with divisiveness, fun and celebration are at the core of their get-out-the-vote program.

“We are seeing a lot of excitement and energy,” Lynk said, “particularly young people.”

More than 8 million young Americans will be eligible to vote for the first time this year, making up nearly 41 million of the total Gen Z voters in 2024.

Voters of Tomorrow, a Gen Z-focused advocacy group that has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, has been leading outreach to these 18- to 27-year-olds. As of Thursday, the group had directly contacted more than 5 million young voters.

Katy Gates, deputy communications director for Voters of Tomorrow, said they have pivoted from encouraging Gen Z Americans to register, as the last day to do so came and went this week in several places, including Gates’ home state of Georgia. Voter education and turnout are now top priorities, she said.

“As college students, especially, life can get busy,” Gates said. “It’s midterm season, and something like voting can definitely pass you by if you’re not, like, hyperaware of all those dates and deadlines and everything you need to do to get that done and get your ballot in.”

Campaigns, national parties get in on action

The Democratic National Committee announced late last month a multimillion-dollar investment into all 50 states, much of which will go toward grassroots get-out-the-vote efforts,

“These dollars will go to reaching key constituencies, beefing up organizing operations, and giving our teams on the ground the tools they need to earn every vote in the final stretch before Election Day,” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement. “The stakes couldn’t be higher, and this latest investment will give us an extra boost of momentum heading into November.”

The $2.5 million move was historic for the DNC, marking the first time the national organization put money into every state and territory in a cycle. The party reaped a flood of donations after President Joe Biden left the race and Harris took over.

Republicans have not been absent from the ground game either.

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly emphasized the need for voter turnout on the campaign trail, while the Republican National Committee is encouraging early voting and allocating more resources to many forms of outreach.

The Republicans are also using a novel approach to targeting Americans who have typically opted to sit out elections.

With the help of outside groups, including the Elon Musk-backed America PAC, Trump and allies hope to turn out these habitually inactive voters and tip the scales in contentious swing states.

“Since his first campaign, President Trump has built the broadest coalition in history with supporters who never saw themselves as part of the political process before he ran for office,” said RNC spokesperson Anna Kelly.

The strategy could pay off big. However, some Republicans have reportedly expressed skepticism and concern about it.

“It’s political malpractice,” Republican strategist Dennis Lennox told CNN. “It’s a Hail Mary.”

But a Trump Team official pushed back, saying the outside groups supplement their ground game, run by experienced Republican operatives, and that they are confident in their operation.

‘Fighting against the couch’

When We All Vote also hosted voting parties in 2020 and 2022. In the last presidential election, the national group found that its early voting program boosted turnout by about 90 votes per precinct.

In her conversations with younger voters, Gates said many are less on the fence about who they would support, and more on whether they will vote at all.

“We’re fighting against the couch,” she said. “It’s so much easier to just sit on your couch and stay home than it is maybe to take those steps to make sure you get your ballot in.”

She added that many of these voters are skeptical about whether their vote would even make a difference.

“And for that, I just remind them about just the closeness of the election,” Gates said.

In 2020, Georgia was decided by under 12,000 votes – “that’s less than the undergrad population of the University of Georgia,” Gates said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Republicans, Democrats in final weeks to get voters to the polls