“What a brilliant idea! To be honest I’m always a bit overwhelmed trying to understand everything on the ballot. It makes me want to sit these elections out. ”
— Emily, participant
“I used the [concierge] resources and to my horror found out I was an INACTIVE voter!? What? I’ve voted in every election. Thanks for helping me catch that!”
— Devin, participant

THE CHALLENGE

In the March 2020 primary election, California tossed out over 100,000 ballots, and many other states did the same.  Why?
Because voters were sending their ballots too late, or getting tripped up by common mistakes.

Fortunately, studies have shown that three things can exponentially increase the likelihood of people casting a successful vote:

1) When voters have a plan. Research has shown making that voters who make a voting plan can dramatically increase the likelihood of casting a successful vote.

2) When communities uplift each other. Relational organizing is one of the most effective tools for increasing voter turnout.

3) When voters cast their vote early. 

While there has been a huge influx in digital tools designed to help voters research their deadlines, behavioral science suggests we need to take it one step further to help voters make and execute on their plan by creating positive social infrastructure.  In other words: make voting a collaborative sport.

THE SOLUTION

For the 2022 midterm elections, we created a Personal Voter Concierge to deliver a bespoke ballot education and voting plan service.

THE IMPACT

The Personal Voter Concierge Service reached voters in 33 cities across 14 states. On average, these voters shared their ballot guides with 10 other people (although one outlier shared her ballot guide in a Whatsapp group of ~400 people!).

LEARNINGS

If voters don’t have a presidential candidate that they feel strongly about, they tend to sit out of elections. But one effective way to mobilize these voters is by get them excited about downballot races and measures.

Not only can a personalized voter concierge service help to activate these voters, but it can also help them turn out even MORE voters by providing easy tools for sharing their ballot knowledge with their community.

SPECIAL THANKS TO
Center For Artistic Activism / Unstoppable Voters Project - training & funding
EJ Baker / Maybe Ventures - visual design
Connie Carmona - music curation
Everyone who participated, playtested and promoted this offering

UP NEXT

We’re excited to share our tools, learnings and templates with organizations that would like to create a similar voter engagement program for the 2024 Election. Be in touch if you would like to learn more about how we can scale our impact in the upcoming election together!