The Headlines
With only 4 days left until Election Day, over 2.5 million Michiganders have already cast their ballot. That includes over 730,000 voters who have made use of the state’s new early in-person voting option and over 1.8 million who returned their absentee ballots via mail or a secure drop box.
This incredible turnout is possible thanks to the passage of Proposal 22-2 by Michigan voters, and the work of Voters Not Politicians and the Promote the Vote coalition in getting that initiative on the ballot. We are proud to have collected more than 170,000 signatures on a tight timeline in early 2022 to get the Promote the Vote 2022 petition drive over the finish line!
This year, Voters Ed Fund has been hard at work educating voters about their new options and encouraging them to make their voices heard. In this week’s update, I’ll share with you some stories and statistics that demonstrate the impact of our work.
The Details
- Earlier this year, we set a goal to reach at least 200,000 voters through the My City Votes program. We laid out an ambitious campaign strategy that included partnering with local officials and partner organizations and contacting voters through direct mail, digital ads, door knocking, events, city-specific websites, and more.
- We’re partnering with local organizations to knock thousands of doors, and making sure that voters get to hear the Get Out the Vote message from members of their own communities. Voters have shared with us how grateful they are to learn about how they can exercise their right to vote, and especially about the option for early voting.
- Blanca, a canvasser with our partners at the Hispanic Center for Western Michigan in Grand Rapids, shared this experience: “This work is especially important because of moments like when a woman told me that in over 20 years of living in her neighborhood, a voting canvasser had never knocked on her door until now. The gratitude I’ve seen has been overwhelming.”
- Throughout the last 6 weeks of this campaign, we’ve sent out over 475,000 pieces of mail directly to voters’ doors, each with a specific message around:
- Reminding voters to request and return their absentee ballots;
- Letting voters know about the early voting option; and
- Encouraging voters to participate in this pivotal election.
- Links to the city-specific voting websites have been included in our outreach, and have thus far helped direct almost 40,000 users to the sites.
- You can see each city’s website for yourself here: Benton Harbor, Flint, Grand Rapids (available in English and Spanish), Muskegon Heights, Warren, and Pontiac.
- We’ve reached voters through their phones and online by sending over 160,000 text messages and generating over 4.5 million digital ad impressions.
- Texts like the example below invited voters to join us for Early Vote parties in their local communities.
- Early Vote parties in Flint, Pontiac, and Warren (coming up tomorrow!) brought community members together for food, activities, and an opportunity for early voting. Voters Ed Fund was proud to partner with several organizations for both the Flint and Pontiac Early Vote parties.
- We were also pleased to receive a visit from Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson at our Pontiac party, “Candy, Costumes, and Casting Votes,” on October 26th!
- In a first for the My City Votes program, we’re also running radio ads in two of our communities: Muskegon Heights and Benton Harbor! Ads airing right now inform voters about early voting, and a second reminding voters to vote on Election Day will also be broadcast on Nov 4th and 5th.
- And thanks to our pro-voter legislature repeal of the ban on rides to the polls, we are able to partner with organizations like the Delta Sigma Theta Alumnae Chapter in Flint and the Pontiac Community Foundation to provide free rides to the polls for voters in those cities, another first for the My City Votes program!
What’s Next
Earlier this year, I set an ambitious goal to reach more voters than My City Votes ever has before because I believed in the mission of our campaign and the efficacy of our methods. Seeing how many voters we’ve touched so far, and hearing the stories of what our outreach has meant to these voters, I can say with confidence that I made the right choice.
Because of the work Voters Not Politicians has done in the past, and the work Voters Ed Fund is doing right now, more Michiganders are able to make their voices heard in critical elections like this one.
While I can’t say for certain who the winners and losers will be on election night, I can say that Michiganders right now have a stronger democracy than we did when we formed almost eight years ago. I’m incredibly proud of the work that Voters Not Politicians, Voters Ed Fund, and especially our volunteers have done to strengthen and protect voters’ voices in our great state.
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