The Headlines
With only 25 days until the end of voting in Michigan, I’d like to share with you more details about how we’re getting out the vote in communities across the state right now.
My City Votes, a Voters Ed Fund program, is now in full swing with direct mail, digital ads, and door knocking happening in Warren, Flint, Pontiac, Grand Rapids, Benton Harbor, and Muskegon Heights. We’re targeting registered voters who don’t vote regularly to make sure they receive the information they need, from trusted sources, to make their voices heard in this critical election.
The Details
- For a more detailed explanation of this unique Get Out the Vote campaign, you can read my September 6 update here. The key points are:
- In 2024, our goal is to reach 200,000 low-propensity voters in Pontiac, Muskegon Heights, Warren, Benton Harbor, Flint, and Grand Rapids.
- My City Votes utilizes an innovative approach that collaborates with city officials and local community organizations to develop city-specific voter education and outreach campaigns.
- City-specific treatments include events, direct mail, targeted canvassing and text-banking, and voter information websites for each city.
- Canvasses have begun in most of our My City Votes cities, with teams of both Voters Ed Fund volunteers and partner groups out in the field.
- For example, I personally joined a group of volunteers who canvassed in Flint last weekend. Many voters – especially women – I spoke with were excited about voting this year, but had no idea early voting was an option for them. They greatly appreciated receiving this information.
- And in Grand Rapids, our partners at the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan are reaching voters in English and Spanish!
- Working with partners at the Hispanic Center we were also able to provide a Spanish version of the official Grand Rapids Votes website.
- Digital ads are already running in communities, letting voters know they have options in casting their ballot. Here’s an example of a video ad that has already been viewed over 120,000 times in Pontiac.
- Direct mail will soon be going out to voters, including pieces like the one below encouraging voters to make use of Early Vote Centers.
- We are partnering with the Analyst Institute to study the effectiveness of specific early vote messaging on voter turnout during the early vote period. This study will be one of the first of its kind done in the US.
What’s Next
We are continuing to push towards our goal of reaching 200,000 voters across the My City Votes cities. So far, we have reached over 85,000 voters with over 1.1 million views on our digital ads and contacted 202,000 households with our first round of direct mail. Over the next three weeks, we will be ramping up efforts to reach voters in person through early vote parties and more door knocking!
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