Sept. 25 marked National Voter Registration Day in the United States. It is a celebration held on every fourth Thursday in September to bring attention towards voter registration and democracy in the U.S. This year, several social media platforms and other companies encouraged and provided U.S citizens with ways to register for the midterm elections on Nov. 6.
According to the official National Registration Day website, the day has been endorsed by the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors. Established in 2012, the day is observed to inform and remind eligible voters to either register to vote or update their registration.
Contrary to previous years, the day was not only promoted by the National Registration Day organization; it was also advertised by various social media platforms. Companies like Lyft, Google, Facebook and Twitter encouraged people to register to vote by running ads on their feeds and giving out information on how to register.
According to the official Lyft blog, the company offered discounts and even free rides to underserved communities to encourage them to go out and register. Lyft will be offering these incentives for voters also on Nov 6. thanks to their collaboration with organizations such as Vote.org, Nonprofit Vote and TurboVote.
Companies like Snapchat and Instagram also partnered with TurboVote to increase the amount of voters. Snapchat built in a voter registration program in their app. The company sent a link to all users age 18 and older, which took users directly to a registration page. Snapchat hoped to utilize this method to encourage their young adult users to go out and vote.
Also encouraging the younger generation to register to vote, AP Government teacher, Sara Russell said, “Teens can have a lot of power because of their sheer numbers but many feel they don’t have any power, which I would argue is incorrect. They just don’t know how to use it.” Russell encourages students to exercise their right to vote, if they are eligible to do so.
PV senior, Joslyn Schafer, registered to vote once she turned 17 and a half. She spoke about the excitement she always had to exercise her right. “I registered to vote because I know how important it is to have my voice heard. I think it’s so exciting that now I can help make decisions that affect me and the rest of the country,” She said.
To Schafer, National Voter Registration Day was a way to remind other teens to go out and register. Schafer also commented on how she saw various promotion techniques on social media. “Recently, I have noticed how many social medias are trying to promote voter registration. I saw stickers on Snapchat that brought attention to the holiday, and I saw various ads as I was scrolling through Instagram and Youtube,” she added.
Along with the national holiday, Russell added that the school is also offering methods for students to register. “I think it is important to help people register but it needs to be done in a nonpartisan way. Incidentally, The Scott County Auditor will be at PVHS on October 17th to help register students to vote,” she mentioned.
