More than 10,000 Arkansans usedVote.org to register to vote before the state’s Oct. 5 deadline, according to the nonpartisan nonprofit. That is nearly double the number who used the platform in Arkansas in the 2022 and 2018 midterm elections. CEO Andrea Hailey says most people registering through Vote.org are 35 and under. About one in three people registering on the platform nationwide are 18. Election Day is Nov. 3.
Moore: Election Day is Nov. 3, and the final day for Arkansans to register to vote in this election was Monday. Data from the nonpartisan nonprofit Vote.org says more than 10,000 Arkansans used their platform to register to vote. This was nearly double the amount of people who used Vote.org in Arkansas in the last two midterm elections.
Andrea Hailey is the CEO of Vote.org. We spoke over Zoom yesterday. It’s important to remember that elections are conducted at the state level. But she says their organization is constantly looking at how each state handles voter registration to make it as simple as possible for the voters of that state to use their website.
Hailey: And then after the election, we really try to be an advocate for the American voter, and we try to work with states to really think about how they could streamline processes.
We know in this country how to get the highest number of people through a process possible if we want. I mean, we’ve landed a man on the moon. We know we can certainly get voters registered and get them out to vote, but what we sometimes lack is the political will to do so.
So in a state like Arkansas, we think about what can we do? What can we build? What can we create that will make the experience for voters, will simplify it.
And then if we see a state that makes things overly complicated, for instance, in Arkansas, we had a court case that we brought forward about digital signatures. Because it doesn’t really make sense in this day and age where you can use a digital signature to buy your house or your car or in the court filings. We have to use digital signatures all the time.
It doesn’t make sense in this day and age to make it so that you have to have pen and paper and a wet signature on your registration forms and things like that.
So what we will do, how we think about it is, what can we build that makes that process more simple? And if a state starts to go backwards in the sense of they want a wet signature instead of a digital signature, we’ll go ahead and advocate in the courts, fight in the courts, and then advocate in the state legislatures for rules that actually make it simple for people to participate.
Moore: According to your data, when the Oct. 5 deadline to register to vote came up in Arkansas, more than 10,000 people in the state used Vote.org to register to vote, which is, according to your numbers, nearly double what we saw in the last two midterm elections in 2022 and 2018. What does that sort of data tell you?
Hailey: What that tells me is that there is a lot of organic excitement on the ground in Arkansas right now that voters want to have their voice heard. If you have around double the engagement, that’s pretty big. And we’re really close to 2018 levels of engagement.
And nationwide, this is the story too. Nationwide, Vote.org is seeing a huge surge in people wanting to register to vote and coming to the site to find information about how they can vote this year.
And I think that that means that people are feeling like they have some agency and that they can get out there and really advocate for what the leaders that they want to choose. And that’s exciting.
Most of the people registering with Vote.org right now are 35 and under. And in Arkansas, we have a really high number of 18-year-olds that are registering to vote. So that also tells me that this younger generation is really wanting to be on-ramped into civic participation. And that’s exciting. I think we’re about to see high turnout all across the nation. And that includes Arkansas.
Moore: Do you find that it’s harder to get younger voters to get excited about voting in a year where they’re not voting for a president?
Hailey: Traditionally, yes. Traditionally, voters of all ages are less excited in a midterm election than they are in a presidential election. And I think that’s why this year’s numbers are so exciting. It means that people are getting almost as excited as they do during a presidential.
And the truth of the matter is, for most voters, the local elections matter more for their day-to-day lives than federal elections anyway. So who’s in charge of your school board, your state legislature, who the mayor of your town is, or the city.
Those things are going to affect everything from roads to where budgets go to trash pickup, and who judges are is going to matter for what perspectives are being brought forward in the courts.
So I just think that the exciting thing this year is people seem to be connecting the dots to the things they care about in their own local communities and participation. And I hope that energy continues this year and next year.
Moore: I think it’s fair to say it’s not surprising that people who are using Vote.org are millennials and younger. But are you seeing folks who are Gen X and boomers who utilize your work and find it to be a good, useful tool?
Hailey: Absolutely. I think most voters want to be able to verify their registration. In states like Texas this year, we’ve seen record levels of people just going and checking and verifying that they’re still on the voter rolls. So definitely people of all ages find Vote.org to be a useful resource.
I think the other thing is, all of us probably spend a little bit too much time on our phones of every age group. And I think people want to be able to quickly look on their phone, verify their registration, look up when early voting starts, things like that, find out what’s on their ballot.
We’re finding that people of all ages this year are really using our What’s on My Ballot tool and that they’re making their plan to vote and looking all up and down those races. And that’s exciting.
And I think most of us want to be able to do that while we’re on the go, while we’re in a coffee shop, while we’re waiting for school pickup, whatever it is that you’re doing, if you can just look it up on your phone quickly, it really increases the numbers of people using it.
Moore: When you’re looking around this time of year, we’re closing in on an election cycle for many states, we are seeing a time when the window to register to vote is closing. What is exciting to you about this season before the actual election itself?
Hailey: I think the most exciting thing about this election cycle is that about one in three people nationwide using our platform to register are 18-year-olds. I’ve never seen such a high number of 18-year-olds registering to vote, so that’s exciting.
And thinking about the fact that the next generation really gets it and gets that you have to participate to keep a healthy and thriving democracy. And so that’s the biggest thing.
But the other big thing this year is that registrations are, we’re about 1% off of 2018 levels. And 2018 was one of the largest turnout years for a midterm election that we’ve seen in recent history. So that is super exciting.
Now the work really becomes intense because registration is only as good as that person actually showing up at the ballot box. So Vote.org will be doing election reminders. We’ll tell people about early voting in states where they have early voting. We will continue to push everybody who’s registered with us all the way to the ballot box. That’s the fun part for me. And then I love seeing those numbers at the end of the day.
But I believe that a large number of people are going to show up this year. And anytime you see that happen in America, that’s exciting. Because what you never want to lose is that spark that makes people believe that they really can affect and impact what’s going on around them. And I think that that spark is well lit right now. And that’s one of the more exciting things about this year.
But we’re going to see, barring something that I can’t possibly see ahead of time, it looks like we’re going to see really, really high participation and really high turnout. And that’s a good thing no matter which side of the aisle you’re on. It’s a good thing because it means the value of American democracy is still there.
Moore: Andrea Hailey is the CEO of Vote.org. And if you’re looking for a one-stop shop that features our local reporting on elections, as well as details about what you will see on your ballot as a voter in Arkansas, Missouri or Oklahoma, we’ve got you covered. You can head tokuaf.com/vote26.
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