6 Comments

Thank goodness for The Civics Center. Time to expand to let non-parents help!

Expand full comment

The volunteer page on our website has model communications that anyone can personalize and send to their network or to a school or school district in their community. https://www.thecivicscenter.org/volunteer

Expand full comment

Laura, since this is about preregistration, and the kids can’t vote until they’re 18, is there data to correlate how low preregistration translates to low registration rates of 18 year olds, and/or turnout of eligible 18 year olds? I think that could make a compelling case if it correlates.

Expand full comment

Oh, yes, there is a strong correlation. You can see it, for example, in our most recent report on NY, which is here. https://thecivicscenter.substack.com/p/new-data-alert-new-york

Also our report on Maryland, which is here: https://thecivicscenter.substack.com/p/new-data-in-maryland-improved-voting

Expand full comment

Buckminster Fuller once said, "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." Craigslist did this. So did Amazon, eBay, YouTube, Netflix, Uber, Airbnb, etc. If your solution needs politicians to work, pivot to a new solution. We can fix our democracy, but it won't be with the help of politicians.

Expand full comment

Lucky for us, it doesn't! You can check out our focus on training high school students and educators to hold their own voter registration drives at thecivicscenter.org. Still, good policies help.

Expand full comment