Super voters, assemble! It’s up to all of us to participate in our democracy.
By: Will Hendrick
You have it in your power to increase voter turnout. And you can do it just by having conversations with people you already know.
Start by talking to your friends, family, and neighbors. You can find out who’s registered by using North Carolina’s voter look-up. It can not only tell you which of your friends are registered to vote and which aren’t, it can also tell you which friends voted in past elections, and which didn’t.
Just letting your friends know that their voter history is public may prod them into voting. Political science research has shown that voter turnout increases among people who think their family, friends, and neighbors will learn whether or not they voted.
If this strikes you as creepy, or as something your friends may not appreciate, there’s a kind and constructive way to make your pitch. It could go something like this:
While your vote, of course, is private, whether or not you voted is public. In politics, people who vote in every single election are called super voters. You may have missed elections in the past, but on Nov. 3 you can get on track to become a super voter.
“Many nonvoters need just a nudge to motivate them to vote. A personal invitation sometimes makes all the difference,” Donald P. Green and Alan S. Gerber wrote in their book, “Get Out the Vote.”
A random volunteer caller from a campaign has nowhere near the clout with your friends and family that you do. You may be the only person who can nudge a friend to vote. Why not try?
If some of your friends already are super voters, you can encourage them to text their friends to vote, too.
While you’re at it, let folks know that there’s no wrong way to vote. Remind anyone who may want to vote by mail this year that they can request a mail-in ballot here. North Carolina allows no-excuse mail-in voting. All requests for mail-in ballots must be received by Oct. 27.
Remind your friends who want to vote in person that in-person early voting runs from Oct. 15th to Oct 31st. Find your closest early voting location here. Bonus: North Carolinians can register AND vote during the early voting period, a same-day registration option that is not available on Election Day.
As you encourage your friends, remember voters who care about the environment and our waterways are the majority. More than two-thirds of American adults say the government is doing too little to protect our water, too little to protect our air, and too little to reduce the effects of global climate change.
When environmentally-minded voters cast their ballots, we can make a difference. For instance, voters in the Wilmington area enraged about Gen X-tainted water may have been one factor that helped boost voter turnout there in the 2018 elections versus the 2014 elections.
And it’s not just the candidates that you see on commercials, or even just the ones that make the laws, that can have an impact on our environment. This Fall, North Carolinians will select three of the seven judges that serve on our state Supreme Court. A third of the seats on the state Court of Appeals will be filled based on this year’s election. These justices and judges, along with locally elected District Court and Superior Court judges, will be called upon to interpret environmental laws. North Carolinians will also elect the state Commissioner of Agriculture, whose agency oversees the swine buyout program and agricultural cost-share programs and includes an entire Division of Soil and Water Conservation. We will elect the Attorney General, who represents the state in lawsuits and administers environmental grants under the Smithfield Agreement. And North Carolinians will choose who serves on their local Soil and Water Conservation District too. Your voice matters—and your friends’ voices matter—in each of these important races.
Finally, remember that the elected state officials who draw our electoral maps will be on the ballot this November. This is everyone’s chance to pick the politicians you want to vote for—rather than let them pick their voters. Drawing these districts, both at the Congressional and State House level, is an opportunity that only comes along once a decade.
We’re all in this together; our lives and our environment will be impacted by the election. It’s up to all of us to participate in our democracy. There’s no better time than this year to get your crew on track to all become super voters.