ReEnergize the Vote

ReEnergize the Vote, Sierra Student Coalition Increase NV, PA, OR, CO, TX Youth Voter Turnout

Intensive youth civic engagement program registered, mobilized 28,000 young voters on 25 college campuses

On Wednesday, November 3, ReEnergize the Vote, a nonpartisan campaign of the Sierra Club’s college student organizing arm, the Sierra Student Coalition, hailed its successful effort to empower tens of thousands of young voters to make their voices to heard in the 2010 midterm elections. Through months of intensive organizing effort on more than 25 college campuses in Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas, ReEnergize the Vote helped mobilize the 20 percent of eligible voters aged 18-29 who voted this year, according to exit poll data complied by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).

"Young voters make a difference," said Yila Ataman, ReEnergize the Vote volunteer at the University of Portland, in Oregon. "With these elections, we demonstrated that young people are committed to changing America for the better."

Since September, ReEnergize the Vote mobilized thousands of young voters to take action on the issues that matter to them. ReEnergize the Vote’s efforts in 2010 included:

• Registering more than 28,000 young people who either voted for the first time in 2008, or in 2010;
• Collecting nearly 27,000 Pledges to Vote;
• Dedicating more than 3,050 hours of volunteer time;
• Making more than 83,000 “Get Out the Vote” (GOTV) contacts, through phone calls, door-to-door canvasses, presentations in college classes, visibility events, and other organizing tactics;
• Sending more than 6,200 voting reminder text messages and more than 90,000 voting reminder emails.

"Students on our campus were really fired up," said Kristin Green, ReEnergize the Vote volunteer at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "It was the first time I’ve seen so many different people in different classes standing up and making announcements about voting. It was awesome."

Working together with other national young voter mobilization campaigns such as Vote Again 2010, the Bus Project, Rock the Vote, New Era Colorado, Oregon Students Association and dozens of other groups, ReEnergize the Vote helped the 'Millennial Generation' of young Americans continue to progress as a powerful voting bloc. While involvement of young people in these 2010 midterm elections can’t be compared to the record turnout of 22 million young voters in the 2008 presidential elections and the 26 percent of young voters who voted in the 2006 midterm elections, the success of ReEnergize the Vote proves that concerted efforts can help empower young people to participate in our democracy.

"Every day for three months, we talked to college students across the political spectrum who were concerned about issues like America’s energy policies and access to quality, affordable education," said Miller Nuttle, ReEnergize the Vote organizer at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. "While some young people felt frustrated with slow pace of change on these issues, I think ReEnergize the Vote succeeded in showing them that voting is the first step to changing things in this country."

In crucial states, ReEnergize the Vote’s impact on the youth vote was significant:

• In Pennsylvania, ReEnergize the Vote registered more than 6,400 young voters, collected more than 8,500 Pledges to Vote, and made 19,500 GOTV contacts;
• In Nevada, ReEnergize the Vote registered more than 4,600 young voters, collected more than 6,100 Pledges to Vote, and made 11,700 GOTV contacts;
• In Texas, ReEnergize the Vote registered more than 9,000 young voters, collected more than 6,200 Pledges to Vote, and made 17,600 GOTV contacts;
• In Colorado, ReEnergize the Vote, in coalition with New Era Colorado and Rock the Vote, registered more than 10,000 young voters, collected more than 6,000 Pledges to Vote, and made 20,000 GOTV contacts;
• In Oregon on three campuses, ReEnergize the Vote in coalition with the Oregon Students Association (OSA) registered more than 4,000 young voters and made more than 7,300 GOTV contacts

ReEnergize the Vote’s organizing model was based on making multiple personal contacts with inexperienced, hard-to-reach young voters, and meeting young people in their everyday communities: on college campuses, in urban neighborhoods, online.

In the first phase of its campaign, ReEnergize the Vote registered more than 28,000 young people to vote. In the second phase of the campaign, ReEnergize the Vote educated young people about state in-person early voting options and encouraged them to take advantage of this option to participate in these crucial elections. In the final phase of the campaign, ReEnergize the Vote educated young voters about Election Day procedures, polling locations, and the importance of voting through creative organizing tactics such as visibility events, 'dorm storm' and 'Halloween Trick or Vote' canvasses and phone banks. ReEnergize the Vote also utilized cutting-edge technology to engage young people, including customized text messages, social media and online tools.

Jean-Paul Torres, a student at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada, was an example of success of ReEnergize the Vote’s intensive organizing approach. ReEnergize the Vote campus organizers registered and pledged Jean-Paul to vote in September. Several weeks later, ReEnergize the Vote called him to remind him about Nevada’s early voting option. As a full-time civil engineering student with a full-time job, Jean-Paul would not have been able to vote on Election Day, and thanks to ReEnergize the Vote’s phone call, was able to take advantage of the early voting period at the last minute. Jean-Paul later volunteered to make GOTV phone calls to other Reno college students.

Many of ReEnergize the Vote’s activities relied on young people who volunteered their time to spread the word about voting to their peers. For example, University of Pittsburgh freshman Anna Mullin was very excited to vote for the first time, and dedicated herself to sharing her passion with others. For months, Anna led ReEnergize the Vote tabling activities, recruited and trained other volunteers, coordinated phone banks, and organized campus events. Similarly, Malorie Morrill a political science student at University of Nevada, at Reno, volunteered for ReEnergize the Vote up to 40 hour per week, without receiving any class credit. Kristin Green, a senior at University of Colorado at Boulder, got involved with ReEnergize the Vote and partner organization New Era Colorado online, researching and blogging about ReEnergize the Vote and the importance of voting. Calvin Green, a University of Houston student government leader, volunteered at several voter registration events, helped organize voter registration and early vote rallies, and collected Pledges to Vote from his peers. Calvin was motivated to volunteer with ReEnergize the Vote by his desire to invest himself in his community and "do something bigger than just my major."

Also in Houston, Texas Jyliese Smith and Simone Rayford, students at historically black college (HBCU) Texas Southern University, partnered ReEnergize the Vote with TSU’s NAACP student organization, and led three tabling events and two 'dorm storm' canvasses in two weeks.

"There was so much at stake for my generation in these elections," said Simone Rayford. "I volunteered with ReEnergize the Vote to make sure that young people’s votes were counted and our voices were heard."

In the coming months, the Sierra Student Coalition will continue to invest in young people and make them a part of a thriving American democracy. The Sierra Student Coalition will be training hundreds of young people in grassroots organizing on campuses and communities across the country, preparing the Millennial generation to be the next leaders of our country.

Louder Than Ever

Did you vote? Set this as your profile image on Facebook.

We vote because the issues that matter to us are at stake in this election. We vote because it's our civic duty. We vote because when we vote, we are heard.

Let's make sure that in 2010, we're heard louder than ever.

Three things you can do to ReEnergize the Vote:

1. Find your polling place using the lookup tool at the top of the page. Make sure you know where and when you're voting, and what you need to bring with you.
2. Change your Facebook profile picture so everyone knows you voted (nothing like a little peer pressure!)
3. Remind five friends to vote. A direct contact is increadibly powerful, and our Facebook GOTV app makes it easy to have a quick conversation with your friends to make sure they are voting.

Are Your Friends Voting?

If you're reading this blog, you are probably voting on November 2. Even better, maybe you already have (you can still early vote today in many states, hint, hint).

But what about your friends? Will they take the time to make their voice heard on Tuesday?

There's one really simple way to make it more likely your friends will turn out to vote: ask them to!

That's where you come in.

1. We're organizing phone banks, dorm storms and parties on campuses across the country. Sign up to join a Trick or Vote event this weekend, or volunteer to get out the vote on Election Day.

2. Using our brand new ReEnergize the Vote Facebook app, take a minute to ask five friends the simple question: "Hey, are you voting on November 2?".

The point of the Facebook app is to give you an easy way to start a short conversation with your friends about voting.

The app gives you a list of your friends who are online right now, just click on their name to open a Facebook chat window and ask them if they are voting. It's also a good idea to make sure they know their polling place (or send them a link so they can look it up).

A quick personal contact is incredibly powerful. It can be the difference between someone going to the polls or staying home.

When we vote, we are heard. On November 2, let's make sure we are louder than ever.

Pitt Students Are Voting Again in 2010

by Miller Nuttle, Campus Organizer - Pittsburgh, PA

Every day, Pitt students are defying the standard youth vote narrative. Rather than dropping out of the upcoming elections, Pitt students have time after time indicated that they plan to vote, and in great number.

In every class rap I do, I ask students two questions: First, “How many of you voted in 2008?”, and second “How many of you plan to vote this fall?”

It’s almost overwhelming to watch a sea of hundreds of hands go up for the first question – the 2008 elections did spur such an unprecedented number of us young folks to cast our ballots!

What’s even more impressive, though, is the number of students who keep their hands up (and even more who hadn’t raised their hand before) for the second question. Almost without fail, an equal or greater number of students proudly raise their hands to say they’re voting this fall.

Giving class raps has become such a heartening experience – despite all the talk on TV, young voters are going to make a splash this fall! Also, check out this article in the Pitt News on the Vote Coalition on campus.

Pedicabs to the Polls Drive Early Voting in Reno

by Marika Dimitriadis, Campus Organizer - Reno, NV

Team Reno eNVy is moving at full pace to the end of the campaign and pulling all the tricks out to get attention and remind young people to vote. We are starting to feel gratification when students at the University of Nevada, Reno walk up to our table and tell us they have voted and proudly sport their “Early Voted” sticker.

We are working overtime and 7 days a week to ensure as many youth as possible have the chance to make their voice heard this election. It is not enough for us to simply table, give presentations, hold events and phone bank. We are constantly striving to get our point across in a way that reaches people.

While we keep our minds on getting out the youth vote, our motivation comes from each other. Long days give way to loopiness and laughter as the Reno Team leans on each other to accomplish our tasks at hand. Volunteers are motivated by something more meaningful than food.

Today we have the first day of our “Pedicab to the polls”. Students at the University of Nevada campus will get a free ride to the polls. Jordan, my teammate, and I took a ride on one yesterday to map the routes and judging from the attention we received in those few minutes we could tell it would be a hit. Stand by for the tales of voter turnout in the “biggest little city in the world.”

Pizza and Persistence Make Phonebanking Pay Off

by LeAnn Orick, Campus Organizer - Pittsburgh, PA

Tonight was our first night of phonebanking. We went into it knowing that this was our first try and unsure what to expect. Would we reach anyone? Will everyone hang up on us once they realize that we are not calling about the party happening saturday night?

I know that I was a bit nervous and so were my volunteers who were new to phonebanking. I'm not going to lie it started off a bit shaky, but as time went on we found our rhythm and started picking up pledges to vote. We got a total of 22 pledges in just an hour!

Afterwards we enjoyed some pizza and talked about our stories from the night. I called a number who turned out to be someone completely different, but instead of just turning them away and saying wrong number I kept moving on with the pledge script. He did not end up pledging to vote, but only because he was not registered......yet, but he plans on it!

Anyway, we had a good conversation that would have never happened if I wanted to take the easy way out and get through my list. Talk to everyone next time it could be a pledge or a volunteer. Also, turns out its less scary for the person on the other line when they know that we are fellow students. From this first night of phonebanking we already can see the results of our work and what we can do to make things better. It's a learning process but I really do think that it's worth it.

Projected Voter Turnout No Match for Volunteer Enthusiasm

by Chris Smith, Campus Organizer - Portland, OR

As the hour of the voter registration deadline neared in Portland, volunteers began to ask me, “What's next?”

While keeping an incredulous look from sneaking onto my face, I calmly replied, “Well, what do you think?”

I received some answers that truly made me happy, such as, “Partying?”, “Your unemployment?” and “2012?”

While those are certainly on the horizon, they are about as far away as the horizon. Later, I posed this question to a group of volunteers:

“So, everyone claims to be registered to vote. Even if they are all registered, how many of them are going to vote?”

No sooner had my volunteers began to realize what I was saying, when Secretary of State Kate Brown’s now-familiar picture came up on a nearby computer. In the video, filmed earlier that day at Portland State University, she announced the expected voter turnout among youth in Oregon: a little over 40%.

“Forty percent?” claimed one of my volunteers, “That’s pathetic!”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “but that’s why we’re all still here. We’re gonna get that number up.”

When I returned to the office a while later, I found several of my volunteers searching through files for phone banking lists. In their apparent enthusiasm to get their peers to vote, they didn’t realize that we had no such databases yet. While it took a bit of convincing, they eventually went home with the promise that they could come in the next morning to start the GOTV effort.

Over the next two weeks we will be making thousand of phone calls and knocking on doors to make sure our generation turns out in force at the polls.

Penn State Gets Fired Up To Get Out The Vote

by Hana Uman, Campus Organizer - State College, PA

A new wave of energy has charged the Penn State community these past two weeks, in the form of GOTV! No longer are students being asked countless times if they have registered to vote, but are answering the more important question: “Are you planning on voting on November 2?”

Hana showing off newly arrived GOTV swag in the ReEnergize office

Now, both newly registered students and experienced voters are coming together to show the Penn State Community and the residents of Centre County, PA that they are committed to voting this November. We have gotten students to pledge to vote at the student union, during class raps, at student organization meetings, and most recently at the farmers’ market.

Alex with a student pledging to vote at the farmers' market

Together with PennPIRG, we have created a vote coalition called, “PSU Votes! 2010,” where will be bringing together leaders of student organizations committed to increasing the youth vote at Penn State! We will be working with our vote coalition on our two big events before the election, Trick-or-Vote and Last Call Nov. 1!

Additionally, starting next week, we are going to deck out Penn State students with our awesome swag! T-shirts, hats, and window signs will be given to the volunteers and students who go out and get their friends and fellow students pledged!

When I ask students why they are voting this November, the reasons have varied, but today I saw my favorite answer yet: “To end student apathy.” To me, that really sums up why this job is so important. As more students begin to realize the importance of the youth vote this election and in all elections, the greater impact we will have on our country’s future!

Gearing Up In Colorado

by Laura Lyznicki, Campus Organizer - Fort Collins, CO

We've finished up with voter registration in Fort Collins, Colorado and now we are getting ready to gear up for Get Out the Vote! We had a great blitz week during the final days of voter registration, expanding on campus at the dining halls and in Greeley at the University of Northern Colorado. We had a lot of visibility on campus with tons of cool swag, a big tent, and loud music playing.

We're going to start phone banks next week with our volunteers to make contacts with about 2,500 people. We've started the planning process for Voter Awareness Day on October 25th, and it is looking like it will be a lot of fun. We have a band called Leif Sunde and another one called Bemused playing that day on the Plaza at Colorado State University. They will be playing a top a giant tour bus in the middle of the Plaza, which should be a pretty great time.

We have also hooked up with the student run radio station at Colorado State University, and starting next week they will announce early voting and provide listeners with some information regarding voting locations every day until the election!

Three Weeks To Seal The Deal

From the Sierra Club Press Room

For Immediate Release Tuesday, October 12, 2010

ReEnergize the Vote Ramps up Youth-focused Get-Out-the-Vote Drive in Six Key States

Nonpartisan youth voter mobilization campaign escalates as voter registration deadlines are reached

On Tuesday, October 12, the national nonpartisan youth voter mobilization campaign ‘ReEnergize the Vote’ launched intensive get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts in Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas. As state voter registration deadlines were reached in Nevada and Oregon, organizers and volunteers with ReEnergize the Vote – a landmark campaign spearheaded by the Sierra Student Coalition, an arm of the Sierra Club – shifted its focus from voter registration to increasing the turnout of thousands of young people in six key states in the upcoming elections.

ReEnergize the Vote organizer Chris Smith registering students at Lewis and Clark in Portland, OR

"It’s been hard, tiring work, but we’ve registered thousands of Oregon college students to vote," said a Jonathan Tracy, a ReEnergize the Vote organizer at Portland Community College-Sylvania. "Now we’ve got three weeks to seal the deal by making sure all those young people cast their ballots by November 2."

Since August, the ReEnergize the Vote campaign has registered more than 27,000 young voters on 25 campuses who either voted for the first time in 2008 or will vote for the first time in 2010.

On Tuesday, ReEnergize the Vote inaugurated the second phase of its campaign, a GOTV effort based on intensive, personal contacts with young voters on dozens of college campuses, in urban neighborhoods, and online.

Over the next three weeks, ReEnergize the Vote organizers plan to collect more than 45,000 "Pledges to Vote," powerful commitments from young voters to go out and vote this year. ReEnergize the Vote organizers will also talk to thousands of young voters about Early Voting, polling locations, and voting procedures on Election Day. Using online tools, customized text messages, and other cutting-edge technology, ReEnergize the Vote will send voting reminders, directions to polling locations, and other information to young voters.

Beginning on October 30, the ReEnergize the Vote GOTV effort will conclude with a surge of activity including Halloween "Trick or Vote" events and other efforts to remind tens of thousands of newly-registered voters, Pledge-signers, and general student and youth voter populations, to vote.

Despite speculation that turnout among young voters in the 2010 midterm elections will fall short of the record 22 million young voters in the 2008 national elections, ReEnergize the Vote and Sierra Student Coalition organizers report that the energy and enthusiasm of young voters is high.

"We’ve heard from so many young Americans who understand the importance of civic engagement and political activism,” said Jordan Butler, ReEnergize the Vote campus organizer in Reno, Nevada. "I know that despite the obstacles — apathy, dissatisfaction with politics, hopelessness — young voters will make their voices heard on November 2."

A bipartisan poll commissioned in mid-September by Rock the Vote found that 77 percent of the 44 million eligible voters aged 18-29 are very likely, or somewhat likely, to vote. The poll also found that more than 83% of young voters believe that they have the power to change things in this country, despite concerns about the slow pace of change in Washington.

For more information about ReEnergize the Vote, please visit: www.reenergizethevote.org