People & Polls

American democracy has been an experiment in expanding the right to vote. At our founding, only white, male landowners could vote, likely as few as 20% of Americans. The 15th, 19th, and 26th Amendments explicitly expand the franchise to freed black citizens, women, and 18-20-year-olds. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, and the Help America Vote Act of 2002 also expanded voter rights and access. More recently, states have adopted reforms such as automatic voter registration, pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds, vote by mail, and ranked-choice voting. These reforms allow us to adapt our conception of participatory democracy and the age-old practice of voting to the modern era.

Why This Matters

 

Recent polls have shown more than 70% of Americans say they are “absolutely certain” to vote in 2020. Despite being a major increase, this hides likely voter turnout gaps under the surface by race, age, education level, income, and other demographic and even geographic factors. For example, the 2018 mid term elections enjoyed record level turn out for a mid term eledtion, but disparities persisted, as shown by the chart below.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau                      

 

In a sign of progress, women turned out at higher rates than men in 2018, solving a historic participation gap over the last two decades. But, as the U.S. still ranks 31st out of 34 industrialized nations in voter turnout, there is more work to do to ensure a more representative swath of America exercises their right to vote. 

An increase in turnout is a good problem to have but one we must be prepared for. Long lines, provisional ballots, and the threat of hacking makes advance preparation even more important.

Nearly one million poll workers administer our elections. These volunteers (56% of whom were over the age of 61 in 2016) are overseen by local clerks, county recorders, and Secretaries of State who all too often do not have the resources -- financial and otherwise -- to operate business as usual, much less prepare for a 25% increase in voter turnout. 

Our Approach

 

Voter engagement cannot be turned on and off. To truly empower, people must be engaged in the practice of participating in our democracy year round. We want to empower citizens to participate -- voting is one indicator of that empowerment. 

We aim to close voter turnout gaps by funding organizations that engage under-represented communities not only in electoral work but also on issues that matter in these communities year-round, including holding politicians accountable after they’ve been voted into office. At the same time, we want to ensure when unprecedented levels of a diverse population of voters shows up on election day, they actually get to vote!

Voter Engagement

This isn’t about turning out specific voters for a specific election. Our approach will emphasize the need for funding grassroots organizations who build power and, most importantly, trust, in their communities. 

A decline in local civic life -- things like joining associations such as the PTA or Rotary Club, regularly attending faith-based services, or participating in a sports league -- coupled with the decline in local news contributes to a weakening of our democracy and increasing partisanship, according to a collaborative study by the University of Pennsylvania.  Philanthropists can help stem this tide by supporting civic participation year round and across elections, not just when the Presidency is at stake.  Importantly, our approach to engaging voters aims to enhance social cohesion and we will avoid funding any mobilization that uses tactics or messaging that seeds distrust or anger toward others.

“Refocusing civic life on the local level may not solve all of society’s problems. But it allows for citizens to be more engaged with one another, making politics less a spectator sport and more of a common project that allows for greater understanding between people with diverse backgrounds and sensibilities.”                                                  - Center for High Impact Philanthropy

 

Election Administration

While we like to think of one national election on the Tuesday after the first Monday in the month of November, we actually hold simultaneous yet decentralized elections in over 10,000 jurisdictions across the country. These start as early as five weeks before Election Day, when mail-in ballots begin to be sent out, and end weeks after Election Day as votes are counted and re-counted. More and more, we call on our election administrators not only to oversee elections but serve as legal arbiters and IT and cyber security experts. And all this is done with shrinking budgets.  

“Long lines are the most visible manifestation of the problems with our voting system, and unfortunately, those issues go deeper,” notes a report by the Brennan Center for Justice.  Pro-voter reforms, like expanded early voting and automatic voter registration, are key to  ease the burden of a turnout surge, and we explore these in the next section on Policy & Process. But there is urgent work that must be done now to ensure a smooth election this year.

Heading into the last few months of the election season, our funding can bolster efforts already underway by organizations supporting local election administration across many localities.  Particularly appropriate for the timing of our funds include support for public communications with voters about the election and changes to the laws, training election officials in basic cybersecurity skills and practicing them, and appropriate staffing for record level turnout. 

As the U.S. State Department says, “Elections are the central institution of democratic representative governments.” This holds true for our own elections; the administration of our elections must live up to our values and the ideal that every citizen may cast a vote and have that vote counted.