Alliance for Youth Organizing

The success of our campaign has the potential impact of expanding the electorate to include the most marginalized and affected communities, which is crucial to eliminating the voter turnout disparity between communities of color and white Americans, and young and old voters. We know that even the most heroic mobilization efforts can be hamstrung by antiquated and oppressive election laws – many of which were specifically designed to exclude people of color and other underrepresented communities from the ballot box. Modern day attacks on voting rights like strict residency and voter ID requirements, voter roll purges, and more are hastily being implemented to limit young people and other marginalized communities’ access to the ballot box and their rightful electoral power as we approach crucial local and federal elections in 2020. In light of the COVID-19 health emergency, the potential impact of this work is greater still. In April in Wisconsin, our organization Leaders Igniting Transformation experienced first-hand the deplorable ways leaders on both sides of the aisle allowed the pandemic election to take place, putting primarily black and brown lives at risk. As we still have primaries on the calendar, Alliance orgs are working to turn out young voters - remotely - and ensure public leaders are expanding safe access to the ballot. We’re taking this learning into what could be a significantly more challenging November election than what we’re used to. By passing and successfully implementing pro-voter reforms across the country and defending against attacks on access to the ballot box over the next two years and beyond, we will create an inclusive and just democracy where everyone is free to flex their political power.