VoteAmerica Updates

CEO Update: The youth-vote myth that pundits still get wrong

Across 2024, there was a steady stream of commentary insisting young voters were “shifting to the right.” Even at the time, the data didn’t support that. My read of the data pointed to a collapse in participation, not an ideological realignment. Now, just weeks after the 2025 elections, we

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CEO Update: 16 million reasons not to wait

America’s youngest voters are getting left in the dust. In 2024, turnout among 18- and 19-year-olds was 41%. That’s not just 20 points lower than the 2024 national average (63.7%), it’s also a full 6 points lower than even their slightly older peers, ages 20–29.

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CEO Update: Misinformation, disinformation, and what actually happened in 2024

It’s been a minute since you’ve heard from me. Or about 7 months, if we're being precise. This isn't because I haven't had anything to say. It's because I have been heads down, thinking, trying to make sense of what

tech

Permanent absentee voting signup: Now available as a standalone tool

At VoteAmerica, we know that reducing obstacles to voting drives participation in our democracy. And one of the best ways to reduce obstacles is to send voters a ballot in the mail for every single election. For instance, in universal vote by mail (UVBM) states, where all voters are sent

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CEO Update: All in.

Today – November 5, 2024 – is Election Day. Let’s all take a deep breath and start with the essentials: Registered? Fantastic. Here’s your Election Day game plan: 1. Find your ballot drop box or polling place 2. Close this email 3. Vote! If, for any reason, you’re not

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CEO Update: Michigan rising

We’ve identified Michigan as a rising priority state, where it costs less than $2M to mobilize 400,000 students across 36 key campuses in the most competitive districts. One of the things I love most about what we do at VoteAmerica is how quickly we can pivot. The data

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CEO Update: We’re really good at what we do, let me tell you why

We’ve identified the top 10 most competitive congressional districts in the country - all located in Arizona and Nevada. To reach more than half a million students across 26 key campuses within these districts, we still need to secure $2 million by September 12 – and you can help us

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CEO Update: We need to buy billboards. ASAP.

Shocking no one, I’ve penned a pretty lengthy email below. It’s time sensitive and important, so I hope you make it to the end. Bottom line upfront: billboards can get millions of voters to the polls. They’re highly affordable, and they scale. The deadline for us to

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New feature: Sign up for permanent absentee voting with VoteAmerica

Written by Callie Buruchara, Debra Cleaver, Emily Behlmann, and Jennifer Lauv We're thrilled to announce a new feature on our absentee/mail ballot request form: walking voters through how to sign up for permanent absentee voting (PAV). Permanent absentee voting allows a voter to sign up to receive

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CEO Update: Voter registration does not increase turnout, here's what does.

This email, like all of my emails, is too long, so I'm not going to bury the lede. The US doesn't have a voter registration problem, we have a voter turnout problem. 80% of Americans are already registered to vote, but only 60% of voting aged

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CEO Update: 180 days until Election Day

NEW: The VoteAmerica Research Center VoteAmerica doesn’t just run programs, we also measure their impact on turnout, and then we share our results publicly so that other groups can use our research to design better programs. Measuring impact isn’t easy for many reasons, including that (1) we don’

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CEO Update: We are overpaying for voter registration. Let’s fix that.

NB: these posts start out as emails that go to our VIP email list. That list consists our donors, partners, and generally smart and interesting people who we know in real life. The recipients have asked me to cross-post those emails somewhere public, so they can share them with their

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VoteAmerica is suing Georgia.

I send an email to the VoteAmerica VIP list about once a month. This is a relatively small email list that reaches a few thousand people. Folks on that list have asked me to cross-post the emails on publicly so they can share with their friends. This email has been

tech Featured

The computer vision tech that helped 15,000 voters request a ballot online

VoteAmerica’s E-Sign technology Written by Ben Weissmann (VoteAmerica), and originally published on Medium. Republished here with permission. Americans don’t need to be convinced to vote. They need to be able to vote. It’s harder to vote in the United States than in any other nation with democratically-elected

tech

Building a reliable fax pipeline with Twilio and AWS to expand access to the ballot box

Written by Ben Weissmann (VoteAmerica) and originally published on the Twilio Blog. At VoteAmerica, we work to help Americans register to vote, and request vote-by-mail (also known as absentee) ballots. We use technology to remove barriers to voting and make sure that everyone can vote safely, easily, and securely. The

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CEO update: 34% of unregistered voters can cast ballots on Nov 3, 2020

Originally sent as an email on October 29, 2020 On October 20, 2020, I wrote to you to say that we needed to close a $985,000 funding gap. As of an hour ago, that gap is down to $19,000. Closing this gap in 9 days wasn’t easy.

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CEO Update: 14 Days To Go And Things Are on Fire!

About once a week I send an email to the VoteAmerica Insiders list. At the request of many of the recipients, I’ve decided to cross post these emails on publicly. Feel free to share and to donate: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/voteamerica-medium VoteAmerica is a voter turnout organization,

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CEO Update: 37% of Americans don't know when Election Day is.

About once a week I send an email to the VoteAmerica Insiders list. At the request of many of the recipients, I’ve decided to cross post these emails on online. Feel free to share and to donate. A donate link is at the bottom. Hey friends. An October 2016

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CEO Update: 35 days and 2 presidential debates left to go.

NB: Once a week or so I send an email to my personal contacts. People have asked me to cross-post on this blog so they can share. The emails are slightly edited (I remove my personal info), but otherwise unchanged. Hey friend, Well that debate was certainly energizing. I’m

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CEO update: 55 days to go and endless good news, friend

Debra Cleaver here, founder and CEO of VoteAmerica. Every so often I send an email update to everyone in my work contacts. There are about 4000 contacts, and almost all are people I know personally. Apparently these emails are fun to read. So in the interest of spreading joy, I’

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CEO Update: Mary Trump wants you to read this.

Sent as an email on September 14, 2020 Subject line: Come hang out with Mary Trump Hey friend, 50 days until the election, 15 days until the first debate (which may or may not happen), and so many fun things going on with VoteAmerica. But I’ll start with Mary

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CEO Update: This email contains nothing but good news, friends

Debra Cleaver here, founder and CEO of VoteAmerica. Every so often I send an email update to everyone in my work contacts. There are about 4000 contacts, and almost all are people I know personally. Apparently these emails are fun to read. So in the interest of spreading joy, I’

ceo-updates

CEO Update: Turning out the student vote in 2020

Debra Cleaver here, founder and CEO of VoteAmerica. Every so often I send an email update to everyone in my work contacts. There are about 4000 contacts, and almost all are people I know personally. Apparently these emails are fun to read. So in the interest of spreading joy, I’

ceo-updates

CEO Update: President Trump just admitted he’s blocking USPS funding to keep citizens from voting

President Trump continues his attempts to delegitimize the election months before it takes place. First he launched a sustained attack against voting by mail, then he suggested delaying the election. He’s even placed a campaign donor with clear conflicts of interest as Postmaster General of the United States Postal

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CEO Update: Polls close in 89 days

Debra Cleaver here, founder and CEO of VoteAmerica. Every so often I send an email update to everyone in my work contacts. There are about 4000 contacts, and almost all are people I know personally. Apparently these emails are fun to read. So in the interest of spreading joy, I’