Today is Election Day

Today – November 5, 2024 – is Election Day.  Millions of ballots have already been cast, and millions more will be cast today. We won't probably won't know who won tonight, and that's okay. First we cast the votes, then election officials count then ballots, and then we declare a winner. So please keep calm and let election officials count the votes. 

And while we do that, I figured I would tell you a bit about how we deployed the money you invested in VoteAmerica this cycle.

VoteAmerica hit a new record: $11.5M invested in research-driven, data-backed strategies to boost voter turnout. 

If you’re wondering how our $11.5M cuts through the noise in a multi-billion dollar ad market, here's a good place to start: we didn’t spend a single cent on TV ads.

Instead we put our dollars where they’d make the biggest impact: high-visibility billboards, college media, and even a flyover (yes, an airplane). VoteAmerica is goal-oriented and tactic-agnostic, which means test, adopt, and abandon tactics based on how effective they are. Here is what’s effective: straightforward, informative messaging that reaches millions of voters in the most competitive elections across the country through channels they can’t ignore.

We invested in urban communities and voters

We ran 811 billboards from El Paso to Flint to Philadelphia with one clear, powerful message: There will be record high voter turnout this year. Before a single billboard went up, we tested this message against a dozen others to determine that it boosted voting likelihood more than any other, hands down. Across 21 markets in 10 states, we added state-specific information on early voting and always, always the date of Election Day. You’d be surprised— shocked, even— how often that critical detail gets left out, despite the fact that the single best predictor of whether or not you vote is whether you know the date of the election.

We invested in college students

As long as our college media program drives a 2-8 point turnout boost, it will remain a cornerstone of our voter mobilization efforts. This year, we went big: $2M invested across campuses nationwide— from Arizona State and UNLV to East Carolina and Penn State— reaching nearly 1.5 million students. In all 7 states we targeted, student voters alone could surpass the 2020 presidential margin of victory.

We saturated 127 campuses with high-impact physical and digital ads across college-owned channels: full-page ads on the back page of campus newspapers, digital takeovers of campus websites, on-campus transit ads, screens, buses, billboards, prime spots in college emails, and posters blanketing campus. For all the reasons I’ve written in every email this cycle, there is simply no other mobilization strategy that is as nimble, as cost-effective, or as impactful.

Heck, we even rented a plane with a last-minute investment.

On Saturday, November 2nd, we flew a banner above Michigan State’s packed football stadium, projecting our message to a crowd of 75,000. Go blue.

We continued to invest in our voter mobilization platform, and we licensed our software to other organizations at no cost.

Civic technology is often at the heart of our programs. We don't think that technology solves problems, but it does scale solutions. Americans don't vote because voting in the United States is harder than in any other nation with democratically elected leadership, and that is by design. No other country has 50 different sets of rules for participating in the same election. Heck, no other country even requires citizens to register to vote: in every other nation, the government registers citizens to vote, and automatically updates their registration if they move or change their names.

Voting is confusing in the US, and technology can make it easier. We have eight different software products at this point, covering everything from registering to vote, to finding your election day polling place, and almost everything in between. This year we added support for Permanent Absentee Voting (available in 9 states), and we upgraded our customer portal significantly.

Dozens of organizations used our software, and collectively we reached millions and millions of voters. If you'd like to use our software as part of your efforts, you can sign up for free at VoteAmericaPlus.org. And if you'd like to poke around at it a bit (assuming you've already voted!) you can visit our Demo Site at demo.voteamerica.org.

All of our work is possible because of your support

All of this was possible thanks to each of you, who recognize the value in data-driven tactics that are under-invested, scalable, and have shown to produce significant increases in turnout.

Your contributions fueled our biggest, boldest push yet, mobilizing millions of voters across the most competitive states and congressional districts in the country.

So now… We wait. Order takeout. Do a puzzle. Take a nap. 

Either way, know this: VoteAmerica went all in. We spent every dollar laser focused on making voting easier, increasing turnout, and strengthening our democracy. And we’re scaling our impact every cycle. No matter the outcome tonight, we’re in it for the long haul— backed by research, real-world results, and all of you.