The 'Army Of Environmental Super Voters' Is Growing, And Marching On City Hall

The Environmental Voter Project (EVP) is a nonpartisan nonprofit working to increase voter turnout among irregular voters who care about the environment. The EVP has 6,000 volunteers who contact infrequent voters in 17 states via text, phone, postcards, and door-knocking. Volunteers identify would-be voters who care about the environment but don’t actually talk about the environment. Instead, their goal is to engage voters and get them to vote regardless of whether anything related to environmental regulation is on the ballot. EVP uses peer-pressure and sends many reminders to get people to the polls.

Organizations in politically divided states like Arkansas, Idaho and Ohio are hard at work to protect direct democracy through community organizing and education. These groups have rallied to pass measures like minimum wage increases, medical marijuana and have even organized voters to fail ballot measures like Ohio’s recent Issue 1.

In an effort to fix the climate movement’s voter turnout problem, the Environmental Voter Project’s 6,000 volunteers use behavioral and data science in their outreach campaigns to encourage environmentalists to become consistent voters so the issues they care about are prioritized by politicians.

The Black Women’s PAC holds events and rallies that provide insight and knowledge for voters, candidates, and political insiders. They seek to increase the civic participation of Black women, including increasing the presence of Black women holding public office.

Down Home North Carolina is a nonpartisan get-out-the-vote group that practices “deep canvassing” in rural areas to increase voter participation and elect progressive candidates. The technique involves one-on-one conversations that aim to connect on an emotional level, as a way to find common ground, and involves active listening to people and their concerns. Canvassers go door-to-door, and conduct outreach in public areas like Walmart and food banks, (though COVID-19 moved conversations to the phone) and particularly aim to connect with people who haven’t been engaged in the political process before.

Faith leaders from communities of color mobilized voters to support candidates and policies that empower Black and Brown people. Events such as “Souls to the Polls” and the coalition-run Black Church 75 initiative, registered new voters and urged them to the polls around issues such as police brutality and racial injustices. Support from Black church members is credited with helping elect Democratic candidates, including Democratic senators in Georgia, as well as passing ballot initiatives, such as Measure J in Los Angeles that would decrease police funding in favor of mental health and housing resources.

Civic engagement organizers have decreased the gap between Republicans and Democrats in Georgia over the past several elections by increasing voter participation and leveraging the shifting state demographics. Groups conduct outreach to previously disenfranchised voters, recruit new voters, and seek to empower civic participation among Black and Asian American communities in particular, which helped Joseph Biden win the state in 2020. Organizers prioritize in-language organizing from trusted sources and connecting with communities on issues that are relevant and important to them.

A group called Operation Libero in Switzerland has successfully rallied against rising right-wing populist groups by using different approaches like small-scale crowdfunding, eye-catching tongue-in-cheek campaigns, and viral social media videos. During one campaign, young Operation Libero volunteers handed out branded condoms to nightclubbers.

Voter registration groups, such as Next Gen and the Florida Federation of Young Republicans, were the second most common method of getting new voters to register in Florida. To grab young voters, these organizations showed up in classrooms and club meetings and focused on issues that youth care about, including the cost of college and gun violence.

Michigan’s Genessee County jail employs two formerly incarcerated organizers who help people detained there register to vote, cast their ballots, and access resources about pivotal election measures. They also coordinate forums with political candidates for offices ranging from the Michigan Supreme Court to the Flint City Council.