“Unfortunately, the current threat to democracy cannot be overstated,” says Alex Meadow. “Anytime you have 19 states—or even one state—passing laws to make it harder to vote; make it less likely that eligible votes will be counted; and make it more likely that valid election results can be overturned, then every aspect of the democratic process faces a clear and present danger. The threat will be even worse if voters become complacent to these changes. Once we tolerate these changes and fail to push back on them, they will become endemic to the electoral system and will become much harder to overturn. However, there are indeed glimmers of hope! There are 24 states that passed laws in 2021 making it easier to vote through voting reforms like automatic voter registration and universal vote-by-mail. By electing pro-democracy representatives, people still do truly have the power when it comes to safeguarding our democracy.”
First-of-its-kind bilingual voter resource tool
During America’s 2020 election cycle, Vote.org identified its biggest challenge as reaching individuals with trusted information. In particular this meant reaching young people and people of color who were new or historically excluded from electoral processes. The challenge was greatly exacerbated by COVID-19 when life stresses were magnified - and also at a time when there was an unprecedented rise in mis-and-disinformation, particularly about the election, alongside an increased need for vote by mail and the changing environment across states.
Working with WhatsApp and Turn.io, in 2020 Vote.org launched a first-of-its-kind bilingual voter resource tool focused on engaging voters on the WhatsApp platform. As a growing part of the American electorate, Vote.org needed to find new and innovative ways to serve Spanish-speaking voters. The organization knew that WhatsApp was a great way to do this. Based on research, the organization estimated that around half of the US Hispanic/Latino population was using WhatsApp at least monthly in 2020. The platform’s US Hispanic/Latino user base of 32 million was growing because of its data cost savings, messaging encryption capabilities and popularity in Latin American countries.
Building a chat service enabled Vote.org to bring its trusted and nonpartisan voter information and resources to meet Hispanic/Latino users where they were. In 2020, through the service, over 148,000 messages were sent to over 31,000 unique users. Vote.org worked closely with the WhatsApp and Turn teams over the course of several months to map out and build the exact flow and user experience of interacting with Vote.org information, tools, and resources on the platform, including translating the entire chat platform experience into Spanish.
