Voter engagement in the 2020 presidential election: what we can learn from the voter engagement initiatives in California-based and national nonpartisan organizations to increase voter participation

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Voter Engagement in the 2020 Presidential Election:
What We Can Learn from the Voter Engagement Initiatives in California-Based and National
Nonpartisan Organizations to Increase Voter Participation.

by

Kristy Plaza

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL FOR COMMUNICATION AND
JOURNALISM
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS)

December 2020

Copyright 2020 Kristy Plaza

ii
Acknowledgements
This thesis wouldn’t have been possible without the support, feedback, and
encouragement of my thesis committee. First, I would like to thank my thesis committee chair,
Jennifer Floto, for her support and guidance. She was the integral driving force behind my thesis,
and I can’t thank her enough for making this possible. From video calls to emails, she was with
me every step of the way with kind words of encouragement and an unshakeable confidence in
my abilities that became sources of strength for me. Next, I would like to thank my thesis
committee member, Matthew K. Leveque, for his wonderful feedback and support. His keen
insights into California and national politics added key context to my thesis. Next, I would like to
thank my thesis committee member, Su Jung Kim, for her thoughtful feedback and support. Her
critical feedback strengthened my thesis and brought it to a successful and effective conclusion.
Next, I would like to thank my loved ones for all their support and encouragement throughout
this process. In particular, I’d like to thank my sister, Samantha Plaza, for being a pillar of
emotional support for me. I couldn’t have completed this thesis without their fervent support.
Finally, I’d like to thank all the individuals and organizations doing the important work of
registering people to vote and encouraging voter participation. Their work inspires me and is
instrumental for the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ii
List of Figures iv
Introduction 1
History of Voting Rights 6
Timeline of the Voting Rights Act 7
Voter Suppression 9
Current State of Voting 11
Youth Vote 13
Develop Solutions Using California-based and National Nonpartisan Organizations 16
Rock the Vote 16
Democracy Works 20
When We All Vote 21
Higher education institutions 25
University of Southern California 26
University of California San Diego 32
Local and State Government Office 38
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk 38
Alex Padilla/California Secretary of State 41
Role of Advocacy in the Public Relations Profession 43
Recommendations and Goals for Voter Engagement Initiatives 46
Recommendations 46
Voting Goals/Wish List 51
Works Cited 54
Appendices 63
Appendix A: USC Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) 63
Appendix B: USC 2020 Campus Action Plan 65

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Photo of TurboVote Tool on Mobile Platform 25

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Introduction
Imagine: It’s Election Day for the United States general election. You had the
opportunity to cast you ballot for two weeks now, but you simply didn’t have the time. But, that’s
no problem! Luckily, Election Day is a national holiday, so there’s nothing keeping you from
voting. In fact, there are absolutely no barriers or challenges to voting anywhere in the United
States. You walk to your polling location — it’s easy, seeing as it’s mandated that there be a vote
center within five miles of all citizens’ home residences— and wait in line for about 15 minutes
to cast your ballot using one of the revolutionary yet secure electronic voting machines. In less
than five minutes, you have successfully cast your ballot for the general election. You happily
accept your “I voted” sticker because you are proud to have completed your civic responsibility.
You are now free to continue your day, confident in the fact that the election results will be
announced in a few short hours with no possibility of corruption or voter fraud. It’s all so easy
and convenient.
Unfortunately, that’s not what Election Day actually looks like in America today. In fact,
it’s never looked like this. Election Day and the whole voting experience is rife with problems
and ridiculous technical and/or logistical issues, leaving voters flabbergasted and absolutely
frustrated with the whole experience. Allow me to share some “highlights” of what voters can
expect on Election Day:
• Election Day is not a national holiday. Voters are forced to choose between their civic
responsibility and their myriad personal and professional responsibilities. Citizens have
to choose between getting to work on time and voting. Parents have to choose between
childcare and voting. Students have to choose between their classes and/or internships
and voting. At times, people must choose between their health and voting. Then there are

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citizens, such as retirees and people with flexible schedules, who aren’t forced, or don’t
feel forced, to choose. Regardless, each individual has to make the choice to prioritize
their vote over the necessary functions of daily life. However, it’s an illusion that it’s a
simple decision. The daily life of an average American citizen isn’t compatible with the
voting process and those in authority who can make it a systemic part of daily life choose
to not do so.
• Depending on which state you vote in, there are a slew of unethical methods being
employed to suppress voters, including but not limited to: voter ID laws, voter
registration restrictions, and cuts to early voting.
• On Election Day, far too many voters can expect to wait in line for hours before even
entering the physical polling location. To cast your ballot, you have to set aside hours of
your time.
• Many states don’t give citizens the option to vote early. If you live in a state that does
offer early voting, you have more time to cast your ballot, therefore it is less of a barrier.
However, most states don’t offer this, so most voters can expect to wait in line on
Election Day to cast their ballot.
• For states that are transitioning to electronic voting machines, despite various testing
before Election Day, there seems to be countless technical issues that arise, resulting in
some ballots not being cast successfully.
• Absentee ballots are an option for voters who are unable to physically attend a polling
location. These are ballots completed and mailed in, or dropped off at a ballot box, in
advance of Election Day. However, in order to receive an absentee ballot, voters have to
apply beforehand. This process is not well known to the average voter, therefore most

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simply wait until Election Day to cast their ballot. Furthermore, after your absentee ballot
has been received by your county elections official, your signature on the return envelope
is compared to the signature on your voter registration card to ensure they match (Vote
By Mail). If they don’t match, your ballot is considered invalid and your vote is at risk of
not being counted. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Voting
Outside the Polling Place report, “some states have a process for voters to ‘cure’ these
mistakes in time for the ballot to be counted. These states notify voters that there was a
problem and then provide the voters with a process and time frame to verify that the
ballot is indeed theirs. In states that do not have such a process, ballots with missing or
mismatched signatures on the envelope are not counted.” Only eighteen states require
that voters be notified when there is a signature discrepancy (VOPP: Table 15: States
That Permit Voters to Correct Signature Discrepancies). Since a majority of states don’t
have a correction process in place, every election there are hundreds of thousands of
invalid absentee ballots tossed out — already there are reports of this happening as voters
mail in their absentee ballots for the November election (Herb et al.).
To add insult to injury, there are additional problems that have arisen for the 2020
presidential election. From a global pandemic to a large-scale civil rights movement, 2020 has
been filled with political activity and calls-to-action to reform the American form of government
and our very political system. This nation is fractured, and citizens are looking to our leaders for
solutions. Our leader is Donald Trump. He and his administration are not ethically, morally, or
legally guiding this nation through its various crises. In fact, they are a significant part of the
problem, enacting policies that risk the lives and health of millions of Americans.

4
With no federally mandated or unified approach to the pandemic, every state has enacted
its own approach managing the coronavirus. Some states, like California, are being responsible
by shutting down and mandating mail-in voting so that citizens won’t risk their health and the
safety of others by going to the polls. Other states, like Arkansas and Iowa, did not issue stay-at-
home orders. In states that did issue these orders but reopened in time for their primary elections,
like Michigan and Georgia, millions of voters were forced to physically attend their polling
location to cast their ballot. This unnecessarily risked the health and safety of millions of
citizens. From a pandemic and voting perspective, Trump and his administration have failed the
American people.
Rather than solving this problem, Trump has turned to vehemently opposing mail-in
voting, “which he complains will benefit Democrats and claims — without evidence — is
riddled with fraud” (Broadwater et al.). His baseless accusation has led him to call for cutbacks
and changes at the Postal Service. These proposed changes could disenfranchise millions of
voters, calling into question how the Postal Service will handle millions of ballots. Elected
officials across the nation are fighting legislation that will block changes at the Postal Service,
effectively disenfranchising millions of voters. This problem is unethical and questions the
integrity of the November election, therefore a solution must be found soon. When we take all of
these issues – political machinations, voters’ daily responsibilities outweighing their abilities to
actually “get out and vote,” technical issues, state variations, voter apathy – it seems as if
Election Day is doomed to failure.
But there is one unifying force tying everything together: the national call reminding
every citizen that they have the right to vote.

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Challenge: As we get closer to the general election, there is a growing sense of frustration and
anger towards everything associated with the presidential election and current political climate.
There are significant barriers to voting and many citizens ask themselves, “Why should I vote?”
This is a societal problem that must be addressed because it should be the norm for our nation to
have an 100% voter turnout for every election — barring those who choose to abstain from
voting as a form of protest — yet that has never happened. In fact, in an effort to rectify this
problem, there are significant efforts made to encourage voter participation during every
election. These efforts are led by government agencies and various organizations who understand
the significance of voting and seek to motivate citizens to vote.
Your vote is your voice. Within our democratic process, the ballot is the one agent every
citizen has to drive critical social and political progress for our nation. By voting, we influence
the direction of our country. This is how we elect our leaders, ensure our representatives are
fighting to protect our rights, and how we directly communicate with our local, state, and federal
government to fight for the issues that impact our lives and communities. In theory, every United
States citizen is guaranteed the right to vote; in practice, there are numerous methods for
suppressing one’s vote, if not outright taking it away. Our nation has a history of
disenfranchising millions of Americans. Within our current voting process, many of the
problems that exist are due to the fact that every state has its own voting rules and there’s little
federal protection or oversight for this critical right. The motivation for this investigation was to
examine the historical and political problems within the voting process and highlight California’s
voter engagement efforts and voting process as a model for voting in every state.
This investigation will explore the very dire issue of voter engagement by reviewing the
history of voting and analyzing the strategies and tactics used by California-based and national

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nonpartisan organizations as a model for how to mobilize voters. The first section of this
investigation will provide a brief history of voting rights and examine the current state of voting,
including voter suppression methods and the importance of the youth vote. The second section
will analyze the modern communication strategies and tactics nonpartisan nonprofit
organizations, higher education institutions, and local and state government agencies are using to
encourage voter engagement. The third section analyzes the role of advocacy within the public
relations profession. The fourth section lists recommendations that organizations considering
launching voter engagement initiatives should incorporate into their strategy. The final section
lists my personal goals and hopes for the upcoming election and future elections.
History of Voting Rights
Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy. As citizens of this country, it is our right to
vote in elections for public officials, as established by Article I, Section 2 of the United States
Constitution in 1787 (Smith and Tokaji) and bolstered by state law. Although it’s an inalienable
right for Americans to vote, the interpretation of this right hasn’t always been clear-cut. When
our nation began, the right to vote was only for white, landowning males; that certainly was not
every citizen. This interpretation disenfranchised thousands of Americans, denying them their
right to vote on account of race, gender, and various other “minority” statuses. Many states
instituted rules and regulations concerning voting, such as the poll tax, to further disenfranchise
citizens. As a result, many suffrage movements occurred with these citizens demanding their
right to vote. However, this was not an easy road. Ridiculously, citizens had to “prove” to those
in power that they deserved their right to vote, as oxymoronic as that sounds. Legislation and
constitutional amendments had to be introduced to strike down unjust voting laws that kept
citizens from their right to vote.

7
One such effort was the women’s suffrage movement, which eventually led to the 19th
Amendment. Women’s suffrage began with the Seneca Falls Convention, a two-day event to
“discuss the social, civil and religious condition and rights of women” in New York in 1848 and
ended with the adoption of the 19th Amendment into the U.S. Constitution on August 26, 1920
(Schuessler & Today in History - July 19). In 2020 we celebrated the 100-year anniversary of
women being granted their right to vote. However, that’s not necessarily true because not all
women received the right to vote that year. Millions of women of color were unable to cast their
ballots because there were still significant voting barriers for people of color. Black women in
the South, like Black men, faced voting barriers like poll taxes, literacy tests, and other racial
barriers, while Native Americans and Asian immigrants were not allowed citizenship, therefore
they couldn’t vote (Schuessler). Although women were granted the right to vote in 1920, these
immoral methods and this amendment excluded and disenfranchised millions of Americans from
voting on the basis of race and citizenship. More significant reforms were needed to eliminate
this barrier.
So, the road to equal voting rights has been long and complex, with many factions vying
for the right and other factions attempting to block those efforts. To better understand the long
road, I’ve chosen to first focus on the Voting Rights Act. For the purpose of this investigation, I
have provided the following the timeline of the Voting Rights Act, “a historic civil rights law
that is meant to ensure that the right to vote is not denied on account of race or color” (Voting
Rights Act: Major Dates in History).
Timeline of the Voting Rights Act
● 1867: The Civil Rights Act of 1866 grants citizenship but not the right to vote for all
native-born Americans.

8
● 1869: Congress passes the Fifteenth Amendment giving Black men the right to vote.
● 1896: Louisiana passes "grandfather clauses" to keep former slaves and their descendants
from voting. As a result, registered Black voters dropped from 44.8% in 1896 to 4.0%
four years later. Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama and Virginia follow Louisiana's
lead by enacting their own grandfather clauses.
● 1940: Only 3% of eligible African Americans in the South are registered to vote. Jim
Crow laws like literacy tests and poll taxes were meant to keep African Americans from
voting.
● 1964: Poll taxes are outlawed with the adoption of the 24th Amendment.
● 1965: More than 500 non-violent civil rights marchers are attacked by law enforcement
officers while attempting to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to demand
African American voting rights.
● 1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act into law, permanently
outlawing voting barriers, such as literacy laws, to political participation by racial and
ethnic minorities, prohibiting any election practice that denies the right to vote on account
of race, and requiring jurisdictions with a history of discrimination in voting to get
federal approval for changes in their election laws before they can take effect.
● 1965: By the end of the year, 250,000 new Black voters are registered, one third of them
by federal examiners.
● 1970: President Richard Nixon signs an extension of the Voting Rights Act.
● 1975: President Gerald Ford signs an extension of the Voting Rights Act.
● 1982: President Ronald Reagan signs a 25-year extension of the Voting Rights Act.
● 2006: Congress extends Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act for an additional 25 years.

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● 2010: Starting in 2010 and since this year, the Department of Justice has reviewed 18
Section 5 objections to voting laws in Texas, South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina,
Mississippi and Louisiana.
● 2013: The Supreme Court struck down a key part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act,
allowing nine states to alter election laws without first getting approval from the federal
government.
● 2020: After the unfortunate passing of civil rights activist and Representative John Lewis
(D-GA), the House of Representatives passed the proposal to rename the voting rights
bill after John Lewis. The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will restore a
key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act: reinstating federal agencies’ oversight
power of certain state and local jurisdictions. This restoration would significantly
eliminate cases of voter suppression. As of today, this bill is still awaiting approval by the
Senate (Leahy).
Since 2010, a record number of voting restrictions have been introduced in state
legislatures nationwide, including photo ID requirements, cuts to early voting, and restrictions to
voter registration (A History of the Voting Rights Act). These disturbing measures led to what is
now known as voter suppression.
Voter Suppression
Voter suppression refers to the methods and strategies used to keep citizens from voting.
Across the United States since 2010, elected officials have enacted measures to make it harder
for every citizen to vote. The goal with these efforts is to manipulate the outcomes of elections in
ways that benefit the values of those in power. These efforts target certain communities, such as
people of color, students, the elderly, and people with disabilities, to exclude their votes from

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any given election (Block the Vote: Voter Suppression in 2020). These methods, outlined below,
have been sourced from the American Civil Liberties Union website.
● Voter ID Laws: These strict ID laws state that voters must present one of a limited set of
forms of government-issued photo ID in order to cast a regular ballot with no exceptions.
● Voter Registration Restrictions: Certain states restrict the terms and requirements of
registration, including requiring documents to prove citizenship or identification,
penalties for voter registration drives, or limiting the window of time in which voters can
register.
● Voter Purges: Although purging voter rolls to filter out people who may have moved,
died, or become ineligible to vote for other reasons is a part of election administration,
certain states use this process to suppress voters. This method can purge voters based on
illegitimate reasons or inaccurate data, and often without adequate notice to the voters.
● Felony Disenfranchisement: A felony conviction can lead to the loss of the right to vote,
but every state is different since there’s no national legislation. Due to racial
discrimination in the criminal justice system, felony disenfranchisement laws
disproportionately affect Black people, effectively suppressing their right to vote.
● Gerrymandering: In 1810, Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry’s Democratic-
Republican party redrew the map of the state’s Senate districts in a very strange manner
in an effort to weaken the opposing Federalist Party (Prokop). This tactic is used in the
same way today to cause voter suppression. States redraw district lines based on
population data gathered in the census so that legislators can use these lines to allocate
representation in Congress and state legislatures. Gerrymandering refers to the unethical,

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widespread, and undemocratic practice of using redistricting as a political tool to
suppress voters.
These unjust voter suppression methods continue to disenfranchise millions of voters in
America in 2020 but all hope is not lost. Many organizations throughout the nation are actively
working to eliminate these barriers. Citizens from the states with the most egregious methods of
voter suppression are fighting back and voting for elected officials who represent their values
and needs. Many states are enacting measures to encourage, rather than suppress, voting such as
automatic, online, and same-day voter registration and early voting (Block the Vote: Voter
Suppression in 2020).
Current State of Voting
One state that has done a particularly good job of (mostly) eliminating voter suppression
is California. For one thing, it does not feature voter ID laws; in fact, almost every California
resident can go to her/his polling place and vote with no ID. Regarding felony
disenfranchisement, people in prison and on parole can’t vote, but all other people with criminal
convictions, including people on probation, can vote (Block the Vote: Voter Suppression in
2020). Citizens can vote in person weeks before the election and have transitioned to voting
centers for all citizens, instead of regional polling places. Regarding voter registration, California
has gone from paper to online to automatic to same-day registration. California allows mail-in
votes to be tallied if they are postmarked by election day or arrive by the following Friday; the
most recent innovation to be used for the November election is that now officials will accept
ballots that arrive 17 days after the election (Wildermuth). Although California’s voting system
has gone far to eliminate voter suppression, there is always room for improvement.

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The coronavirus pandemic has forced California to rethink its voting system for the
November general election. Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law ordering mail-in ballots to be
sent to every registered, active voter in the state ahead of the November election (Kristoffersen).
This legislation was passed with the public’s health in mind, in an effort to ensure that voters
don’t have to go in-person to a polling place while the coronavirus is still spreading. One of the
challenges of this new voting system is concerns regarding slow ballot counting. Historically,
California’s election officials have spent weeks after the polls closely checking signatures and
processing registration applications (a consequence of same-day voter registration). Although it
might take a while for ballots to be tallied, it’s more important for the job to get done right,
rather than quickly. To mitigate this issue, a new state law allows county registrar offices to
begin processing ballots as soon as they arrive, but they can’t start counting the ballots until the
polls close (Christopher). Despite the pandemic, there are still in-person voting options for
California counties.
1. Hold in-person voting, like we did for the March primary. For most counties, that’s
roughly one polling place per 1,500 voters.
2. Decrease the number of in-person voting locations to one per 10,000 voters but keep
them open for four days leading up to Election Day to allow spaced-out early voting.
Additionally, these counties would need a certain number of ballot drop boxes to be
opened by early October.
Regardless of which option counties choose for their in-person voting, mail-in voting will
be available for all registered and active voters in California. The state is doing everything it can
to ensure all votes are counted for this significant election. Certain voting groups will be
instrumental for this election, particularly the youth vote.

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Youth Vote
In recent years, there have been significant studies about the importance of the youth
vote, especially since the 2016 presidential election. there have been numerous studies and news
stories that stated the youth vote was more important than ever. The election of Donald Trump
has led to a national state of crises. To name a few, Trump has been impeached by the House of
Representatives but acquitted by the Senate, there’s proof of Russian interference in the 2016
presidential election that resulted in Trump’s favor, hundreds of thousands of coronavirus cases,
one of the highest unemployment rates in U.S. history, and various human rights violations, such
as rampant police brutality with no accountability and migrant children and families locked in
unsafe and unsanitary conditions in detainment centers at the border.
On July 5, 1971, the 26th Amendment was adopted into the Constitution, which lowered
the voting age to 18; prior to that, the voting age was 21 in a majority of states (Voting Age
Lowered). According to History, this historic amendment added 11 million potential voters and
“half of these young voters cast their ballot in the 1972 presidential election.” In more recent
elections, young voters, ages 18-29, have a lower voter turnout than all other age groups but
many hope this contentious election will galvanize young voters, motivating them to cast their
ballots in higher numbers than ever before. According to a recent study at Tufts University's
Tisch College of Civic Life, young voters, between the ages of 18-29, played a significant role in
the 2018 midterms and are predicted to shape the 2020 election (Glickman and Solomont). The
same study reported that the youth vote increased in all 42 states (those for which youth voting
data is available) in 2018. However, those numbers aren’t quite where many voting advocates
would like them to be. Based on the available data for the study, which represents 94% of the
national youth population, researchers estimated that 28.2% of young people voted in 2018,

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which is more than double the youth turnout in 2014 (Glickman and Solomont). For college
students, one key subset of the youth vote, the national voter turnout in 2018 was at 40.3%.
Although both of these figures show promising improvements for national young voter turnout,
the numbers are still relatively low. That means millions of young voters aren’t casting their
ballots, thus ensuring that their elected officials and new state measures won’t represent their
interests and needs. Furthermore, it highlights a huge gap in voter engagement and turnout that
such a large voting population is excluded from contributing to election outcomes at all levels.
Research shows that voting is habit-forming and will likely lead to young citizens voting often
and throughout their lives, therefore it’s imperative that voter engagement initiatives reach voters
when they are young (Glickman and Solomont).
Youth voter participation can significantly impact the 2020 general election. Two key
findings from the Harvard Institute of Politics Fall 2019 Youth Poll provide some insight into
young voters attitudes regarding the general elections: 1) youth, especially those registered as
Democrats, are more engaged with the election process than at the same point in the 2016
contests and 2) more than two-thirds of polled youth are likely to vote against Donald Trump in
the general election (Harvard Youth Poll - 38th Edition - Fall 2019). Harvard’s Spring 2020
Youth Poll, conducted during the pandemic on April 23, 2020, revealed further significant
findings regarding young voters: 1) Joe Biden leads Donald Trump among all young Americans,
2) the majority of young Americans prefer reform over the replacement of current institutions,
and 3) 61% of young Americans believe the outcome of the general election will make a
difference in their lives and President Trump is a highly motivating factor for young voters
(Harvard Youth Poll - 39th Edition - Spring 2020). These key findings provide a snapshot of the
concerns and interests of young voters. Voter engagement initiatives, particularly around turnout

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and messaging, must address young voters’ concerns if they are to effectively galvanize this
voting group. Despite the data proving the importance of the youth vote, there is a prominent
myth that needs to be dispelled to motivate young voters to get out and vote: the widely held
belief that your vote doesn’t matter.
It is well documented that many young people do, indeed, feel their vote doesn’t matter.
There are various reasons for this belief, from the challenges of the electoral college to the
baffling fact that President Trump was elected despite having lost the popular vote, but one
universal perspective is the frustration that we don’t see more change and progress in our nation.
Many have wondered: if every vote truly did matter, why are the problems still present? If my
vote matters, why did who I voted for not get elected or what measures I voted for not pass?
These are valid questions every young voter is asking themselves. I’d posit every voter has asked
themselves these questions at one point. I myself have wondered the same thing, especially on
election night in 2016 when I realized Trump was voted into office. Although it’s difficult to
answer these questions, I’ll share what I’ve told myself: if my vote really didn’t matter, then why
do we hear from all sides of the political aisle that it’s important to vote? Why are some people
in power trying so hard to suppress people’s right to vote with unjust voter suppression methods?
Your vote matters. Your vote allows you to engage in the democratic process of our nation.
As a politically progressive citizen, it’s a bitter pill to swallow but the fact remains that
change takes time and work. I’d love to write in this investigation that your vote leads to
immediate progress. But that’s a lie. As explained in the beginning of this investigation, the
history of voting rights has taught us that change takes time, but voting is the first step. You start
by voting for a certain candidate or measure. The next step is to transition the elected candidate
into office and implement the new measure into the local, state, and/or federal government. This

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process is rife with challenges and frustrations, but it can lead to change. The simple fact that it
can bring about progress proves that voting matters. Although we have progressed as a nation,
the challenges of voter engagement are still a modern-day issue that requires solutions. As case
studies, I will examine California-based organizations to learn how they mobilize voters.
Develop Solutions Using California-based and National Nonpartisan Organizations
The purpose of this investigation is to examine how various California-based and national
nonpartisan organizations mobilize voters and analyze their communication strategies and tactics
to encourage voter engagement. I will begin by examining nonprofit organizations whose
mission is voter engagement: Rock the Vote, Democracy Works and When We All Vote.
Rock the Vote: Founded in Los Angeles, Rock the Vote is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization
“dedicated to building the political power of young people,” largely through voter engagement
initiatives (Rock the Vote About Us page). I interviewed Melissa Wyatt, the Director of Civic
Technology and Policy at Rock the Vote, to gain an in-depth look into the strategies they utilize
and challenges they face in their efforts to mobilize young voters. Following are excerpts from
that interview:
Can you tell me more about the strategies and digital tools you use to mobilize and engage with
voters?
Wyatt: At Rock the Vote, we acknowledge the way that our world works. The way that young
people interact and engage has changed over time, so social media has become a huge part of our
strategy of Rock the Vote. We use Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook to disseminate
voting information and to try and communicate the importance of voting and the power that you
get back by being civically engaged and participating in elections in your community. A big part
of our online strategy at Rock the Vote is thinking about the voters that we’re serving and about

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the questions they might have about voting. When we’re thinking about how we engage with
voters on social media, we try to meet young people where they're at. That means going to the
platforms that they're already engaging with, forming strategic partnerships with apps, [using]
digital tools, and other things that voters are already using so that we can get them voting
information in places that they might not be expecting it. It helps us reach a broader audience and
[ensures] that we are actually serving the diverse generation of young people that exist today. In
our own social media strategy on Rock the Vote accounts and through our email [campaigns]
and our text messaging platform, we make sure to always address both the “how” and the “why”
of voting. Our message is not complete until we have provided the logistics of how you
participate in voting in our elections, [sharing] information alongside it about why voting is so
important, and [outlining] the change that you can create in your community through
participating in elections.
Why is it important to be reaching out to young voters?
Wyatt: We believe that young voters are important for so many reasons and we are really
invested in reaching out to the rising generation for a couple of reasons. First of all, young voters
are new voters; a lot of times young people don't receive the civic education that is necessary to
know the significance of our elections and voting to understand why they should be
participating. I feel like we all have had this feeling before where we step into the voting booth
and don't understand who we’re voting for or why it really matters what they do. Part of our core
mission at Rock the Vote is we think young people are the future; that's just the fact of the matter
and it's really important that we are engaging them in our elections because what our elected
officials do, what ballot measures and others referendums on our ballots can achieve, it really
will affect the future of this country. It's really important for the people who actually will be

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affected by the policies that are being implemented today to actually have a say, get a chance to
talk about the issues that matter to them, and elect representatives who will advocate for them on
the issues they care about. Young people deserve to have a say in it, deserve to see changes that
will actually affect their everyday lives, and see how it can be things that they want.
What are some of the challenges of reaching out to the youth and actually mobilizing them?
Wyatt: Something that we have realized at Rock the Vote, and I think anyone who works with
young people will know, is that young people are really passionate and, especially nowadays, are
aware of things that are going on in the world. They have a complex and nuanced understanding
of different policy areas; they want to take action on climate change, voting rights, police
brutality, and voting is often the way to make a change in our communities. Whether it’s voting
for your district attorney, electing our president, electing people in our school board who are
going to make a difference in the everyday lives of the youth population, voting really is the key
to unlocking and creating change in the issue areas that young people already care about. One of
the challenges that we have encountered in our work is [not knowing how to] draw those
connections. Young people are already passionate, informed, know exactly what is going on in
our country, in their communities, and in the world. It’s about creating that connection and
providing them resources and information to eliminate any barriers to the voting process to make
sure that a young person isn't blocked from participating in an election simply because they
missed a registration deadline that they didn't even know existed. That's a lot of what our work at
Rock the Vote is about, just thinking about what barriers do exist to the voting process and how
can we tear them down and inform young people so that they can participate.
What are the key lessons that people need to know about voter engagement?

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Wyatt: When we’re crafting digital and social media content, there are a few things that we
think about before we draft any specific posts or create any specific websites or partnerships. The
first thing that we think about are which voters we’re going to be serving with this content,
making sure that we understand the different barriers that they’ll face in the voting process and
ensuring that the content we're planning out will actually address and answer questions [to] make
sure that those barriers are eliminated from the voters that we’re serving, and that we’re talking
about voting in a way that is accessible and empowering to them. When we’re plotting out
specific social media posts or other digital media activations, we always make sure that our posts
have a clear call-to-action at the end of them. You don't want to have a post that does a really
great job of talking about why somebody should vote but then doesn't give them any information
on how to actually participate, so making sure that there's actually an action that someone can
take is really important. Additionally, we make sure to use fun graphics and make sure that our
tone is approachable. A lot of times voting information can be dense and hard to understand, so
we work to break it down in a way that makes sense and is empowering and fun to engage with.
We make sure that all of our messages are deadline oriented. People respond well to upcoming
voter registration deadlines, deadlines to request an absentee ballot, polling place hours, and
other information, so that's always built into our content as well. When we’re thinking about
where to post our content, we are always thinking about how we can share content in a way that
increases impact but doesn't necessarily require more capacity. One of the ways that we approach
sharing our content is through establishing partnerships and working with coalitions; I strongly
encourage that for any voting content that you're creating. We try to plug into existing current
events and existing trends that are also happening online. A lot of times you want to talk about a
voter registration deadline but then something pops up in the news cycle that takes everyone's

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attention away from that. Instead of operating on your own and only talking about voting in the
way that you were already planning on, being responsive and actually engaging with what's
going on and using that as a means to talk about voting is also really effective.
Democracy Works: Based in Brooklyn, Democracy Works is a nonpartisan, nonprofit
organization dedicated to changing the status quo with a vision to “make voting a simple,
seamless experience for all Americans so that no one misses an election” (About Democracy
Works). Technology is integral to its vision. In September 2010, the organization launched
TurboVote, an online tool that makes voting easy (Tools for Voters). The three key features of
TurboVote are: 1) makes it easy to register to vote and request absentee ballots, 2) keeps track of
voter registration, absentee, and vote-by-mail rules for all 50 states, and 3) sends you text and
email reminders about registration deadlines, upcoming elections, and where to vote (Tools for
Voters). According to the website, more than 6 million voters have signed up for TurboVote
since 2012, primarily “through partnerships with more than 300 institutions of higher education
and 50 nonprofits and organizations, including Starbucks, Univision, Facebook, and Google;”
many of their partner organizations are located in California (Tools for Voters).

Figure 1: TurboVote Tool on Mobile Platform (Source: Democracy Works website)

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Additionally, TurboVote prioritizes privacy and security measures for users. TurboVote
protects your data, with its sole purpose being to provide users with voting information and
services. They encrypt the user's connection to their site, so the user’s sign-up information stays
private. Additional precautionary measures taken are: 1) restrict access to only those partners and
services needed to make TurboVote run, 2) don’t collect or store ID numbers, 3) don’t sell users’
information, and 4) only share strictly necessary information to power TurboVote services
(Tools for Voters).
A key part of TurboVote’s voter engagement strategy is to partner with “leading
companies and organizations to increase voter turnout and civic participation across America”
with the goal of reaching 80 percent turnout by 2024 (Tools for Voters). Founded by the CAA
Foundation and Democracy Works, this partnership is known as The Civic Alliance. Members
are “committed to supporting employees and audiences in taking action, whether they’re voting
or attending a town hall” (Tools for Voters). The three goals of the alliance are: 1) encourage
American audiences to participate in elections, 2) empower U.S. employees to vote and be
civically active, and 3) champion civic engagement opportunities in U.S. communities (Civic
Alliance). Currently, they have registered over 2.7 million people to vote, prepared 4.9 million
people with their polling places, have 86 member companies, and over two million employees
reached in companies like Amazon, BET, Target and many more (Civic Alliance).
When We All Vote: When We All Vote is a national, nonpartisan nonprofit organization with “a
mission to increase participation in every election and close the race and age voting gap by
changing the culture around voting, harnessing grassroots energy, and through strategic
partnerships to reach every American” (About Us). The organization was launched in 2018 by

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co-chairs Michelle Obama, Tom Hanks, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Janelle Monae, Chris Paul, Faith
Hill, and Tim McGraw (About Us).
The group’s strategy is based on using a “data-driven and multifaceted approach to
increase participation in elections” (About Us). When We All Vote accomplished three main
voter engagement efforts for the 2018 midterm elections: 1) organized 2,500 local voter
registration events across the country, 2) engaged 200 million Americans online about the
importance of voting, and 3) used a text platform to reach almost four million voters to share
resources to register and encourage people to vote (About Us).
There are six ways to get involved in a grassroots level with When We All Vote: 1)
volunteer to register people to vote or join their texting team, 2) become a Voting Squad Captain
and build your team to organize voter registration drives, 3) make a donation to help the
organization continue to provide its services, 4) join the My School Votes Program to help
students and parents register to vote, 5) partner with When We All Vote through your company
or organization, and 6) join the Civic Cities initiative where mayors commit to increasing voter
registration in their cities (Take Action). Voting Squad Captains have the opportunity to take
direct action in their communities. To ensure Voting Squad Captains are prepared and organized,
When We All Vote offers them the opportunity to: 1) join exclusive trainings and briefings, 2)
get access to coaching, tools, and resources to build their squad, and 3) be part of a nationwide
community of organizers (Become a Voting Squad Captain). The My School Votes Program
allows teachers, administrators, staff, students, and parents to play an important role in helping
school communities make their voices heard and guide students and parents in registering to
vote. This is accomplished in four easy steps: 1) sign your school up and When We All Vote will
provide training and resources, 2) download the Action Plan and watch the training video on the

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website, 3) start registering people, and 4) report your progress to When We All Vote (My
School Votes). The Civic Cities program provides cities with access to tools, programs, and
organizations to increase voter registration and encourages mayors to mobilize local civic
leaders, business leaders, community members, and stakeholders around voter engagement
efforts and act as messengers in their community to share information and resources for voters
(Civic Cities). Furthermore, all of these voter engagement grassroots efforts are shared on When
We All Vote social media channels and their website. Due to the fact that the organization is co-
chaired by prominent public figures, they act as ambassadors for the organization and share key
messages and voter engagement initiatives on their personal social media accounts.
Although the three nonprofit organizations examined above are focused on voter
engagement initiatives, there are many nonprofits that encourage voter engagement efforts in
their work, though not directly in the business of voter engagement. For example, many civil
rights organizations advocate for broad, systemic social change which can only be achieved by
voting; therefore, voter engagement is included in their key messaging. Two such organizations
in California are Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles and Equality California. The significant work
and reform efforts each organization focuses on is critical to the future of California.
Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles (BLMLA) was co-founded by Patrisse Cullors, Alicia
Garza, and Opal Tometi in Los Angeles. It has expanded to become The Black Lives Matter
Global Network, comprised of 40 chapters around the world, with a “vision for Black freedom,
unwavering commitment to liberation work, and our Guiding Principles,” including all black
lives matter, restorative justice and struggle, intergenerational and communal network, and many
more (Who We Are & Guiding Principles). Their civil rights work has established a wide range
of goals, including youth leaders, art and culture, local and statewide policy initiatives, interfaith

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Sacred Resistance Team, legal training team, organized demonstrations and protests, and many
more (Who We Are). All of this work requires citizen participation and voting for change,
therefore a key part of BLMLA messaging in voter engagement. An additional benefit of
BLMLA mobilizing voters is that they reach a key audience: Black, Indigenous, and People of
Color voters. This is a target audience for all voter engagement efforts because, as stated in the
voter suppression section, these are the citizens whose vote is being actively suppressed. To
successfully combat this injustice, it’s critical that this audience has access to information, tools,
and resources for voting. This effort goes a long way in breaking down immoral voting barriers
for all citizens.
Equality California is a “nonprofit organization that works to achieve full, lived
LGBTQ+ equality by electing pro-equality leaders, passing pro-equality legislation, and fighting
for LGBTQ+ civil rights and social justice in the courtroom” (About Equality California). Since
2003, Equality California has worked to pass legislation at the local, state, and national levels.
Their civil rights legislation work encompasses nondiscrimination protections, marriage equality
and LGBTQ+ families, immigration rights, transgender equality, affordable healthcare, criminal
justice reform, and many more (Our Work). They encourage people to get involved in seven
ways: 1) stay informed on the issues, 2) donate to support their work, 3) volunteer at their offices
and at events throughout the state, 4) become an official Equality California Member, 5) register
to vote, 6) contact your elected representatives to support full LGBTQ+ equality, and 7) sign
their petition and become a Citizen Co-Sponsor of their Equality Act (Take Action). Voting is
critical to the work Equality California does, therefore their programs and messaging call for
voter engagement initiatives. Equality California’s mobilization efforts reach a key audience:
LGBTQ+ voters. It’s imperative that LGBTQ+ voters have access to information, tools, and

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resources for voting. Data from the UCLA Williams Institute highlights one key reason why
LGBTQ+ voters are so important: LGBTQ+ voters were significantly more likely than non-
LGBTQ+ voters to say they would support candidates who are Black, Latino/a, or LGBTQ+
(Mallory). It’s important to note that “majorities of both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ voters said
that the race and sexual orientation of a candidate would not influence their vote” (Mallory). The
LGBTQ+ voting group plays a significant advocacy role in terms of voting for progressive
candidates and policies. With a young electorate that is more diverse and radical, it’s imperative
that progressive candidates and policies receive the support needed to succeed and/or pass and
help create change in our nation.
As seen above in Democracy Works’ Civic Alliance and When We All Vote’s partner
initiative, private companies are critical to voter engagement efforts; included in those private
organizations are public relations agencies. Their influence and messaging can reach critical
internal and external audiences, share important voting information with a broad digital audience
over multiple social media channels and digital platforms, and help millions of people register to
vote.
Although private organizations are key advocates for voter engagement initiatives, for the
purpose of this thesis, I will focus on key decision-makers within the industry, such as higher
education institutions and government agencies.
Higher education institutions
I’m excited to report in this investigation that established educational institutions are
dedicating massive resources to ensuring that students and those in their communities register to
vote for all local, state, and federal elections. I will examine two universities’ voter engagement
efforts in California: USC and UCSD.

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USC: The University of Southern California is a private research university. There is one
department on campus within the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences that has
taken a huge leadership role and innovated voter registration efforts on campus. The Center for
the Political Future (CPF) aims to reduce political polarization through civil discourse with
leaders on the left and right by educating tomorrow’s leaders and exploring solutions to our most
pressing national and global challenges. The Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, an integral part
of CPF, is dedicated to bridging the academic study of politics with practical experience in the
field. A key component of the Unruh Institute is civic engagement, with voter registration as a
priority. I am the Communications and Media Manager at CPF. Since I began there in 2016, our
voter engagement efforts have increased and expanded significantly. I interviewed Meghan
Ginley, the former Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics Manager at CPF. It is thanks to her
leadership that our voter engagement initiative developed into the robust program that it is today.
How did our voter initiative start?
Ginley: When I came in [during] the fall of 2016, the Institute had a voter registration drive for
National Voter Registration Day (NVRD). It was the only thing we did in regard to civic
engagement and voter engagement until the winter of 2017 when I went to the Harvard Institute
of Politics (IOP) Conference. I wasn’t aware of how far California had progressed over other
states in terms of voter engagement equity and [how it allowed people] to register close to
[Election Day]. I learned about places like Texas and Pennsylvania, how their government from
an educational, not political standpoint, put barriers into place for people to become registered.
It’s so easy for us to register to vote as Californians; we are so lucky so why are we [nationally]
doing so terribly? I brought that idea back to USC as an open-ended question: what can we do to
[better] engage in this area but still be in line with the other IOP’s in the country and use our

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privilege for better?
Can you take me through the process of what you did while at CPF that legitimized our voter
engagement initiative?
Ginley: It’s gone through a huge transformation from where we started to now. It started with
me bringing it back to the Unruh Associates (a nonpartisan student organization on campus that
CPF advises for students interested in engaging in politics). There was new leadership and they
were also interested in this topic. As that calendar year [2018] progressed and we started looking
into all the things we could do, we realized that much of the Associates’ time was spent on
activities regarding voter engagement, from NVRD to one-stop voter registration drives. From
there, we moved to this idea that this [would be more effective as] an initiative.” This is the point
when leadership from the Associates began earnestly working on voter engagement as the
VoteSC initiative. “That was a turning point for CPF because 2018 allowed the opportunity for
us to really lean into the midterms [by utilizing key] marketing tactics. We inundated people with
significant voting knowledge. That was the year that we invested in TurboVote, which is a
platform that allows anybody in a university setting to register to vote from whatever state they
are from but in an easy-to-use app. We put QR codes [with our individual voting platform] on
everything that we could [from social media posts to flyers around campus], so that it would be
easy enough for people to scan it and register to vote. We competed in competitions with local
schools, like UCLA, to register people to vote. We incentivized it in ways we hadn’t before by
leaning into people's values, such as college students like free food. Legally you can't make
someone register to vote for a reward, so we phrased it like: ‘Do you intend to register to vote?’
That intention got people to realize that there was a resource and that they didn't have to register
to vote in Southern California, that they should register for wherever they're from, so where the

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policies are [at] that will affect you the most. The integration of the TurboVote software and
inundating people with information [was effective]. Most places have initiatives that are run
through their Student Affairs department, so we are unique in that it’s outside. The goal was
always to have the university really own it, but we are still working on that. We’ve done a lot to
ultimately institutionalize this. At the end of 2018, we realized that this initiative needed to be its
own stand-alone organization. Starting in 2019, we shifted into that model, a matrixed
organization model mostly run by a student leadership team with the support of a bunch of
volunteers. That’s how the organization exists now, called VoteSC. The goal is to have the
university recognize the significant investment that CPF has taken over the past 4 years in this
area, recognizing that we did a lot of the hard work [setting it up], and that they would ultimately
take over the financial obligation, like TurboVote, and integrate it into different models of the
university as a business. The university needs to keep building on that momentum [until it]
becomes second nature. The Student Affairs department split the cost for TurboVote with the
Political Student Assembly and CPF; $9000 for three years. Because it’s a service for all students
at the university, I believe they should include it into their budget as part of their Undergraduate
Student Government (USG) budget. We spent most of our time focusing on our undergraduate
voter engagement but if USG were to take a bigger role in this, I think there’s a lot of
opportunity for our graduate student population. It’s presumed that a lot of them are already
registered to vote but a lot of them really aren’t and that’s why you can't make assumptions. I’m
glad that the leadership team of students is willing to continue to do this work. Although this
year will be a challenge because we can’t have any in-person programming.
What are the challenges associated with getting this up-and-running and university-wide?

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Ginley: The biggest barrier is that people view voter engagement and voter registration as a
partisan and political issue; that is false. That’s where it becomes a challenge for universities.
There’s this narrative out there that universities are progressive; they are touting this progressive
agenda and there’s no diversity. You can say this on both sides of the aisle: from a progressive
standpoint, it’s not progressive enough and from a conservative standpoint, it’s not conservative
enough. At the end of the day, no one is going to be happy. From a university donor point of
view, if I already think that you are espousing this progressive agenda and then you’re trying to
get students to register to vote, why should I invest in the school if I think that you are just
breeding more people who don’t agree with my political ideologies? That’s a terrible thing but
that’s the biggest barrier from a higher education standpoint. The other aspect that’s hard is that
when you try to get people to register to vote, a lot of times they ask, ‘Why should I care?’ You
have to take more steps to educate people. The electoral college is what it is, and I don’t know if
it’s going to change but right now it’s what we have. But your local government, it’s not
supposed to be partisan politics because in a local setting, you're not supposed to use your
political affiliation to get elected to office; technically it’s supposed to be nonpartisan. These are
the decisions that are directly affecting your community. If you want to make a change, rallies
are great, but you also need to have the piece of getting good people into office to represent your
values. People are not receptive to that right now because they want radical change. It’s not a one
or the other solution; it’s both. That is what you need to do to promote visibility in democracy.
You as a person, you can make a difference in your community, you can run for office, but you
need to have good people that represent your values because they are the people making the
decisions. Go vote in November, wherever you live. At times it can be inconvenient, even when
you bring polling places to them or allow vote by mail. There’s this idea that it’s not going to do

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anything, it’s not going to change anything. But it can! Go vote for people who stand for you and
represent your values where you actually live.
Has the voter engagement initiative been institutionalized yet by President Carol Folt?
Ginley: Yes and no. With Carol Folt being new, the idea was that we would let her get settled in
first; she already has a bunch of things that are getting thrown at her, especially some that she
didn’t expect during her first year. The idea was to utilize this election cycle as a marketing
campaign for her. She could register to vote here, lead by example, and then sign a memorandum
of understanding (MOU) about what VoteSC seeks to do. That didn’t happen, not because of her,
but it was the timing. She has the MOU and is aware about some of the things that we want to
do. The problem is that what we want to do is actually really easy, therefore it’s not a priority
with all the chaos that has ensued this last year. There’s always something new and more
pressing things that they are working on. So, she’ll sign it officially eventually, but her directive
can’t be to focus on voting right now when you have so many other societal issues. We created
this package so once those things are taken care of, she’ll easily be able to implement it.
The Memorandum of Understanding lists eight items (appendix A) and highlights
VoteSC’s goals and strategies after the 2018 midterm election. Two key goals listed were: 1)
Strive to hit 90% voter registration for eligible USC students and 90% turnout for all eligible
students by January 2021 and 2) Support VoteSC in establishing a PAC 12 Voting Challenge
that would encourage other schools within the PAC 12 Conference to increase their voter
registration and civic engagement efforts.
The second goal listed above, establishing a PAC 12 Voting Challenge at USC, is a
priority for VoteSC’s student executive board for the 2020 - 2021 academic year. In an effort to
accomplish this goal, VoteSC and CPF worked with USC President Carol Folt to formally add

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USC into the PAC 12 Voting Challenge, known officially as the ALL IN Campus Democracy
Challenge. The program’s mission is “to change civic culture and institutionalize democratic
engagement activities and programs on college campuses, making them a defining feature of
campus life” (About Our Work). As of late August 2020, President Folt signed the “Higher
Education Presidents’ Commitment to Full Student Voter Participation” pledge — found on the
ALL IN Challenge website — officially committing USC to the national challenge of increasing
student voting rates. A key element of the ALL IN Challenge is developing an action plan,
outlining how your campus will increase student voter participation. VoteSC’s student executive
board created a 2020 Campus Action Plan summarizing all elements of their voter engagement
efforts, including listing their coalition members (internal and external), describing the campus
landscape, and outlining their commitment, goals, and strategies (appendix B).
Overall, the CPF and VoteSC voter engagement initiative accomplished some key goals:
organized NVRD-based voter registration drives, organized polling places and/or vote centers on
campus, developed multiple robust social media campaigns for voter registration/turnout, key
voting information, NVRD, and polling places, got TurboVote into the Orientation digital
process as a QR code, created a coalition of partners including various university departments
and student organizations, and ran multiple voter registration drives across campus and the
community. Although it’s critical to have voter registration efforts, voter turnout is equally as
important, if not more. The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE), an
initiative of the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education (IDHE) at Tufts University's
Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, research and reports on the voter registration and
voting rates of college campuses. The most recent data we have is from the 2014 and 2018
midterm elections. According to the NSLVE report, there are three key figures to highlight: 1)

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the registration rate in 2018 increased to 76.7% from 64.7% in 2014, 2) the voting rate of
registered students in 2018 increased to 59.2% from 25.5% in 2014, and 3) the voting rate in
2018 increased to 45.4% from 16.5% in 2014, which is an increase of 28.9 data points (1-13). A
particularly positive note is that the 2018 voting rate for all institutions in the study was 39.1%.
The data speaks for itself: the CPF and VoteSC voter engagement initiative is effective in
mobilizing voters and increasing voter turnout. Furthermore, partnerships with other higher
education institutions are key to the CPF voter engagement initiative. Coalition building is a
valuable tool for mobilizing voters, therefore our initiative includes working with University of
California schools and other Institutes of Politics. In order to build on that momentum, CPF,
VoteSC, and university leadership must maintain clear, consistent, and secure leadership
associated with the initiative. The 2020 Campus Action Plan outlines how USC’s voter
engagement initiative will thrive and move forward from now to the 2020 election and beyond.
UCSD: The University of California San Diego is a public research university that’s a part of the
University of California system. Their voter engagement initiative is housed within their
Associated Students department (under the Student Affairs department), which includes the
student government and the professional staff that supports the student government. I
interviewed Heather Belk, the Director of Associated Students at UCSD, to learn more about
UCSD’s voter engagement initiative.
Can you tell me about the USC and UCSD partnership and the All-In Challenge?
Belk: USC and UCSD partnered to host “a statewide convening of higher education students and
professionals who are both interested in and tasked with voter engagement on campuses.” The
purpose of this is [for] both voter registration and voter turnout; making sure we have an
inclusive plan for registering students, getting them to the polls, and how we're going to execute

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that on our different campuses when we think about their personality or the resources that they
have available and who's doing that work. [We have to] make sure we're not missing
communities and we're working together with students, staff, and faculty. [We’ve shared]
information about action planning, best practices, things to think about, census 2020, creating
action plans, and had a town hall [with a] call-to-action. The “All-In” Campus Democracy
Challenge is an organization that is seeking to get every higher education campus in the nation to
create these action plans that think about who our communities are, who are our campus
participants, and how we get 18-24-year-olds to be registered and then vote. Then [the
organization] presents seals and awards based on creating those action plans and the outcomes of
those plans to be able to have campuses show their progress and get rewarded for it.
What voter engagement strategies and tactics do you use?
Belk: So, at UC San Diego, we have several clubs and organizations that are both partisan and
nonpartisan who are interested in voter registration and voter engagement. The efforts are led
and organized by SOVAC: Student Organized Voter Access Committee. That’s a commission of
the student government, so it’s advised by my role with the student government. Our strategies
have been growing over the last six years and the NSLVE report has helped, [allowing us] to use
our NSLVE data to see growth and change, but also have partnerships on our campus. Our
primary goal and role with voter registration is focused on getting new first-year students
engaged. They’re freshly 18 so they may not have been offered the opportunity to register to vote
until they join us here and they're likely moving for the first time they [so they] got a new
address. We want to make sure that their voter registration is accurate and correct, so we have
done that through collaborations primarily with our campus residential life [with] the opportunity
to be a part of the move-in process. As they get their keys and meet their roommates, we’re also

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tabling [during] that process. We’ve worked that out with our hospitality [department], so that
students can fill out their voter registration at their new residences. We actually had the
opportunity to collaborate with our local Registrar of Voters to put a polling location in each of
those housing communities. Our bigger strategy is to be there during move in, when they’re
getting their address and get them registered and then put a polling location right in the same
spot, so they equate the two. That's been a really cool symbiotic relationship that we've been able
to create here and probably one of our biggest focuses the last couple years has been on those
two programs.
Can you elaborate more on what you and the Associated Students at UCSD do in the digital
realm and on social media to mobilize voters?
Belk: In the digital realm we've done a couple different things. One thing we have done is we’re
very lucky to have our Graphics Studio. They do phenomenal marketing and graphics campaigns
for us online and in print. With things around campus, like digital activations, we'll set up a
photo booth and students can come with their signs and say ‘I vote because…’ or ‘I'm registered
because…’ and take those pictures to use on their social media to help us because we only have
so much of a reach. So, we like to engage the students on our campus and help them create
content that then they can share and help us get that message out about voting. So that’s been one
of our key strategies for social media. We also have some overlays so that people can change
their profile picture or update their story and things like that. The other thing that we have done
recently is we've engaged in a contract with TurboVote so we have been able to share the
opportunity to register online, receive election reminders, important information through a text
messaging and mobile platform, using QR codes to direct folks to our TurboVote site. That’s a
brand-new thing that we're just starting this academic year. We are super excited about that and

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being able to use our TurboVote link in campus administrators’ signatures and asking them to
tuck that in there and taking that into that web and digital content.
Why is it important to utilize digital tools and platforms to meet these young voters?
Belk: Digital content and platforms are really important because that’s where our students are at.
We have found in the current generation how and where college students are communicating
with each other how and where they're receiving their information. We don't necessarily see a
great click rate on some of our emails, but we definitely see people responding to our Facebook
and Instagram. We have this very Instagram-able culture where students want to create content,
like going to an ice cream museum or other pop-ups, so we have tried to recognize what is
popular in general and then turn that into popular with voting. It's important because that's where
the 18-24-year-olds are looking for their information. If they’re finding a news story, they are
finding it on Instagram or Facebook where they're scrolling. We want to remind them to register
and turn out to vote when they're scrolling. We want them to see that right there in front of them.
What are some of the challenges that you have faced in this position, with the students, and to
engage with these young voters?
Belk: One of the challenges is related to digital content. We have found in the last few years that
students are connecting to each other through digital media and digital content. Getting them to
come out in person is less their priority and not necessarily how they’re finding community. So
[for] the actual voter turnout on Election Day, we have managed to increase our numbers. We've
had to do that creatively through parties at the polls and really motivating them to come out and
hang out with us and not just staying in that digital space. One way we are bringing that turnout
is capitalizing on the fact that we know students like a pop-up or experience. We are trying to
create those at the polling locations on Election Day, so they want to come check it out. One we

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did in 2018, that we want to duplicate in 2020, was what we called ‘Goat Out to Vote’ and we
had baby goats on campus. We had a petting zoo where everyone was wearing these awesome
vote shirts around the petting zoo and we were giving away various t-shirts, buttons, and
cupcakes if you could name three ballot measures. We would engage people who came to the
table. If they could name three ballot measures, they would get one of our swag items. If they
couldn't but were willing to listen to us tell them what was on the ballot and where their polling
location was, then they could also have some swag. We were drawing them in and getting them
to come over and hang out with the baby goats. I think many of our students wanted to take a
photo with a baby goat to post on their social [media]. We asked them to say that this was at the
‘Goat Out to Vote’ event because today is Election Day. We asked them to caption that in their
Instagram Stories with a hashtag. We had a physical thing that drew them in, but still trying to
get that further reach through that digital content. They were taking the pictures with the goats or
even with the shirts. These shirts were insanely popular. They wanted to grab one to wear, so
they took our message out for us. Trying to do these physical activities that create opportunities
for people to go out and help us remind people to vote. We found stickers to be really effective.
We have an unofficial mascot on campus, Fluffy. It’s an animated bird. We created “I Voted”
stickers. Fluffy was holding the “I Voted” sign [in the stickers]. People would see it on someone
else’s water bottle and then approach our table because they wanted one of those. Those went
throughout campus. We have a whole series of Fluffy [to use] throughout the year, so that
motivated people to come check us out and hang out with us.
Why is it so important to vote, especially for young voters?
Belk: It's so important to vote because that's your opportunity to impact your future, your
narrative, and to voice it to the people who are making laws and decisions about how locally and

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nationally things are going to roll out. It's really important to register and get out the vote with
the youth vote because other people are focusing on the older demographic, but many politicians
are not targeting the youth. They're a strong coalition that may share some different perspectives
and we want to make sure that each of those perspectives is represented. Each person has their
own experience and lens; the whole point and goal is that every one of those perspectives is
represented. The only way to do that is to cast a vote for yourself. Not ‘I know that my
mom/sister/partner voted.’ Even if you love those people, they don't have the exact same
perspective and interest in the future as you do, so we need to each weigh in, in order to create
the most effective and supportive nation that we can.
What are one to three key messages or strategies about voter engagement that other
organizations need to know?
Belk: One of the most important things that people who are doing this type of work should know
is that it doesn’t stop after voter registration. We can register students but if they don’t actually
go to the polls then we didn’t totally do our job. I think that is sometimes missed so that is
always something I put on the radar of anyone doing this work. Register people but then take it
that step further and do some strategizing about how to actually get them to turn out to go to the
polls. That’s the end goal; it doesn't stop after registration. We have brought students throughout
California together and I think the idea is not to duplicate efforts but to amplify efforts. So, if
someone else is doing something that is really awesome and effective with the youth vote, then
we should be sharing that. We’ve had speakers from around the nation. California has its own
personality. We’ve heard from partners and college students from throughout the state what’s
working for them, on their campus, with their peers. That has been invaluable information to
plan for 2020.

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Local and State Government Office
Voter engagement efforts are critical to state and local government offices which are
responsible for the organization and planning of polling places. As a key player in the voter
engagement space, their efforts are critical to ensuring all citizens have the right to vote. For the
purposes of this investigation, I will examine Los Angeles County, which boasts the largest
population in the state and is the most populous in the United States, and the California Secretary
of State's office.
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk: The Los Angeles County Registrar-
Recorder/County Clerk (RR/CC), run by Dean C. Logan, is responsible for registering voters,
maintaining voter files, administering federal, state, local and special elections and verifying
initiatives, referenda and recall petitions (About Dean C. Logan, Registrar-Recorder/County
Clerk). The department is also responsible for department records, maintaining the Los Angeles
County birth, death, marriage, real property, real estate, and filings of fictitious business names
records, and performing marriage ceremonies (Services Locator). The RR/CC website allows
residents of Los Angeles County to register to vote, find their voting information and vote center,
review past elections, apply to become a poll worker, become a part of the Community and Voter
Outreach Committee, and much more (Voting & Elections). This department manages all
logistics related to voter registration and the organization of all polling places in the county for
every election.
The RR/CC’s approach to voting has adapted over the recent years to address the needs
of Los Angeles County’s diverse electorate. RR/CC developed an innovative voter-centered
approach to voting for Los Angeles County in 2009, known as the Voting Solutions for All
People (VSAP) project. VASP is a collaborative approach to voting system design that puts

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voters at the center and maximizes stakeholder participation through field research and coalition
building (VSAP – LAC Voter-Centered Approach - Los Angeles). This plan had five phases: 1)
public opinion research, 2) process assessment, 3) system design, 4) system engineering and
manufacturing contract, and 5) manufacturing and certification (Process). This led to a new
system of modernized voting that was used for the California primary presidential election on
March 3, 2020, with innovations including: redesigned ballots, thousands of neighborhood
polling places replaced with fewer regional voting centers, and the use of new, touch-screen
devices approved by state officials (Myers and Stiles). The largest innovation was the move from
polling places to vote centers. Under VASP, voters were able to cast their ballot at any vote
center location in the county over an 11-day period, revolutionizing the process; it also goes a
long way in combating voter suppression methods by ensuring that voters are able to
conveniently cast their ballots with enough time (Vote Center Placement Project). This new
process was highly marketed on social media and with physical advertisements throughout the
county. The RR/CC social media accounts shared multiple messages a day leading up to the
California primary election, with key hashtags and messages about how the VASP system, the
significance of voting, resources and tools offered, vote centers, and many more. These messages
were further shared by their community voting coalition — CPF is a part of this coalition — on
their own social media platforms. Another tactic for marketing the new voting system was
having physical signs throughout the country. These signs, in multiple languages to ensure there
was no language barrier keeping citizens from voting, share information about the VASP system,
voting centers, and calls-to-action. This multifaceted strategy ensured that information regarding
the new voting system reaches as many voters in the county, both digitally and in-person.

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At this critical time, there were some challenges associated with the implementation of
the new system. During the test stage of the new voting equipment, the touch-screen machines
reported numerous paper jams and incomplete error code messages, as well as reports of the
smartphone feature — voters can make selections ahead of time online and transfer them with a
smartphone and a QR code to the machine that prints them on a completed paper ballot — “not
operating properly” (Myers and Stiles). After these challenges were first reported, election
officials said the software was updated. But another question remains: what if something
happens to the voting machines? If something were to happen, there’s no backup method to print
ballots. Instead the backup plan is for voters to write out their selections for every race they want
to participate in using blank write-in ballots (Myers and Stiles). According to Logan, “That’s a
fail-safe in the event that the entire system was down, a stopgap to make sure voting never
stops.” Although not at all ideal, at least there’s a semblance of oversight and forward thinking to
ensure no citizen’s right to vote is taken due to a technical error.
The system ran into a huge problem on California's Super Tuesday primary March 3.
There were various reports all day that voters had to wait in long lines for hours at voting
centers. I myself had to wait an hour and half to cast my ballot at the USC vote center.
According to an unpublicized county report, the problems stemmed from malfunctions in the
electronic tablets used to check in voters at the polls, known as electronic poll books, but not the
new voting machines themselves (Zetter). The county’s report found that the various systematic
failures, including undelivered mail-in ballots and decommissioned voting machines due to paper
jams, could have been prevented with better planning and testing (Zetter). Although not
intentional, it’s likely that thousands of voters were unable to cast their ballot for the primary due
to these technical delays. The county has gone a long way to eliminate barriers to voting, such as

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opening vote centers for 11 days prior to an election day, but it’s a new process. Many voters are
used to voting on election day. Despite the wide-reaching marketing of vote centers, it seems the
messaging didn’t quite change voters’ behaviors. It might change in the following elections, but
it’s too soon to tell. Although it’s not confirmed if the county will use the voting machines for
the November election, RR/CC has a little under five months left until election day to fix any
problems.
Alex Padilla/California Secretary of State: Padilla and his department are responsible “for
making the government more transparent and accessible in the areas of elections, business,
political campaigning, legislative advocacy, and historical treasures” (Secretary of State (SOS)).
The Secretary of State's Elections Division oversees and administers elections in all 58 county
elections offices in California, with the following duties:
● Certifies the official lists of candidates running for state offices
● Advises candidates and local elections officials on the qualifications and requirements for
running for office
● Provides guidance on how candidates can select acceptable candidate ballot designations
● Determines the order in which candidates are placed on the ballot
● Tracks and certifies ballot initiatives. State measures must be verified by the Elections
Division before they can be placed on the ballot.
● Coordinates the tabulation of the votes from each county on election night. After each
election, the Elections Division produces the official Statements of Vote, the official
compilation of vote totals for each state election.
● Uses its Voter Registration and Outreach team to produce voter registration forms, voter
information publications, and encourage people to register and vote.

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Within their voter registration duties, they are the state department responsible for
registering people to vote, printable vote-by-mail application, polling places, the rights and
responsibilities of a voter, and information on statewide election ballot measures (Voting in
California). Furthermore, they offer voter information and assistance in English, Spanish,
Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog, Thai or Vietnamese, ensuring that there’s no
language barrier for voters (Voting in California).
Regarding the department’s voter outreach program: they work collaboratively with all
counties on their individual voter messaging and share their own messaging on their various
social media platforms with a larger, statewide audience. On their website you can find sample
articles and messages in multiple languages about voter registration “designed to help
businesses, chambers of commerce, nonprofit organizations, health care clinics and agencies that
serve the communities where these languages are spoken to inspire and prepare every eligible
citizen to vote” (Reaching New Voters). The Secretary of State website is the central hub for all
information regarding voting in California. Additionally, they offer a “Voter Hotline” — the
number is (800) 345-VOTE (8683) — to ensure there are multiple means of communication
available for voters to reach their office with any questions or concerns regarding voting.
The Secretary of State’s office works with every county; therefore, it is responsible for
helping every county with any challenges that arise in the voting process during the election.
Secretary of State Alex Padilla responded to Los Angeles County’s challenges during the 2020
primary election, calling for more testing and necessary technical updates during the testing
phase of the new voting machines. As California prepares for the general election, challenges
continue to develop. According to data obtained by The Associated Press, more than 100,000
mail-in ballots were rejected by California election officials during the March presidential

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primary due to votes arriving late or lacking a voter’s signature (Press). This posed a huge
potential problem for California voters. Due to Governor Newsom’s executive order for
statewide mail-in voting, thousands of voters’ ballots being discounted highlights a huge gap in
California's voter engagement efforts. Despite the state’s efforts to ensure all votes are counted,
this report proves that California needs to perfect the mail-in voting system before the general
election. If not, it’s the citizens who will pay the unjust price.
Voter engagement efforts from nonprofit organizations, private organizations, higher
education institutions, and government agencies are critical for mobilizing voters and ensuring
all citizens have the right to vote. Within each of those organizations, there are professionals
solely responsible for the communication and outreach of voter engagement initiatives. Many of
them are considered to be in the public relations industry. This work is responsible for shaping
our nation and society, therefore it’s important to examine how PR professionals act within their
roles and what motivates them.
Role of Advocacy in the Public Relations Profession
Finally, this investigation analyzes the role of advocacy within the public relations
profession to guide young PR professionals as they begin to join this industry. To do so, I will
begin by taking a step back to examine an organization designed for young PR professionals.
PRSSA, the Public Relations Student Society of America, is a college offshoot of an
association of public relations professionals dedicated to providing “exceptional service to our
members by enhancing their education, broadening their professional network and helping
launch their careers after graduation” (Mission). This association is committed to educating
future PR professionals so they can enter the profession with a broad skill set and network.
Additionally, it tasks itself with instilling a set of values for each young professional to follow

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and develop ethically responsible professionals. To this goal, it’s clear that advocacy is inherent
in the profession.
According to the PRSSA statement on advocacy, it is an essential focus for the
association, “providing a clear voice on issues important to the profession, public relations
education, and students” (Advocacy). Central to its advocacy efforts is a dedication to ethics and
diversity, advocacy for any issue must include authentic inclusive and ethical actions to better
represent the stakeholders’ needs. PRSSA assists members in “their advocacy efforts and
encourages leaders to adopt their own initiatives to serve their communities and address current
events” so that young professionals have the opportunity to provide support and education for
issues that are significant to the nation (Advocacy). This experience will help young
professionals develop their skills and gain insight into how to incorporate advocacy messages
into their campaigns.
Advocacy is inherent in the profession and is a part of any campaign in any sector. PR
professionals are educators and advocates; you can’t have one without the other. We are
responsible for influencing social change, educating stakeholders, and building relations with our
communities. With this great task on our shoulders, it’s important to ask ourselves why we do
the work we do and if it aligns with our views as citizens? We are simultaneously both: PR
professionals and citizens; it’s naïve to believe that these are separate roles. We do not simply
follow directions from our supervisors. All of our work, from developing campaigns using the
public relations strategic planning model to crafting every message shared with stakeholders,
requires us to think critically and ethically. Our work serves the public and inspires societal
progress, so as members of the public, our work also serves us. What drives our work matters, as
does our efforts to be thoughtful, ethical, and strategic in our endeavors. Each organization has

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its own stakeholders and it’s not prudent to make the “public” a target audience because it’s too
broad and doesn’t allow for targeted messaging. Although that’s true in an organizational sense,
the public relations industry has one stakeholder: the public. Regardless of whatever specific
industry a PR professional works in, it is all included in the PR industry. Collectively we serve
the general public with our efforts and it all contributes to the political state of our nation.
Voter engagement transcends industries. It is an initiative that should be important to all
industries because we are all citizens, or at least residents of this nation. Everything that happens
in our nation, from every election to every legislation passed or not passed, affects us all. Every
election day we are called as citizens to participate and do our civic duty of voting; it’s what
connects us all.
Therefore, voter engagement and turnout can be influenced by public relations initiatives
and advocacy. Our responsibility is to advocate and utilize these methods to reach the voters
where they are at. We need to educate citizens about their voting rights and share all information
relating to elections and voting. Additionally, we must show voters that if there are barriers to
voting, we can dismantle them and are working towards finding solutions. Opponents of
advocacy campaigns say that voters won’t be influenced by advocacy measures and won’t get
people to the polls. The reason is simplified as: “If voters wants to vote, they will. We can’t
make them.”
I agree with that sentiment; it’s a fair observation. However, this statement is just that: a
simple observation and nothing more. It ignored the role of public relations in our society and
how our work has historically and repeatedly influenced social change. Furthermore, the purpose
of a voting advocacy campaign is to inspire citizens to vote and use their voice to participate in
civic life. The goal is never to “make” a person complete an action. I challenge anyone to find a

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public relations campaign with a goal or strategy of “making” a person do something; it doesn’t
exist because public relations as an industry wasn’t designed to accomplish that task. According
to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the parent organization of PRSSA, “Public
relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships
between organizations and their publics” (About Public Relations). Therefore, voting advocacy
campaigns are effective in reaching their goal because they can motivate citizens to vote; the
voter turnout data proves it.
Recommendations and Goals for Voter Engagement Initiatives
This investigation has revealed key findings that all organizations looking to launch voter
engagement initiatives should incorporate into their strategy. Here is a summary of the
recommendations as we move toward this historic election.
Recommendations:
1. Nonpartisan Status: All voter engagement efforts must be nonpartisan. Voting is not a
partisan issue, and neither is ensuring all citizens, regardless of their preferred party
affiliation, have equal access to information, resources, and tools for voting.
2. Voter turnout: Voter turnout should be the true measure of any voter engagement
initiative strategy. Voter registration is a tactic for the strategy. The number of people you
register to vote is the measure. When organizations are developing their goals and
strategies, the key measurement of their campaigns must be voter turnout; if they don’t,
they must reevaluate because they are missing the true goal of voter registration efforts.
3. Taking Action Offline: The goal of sharing engaging, strategic messages for voter
engagement online is to motivate citizens to take action offline by actually voting. This
goal can be accomplished by shifting your messaging to voter turnout after voter

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registration deadlines pass and supporting and/or organizing voting sites for your target
audiences.
a. Shifting Your Messaging: Voter registration deadlines differ per state, although
some states share the same date. Your messaging should reflect and follow these
deadlines. Online messages shared before these deadlines should focus on voter
registration. After this deadline passes, online messages should shift to
encouraging your target audiences to cast their ballot. Effective voter turnout
messages include sharing key voting information, polling place details, outlining
how to make a voting plan, summarizing ballot measures in your area, and
highlighting personal statements on the importance of voting- these can be from
influencers, popular public figures, or members within your target audiences.
b. Voting Sites: Supporting and/or organizing voting sites within your area for your
target audiences is an effective method to motivate citizens to vote. Whether your
organization helps organize a polling location or shares information regarding
your local polling location(s), by directly providing all the necessary voting
information one needs to vote, your organization is making it easier for your
target audiences to actually vote.
4. Understand your audience: Voter engagement strategy must strive to understand their
key audiences. Organizations and professionals in this space must research and identify
the key concerns and issues of their audience to effectively develop messaging that
addressed their needs.
5. Social Media Campaigns: No voter engagement strategy would be complete without a
social media campaign. The digital space has the ability to reach broader, more targeted

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audiences, such as young voters, therefore your strategy must go where the voters are
already present. Each main social media platform, including Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok, should be fully utilized for each social media
campaign.
a. Facebook: This platform should be used to create voting groups to connect voter
registration volunteers to voters in particular communities and as a calendar of
events for voter-related programs and drives.
b. Instagram: According to a Pew Research Center survey on social media use in
the U.S., 75% of 18- to 24-year-olds reported using Instagram (Perrin and
Anderson). Therefore, this platform should be used to target young voters with
key voter registration and turnout messaging, as well as share important voting
information. Additionally, this platform could also be used to engage with young
voters by answering all of their voting questions and sharing how to register to
vote via the Instagram Story function.
c. Twitter: This platform should be used consistently to share daily key voter
registration information, voter turnout details, and all voting information. Links
are particular effective on this platform, so register to vote links can be shared
constantly and lead to likely higher rates of registration. Furthermore, it’s the best
platform to engage with influencers, voter advocates, elected officials, and anyone
in this space to develop digital relationships.
d. YouTube: Although not as effective as the other three platforms in terms of daily
outreach, YouTube can operate like a digital library for longer video content that

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doesn’t fit on the other platforms. This allows for content to be shared on the
other platforms but live on YouTube.
e. Snapchat: This platform should be used to register people to vote through its in-
app tool. For the 2020 presidential election, Snapchat partnered with TurboVote
to create an in-app tool that allowed users to register to vote within the app, as
well as check their voter status (Klar). Organizations can partner with Snapchat to
develop campaigns targeting mobile users with voter registration messaging.
Since users can directly register in the app, organizations can easily measure their
voter engagement initiative’s goal.
f. TikTok: This platform should be used to connect young voters with key election
information and messages. Millions of young people use TikTok and it has
become a hub for young people to share political content, news, and commentary
during the 2020 presidential election. To reach these engaged young people,
organizations should partner with TikTok influencers to share key voting
information and messages encouraging them to vote. To effectively reach young
people, it’s important to use their language (including their brand of humor) and
meet them where they prefer, and that’s on TikTok (Pardes).
6. Target Audiences: Your strategy must target the three key voting groups below. Each
group has the potential to make a major impact in all elections, therefore reaching them
with voter engagement initiatives is incredibly important. To reiterate, we are not
implying that voters in other demographic categories are unimportant; rather, we believe
that the success of the election truly depends on the following key groups:

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a. Young voters: Young voters refer to individuals in Generation Z (born 1997 -
2012); as of 2020 the oldest members are 23 years old. A majority of young
voters are not motivated to vote but they are incredibly informed and civically
engaged. According to Pew Research Center, 1 in 10 eligible voters are projected
to come from Generation Z members and for many of those 18 to 23-year-olds it
will be their first election. If these first-time voters come out to vote, they can
significantly impact the outcome of the election.
b. BIPOC communities: BIPOC voters have historically been targets of voter
suppression, efforts that continue today in some states. These voters need clear
and consistent access to voter information, resources, and tools.
c. LGBTQ+ communities: LGBTQ+ voters comprise a smaller voting group but are
highly engaged in voter initiatives. Furthermore, these voters are more likely to
participate in elections and support more diverse and inclusive candidates.
7. Partnerships and Coalitions: This work can’t be done alone. Developing partnerships
and building coalitions is integral to voter engagement initiatives because it expands the
reach of your messages and increases voter registration and turnout.
8. Popular Culture: There is always something happening in the world. Everything is
inherently political, and so is the work of voter engagement. Efforts made for voter
engagement must acknowledge the current political state of the nation. This should be
reflected in voting messaging because it adds a timely perspective and call-to-action that
voters can respond to.
9. Advocacy: Advocacy is inherent in the public relations profession. Organizations and PR
professionals are responsible for encouraging voters to participate in elections and cast

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their ballots for the future of the nation. Advocacy campaigns can influence social
change, therefore advocacy as a goal should be included in voter engagement strategy.
10. Technical Challenges Outlook: It’s likely that voting machines will play a larger role in
future elections. During California’s primary in March, voting machines across Los
Angeles County experienced technical issues that caused significant delays and long lines
for voters. Local and state election agencies are responsible for troubleshooting these
challenges; until the voting machine operating system is perfected, these technical issues
will arise. Until then, Los Angeles County’s voting machine system, Voting Systems for
All People (VSAP), can be a model for voting machines. Agencies interested in
transitioning to voting machines can look at VSAP as a case study when developing and
implementing their own system. Furthermore, to minimize technical issues, these
agencies should have voting machine experts on call while polling locations are open.
From a messaging perspective, any messages shared regarding polling locations should
encourage voters to visit their voting site as early as possible to ensure they cast their
ballot before the deadline.
Voting Goals/Wish List
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t include my own personal goals for the upcoming
election, as well as future elections. Although some of my goals may seem lofty, they are
unprecedented and it’s my fervent belief that they are worthy of being accomplished. As a
natural-born advocate for voting, here’s what I wish to see in the future for voting, starting with
the November general election.
1. 90-100% citizen participation in U.S. based elections by November 2020- to date, this
has never been achieved in the U.S. (DeSilver).

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2. 90% voter registration for all eligible citizens by November 2020.
3. 90% turnout for all eligible citizens by November 2020.
4. Record number of BIPOC voter turnout for the November general election; ideally 100%.
5. Record number of youth voter turnout for the November general election; ideally 100%.
6. Every state eliminates their voter suppression methods by November 2020, particularly
gerrymandering, voter ID laws, and felony disenfranchisement.
7. Every college campus in the nation has a 90% voter registration for all eligible students
by November 2020.
8. Every college campus in the nation has a 90% voter turnout for all eligible students by
November 2020.
9. Election results: Donald Trump is voted out of office and Joe Biden is voted in, with
Senator Kamala Harris as the Vice President.
10. Democrats take control of the Senate and maintain control of the House of
Representatives, meaning they take control of Congress.
11. Record number of BIPOC candidates in state and federal elected positions.
12. Record number of younger candidates in state and federal elected positions.
13. Automatic and federally mandated voter registration for all citizens who are 18 years old
and older.
14. Federally mandated election day reforms such as: make every primary and general
election day a national holiday and extend the voting time frame up to 10 days before the
election day.
15. Eliminate the electoral college and superdelegates.
16. The popular vote will decide elections, as it does in local elections.

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17. Pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of 2020
18. Eliminate the need for stamps on mail-in ballots
19. Ensure safe and secure elections through the following methods: Secure ballot drop
boxes, no excuse absentee ballots, mail-in ballots to active voters in emergencies, and
national early voting opportunities
20. Pass the Heroes Act- the House already passed it, so now the Senate needs to pass it.
21. Pass federal policy that makes vote centers the norm, rather than singular voting
locations.
22. Develop safe and secure electronic voting machines to be used in all elections nationally.
23. Ban the open carry of guns within 500 feet of polling locations, regardless of a state’s
law.

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Works Cited
“VSAP – LAC Voter-Centered Approach - Los Angeles.” VSAP, VSAP, 2020, vsap.lavote.net/.
“About Dean C. Logan, Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.” Los Angeles County Registrar-
Recorder/County Clerk, Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk (RR/CC),
2020, www.lavote.net/about-us/about-dean-c-logan.
“About Democracy Works.” Democracy Works, Democracy Works, 2020,
www.democracy.works/about.
“About Elections Division.” About Elections Division: California Secretary of State, Alex
Padilla, California Secretary of State, 2020, www.sos.ca.gov/elections/about-elections-
division/.
“About Equality California.” Equality California, Equality California, 2020,
www.eqca.org/about/.
“About Our Work.” ALL IN Challenge, ALL IN Challenge, 2020,
www.allinchallenge.org/about-our-work/.
“About Public Relations.” PRSA, Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), 2020,
www.prsa.org/about/all-about-pr.
“About Rock the Vote.” Rock the Vote, Rock the Vote, 2020, www.rockthevote.org/about-rock-
the-vote/.
“About Us.” When We All Vote, When We All Vote, 2020, www.whenweallvote.org/about-us/.

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“Advocacy.” PRSSA, Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), 2020,
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3 June 2020, www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/waiting-vote.

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2020, thehill.com/policy/technology/519096-1-million-people-register-to-vote-through-
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Advancement Act.” Congress.gov, Library of Congress, 22 July 2020,
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Myers, John, and Matt Stiles. “A New Voting System in L.A. Raises the Stakes for California's
Primary.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 24 Feb. 2020,

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www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-24/california-presidential-primary-could-
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day-chaos-324894.

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APPENDIX A
USC Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
1. Strive to hit 90% voter registration for eligible USC students and 90% turnout for all
eligible students by January 2021.
2. Assist in assembling a diverse VoteSC Advisory Board composed of faculty and staff
who will meet regularly with the VoteSC coalition for coordination, serve as liaisons
to the school and sources of ideas, collaboration and coordination.
3. Work with VoteSC to increase USC registration and turnout rates through
programming, outreach and other strategies while ideating creative ways to engage
non-voting eligible populations, such as young, undocumented and international
students. These efforts could encompass election guides, events and opportunities for
civic engagement from ineligible students.
4. Work with VoteSC to provide support for voter registration efforts in the local
community.
5. Support VoteSC in establishing a PAC 12 Voting Challenge that would encourage
other schools within the PAC 12 Conference to increase their voter registration and
civic engagement efforts, using the University of Michigan’s Big 10 Challenge as a
template.
6. Commit to institutionalizing voter registration within the university by housing our
TurboVote link on the USC website homepage and supporting the integration of voter
registration into orientation, Welcome Week programming, and class registration by
January 2020.

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7. Send University-wide email blasts to students reminding them of voting dates and
deadlines as well as information for voter registration and education, provided by the
VoteSC coalition.
8. Support VoteSC's efforts in encouraging USC schools, deans and students to join the
coalition and 2020 Voting Challenge and holding them accountable to their pledges.

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APPENDIX B
USC 2020 Campus Action Plan
Executive Summary
This Action Plan serves as a guide for VoteSC’s new leadership to build upon the work
of the past leadership that founded the club. It adds clarity to the work that has been done while
establishing some tangible goals to advance our efforts as an organization. In the scenario where
USC remains online during Fall 2020, we will be doing our work exclusively online, but if we
are allowed to return to campus most of our work will occur on and around USC’s campus, but
we will make a point to incorporate various outside partners. This will include initiatives that
work alongside other college organizations and national organizations. After the work of the past
leadership, VoteSC is finally off the ground and we are entering a major election year, so it is
vital there is a strong plan in place so that our efforts are effective.
Leadership
VoteSC along with the Center for the Political Future (USC’s Institute of Politics within
the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences) are the main groups coordinating democratic
engagement efforts at USC. VoteSC is made up of an executive board that includes Amanda Li
and Christian Burks as Co-Presidents, Emily Caruso as Vice President and Director of Social
Media, Riya Mehta as the Director of Social Media & Marketing, Paola Morales and Hailey
Irwin as Co-Directors of Programming, and Hannah Franco and Erica Noll as Co-Directors of
Outreach. The responsibilities of each member are outlined in our organization’s constitution. In
addition to our executive board, we have general members that have been recruited to volunteer
at our larger-scale events. In the past, our executive board has met once a week, with general
member meetings being held as needed, however in the future we will be transitioning to more

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frequent and regularly held meetings with our volunteers to better coordinate our efforts in
advance of the 2020 election. Additionally, we’ve made it a priority to be at any necessary
partnership meetings on and around campus to strengthen relationships with our coalition
members (listed below). Additionally, we are in the process of establishing regular newsletter
and email updates to share with our coalition members as well as our general members.
Coalition Members
Internal (Within USC):
USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future
Political Student Assembly
Undergraduate Student Government
Student Assembly for Gender Empowerment
Environmental Student Assembly
Black Student Assembly
Asian Pacific American Student Assembly
Latinx Student Assembly
Queer and Ally Student Assembly
International Student Assembly
Graduate Student Government
USC College Democrats
Trojan Advocates for Political Progress
USC GOP
Trojans for Liberty
Trojans for Israel

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USC Hillel
Students for Justice in Palestine
Unruh Associates
Academic Culture Assembly
Phi Alpha Delta (Pre-Law Fraternity)
Society of Women in the Law
Residential Housing Association
USC Graduate School of Social Work
USC JEP (Joint Education Project)
Campus Activities (Gabe Valenzuela -Houses USG))
USC Office of Civic Engagement
Price School of Public Policy (Dean Knott)
External:
LA County Registrar (Jeff Klein and Dean Logan)
USC Office of Civic Engagement
CA Secretary of State’s Office (Lizette Matta)
Young Invincibles
Democracy Works (Turbo Vote)
All In Challenge
Commitment
The Center for the Political Future serves as USC’s main department on campus focused
on civic engagement, and as such is one of our key partners for on campus activities. The center
hosts events and conferences designed to create civil dialogue across partisan lines. It also helps

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connect students to scholarships and internships through public service and civic engagement.
USC also has an office of Civic Engagement, which specializes in efforts relating to volunteering
and supporting local community members, their business, and community organizations. We
have made strides in building a relationship with them, and they have shown significant support
of our work, but traditionally haven’t focused on the issue of voting. As such, we are currently
working with them to build a more extensive partnership that will allow us to expand our reach
into the local community. Overall, our University's mission statement and core values documents
acknowledge its role in the community, but as of now, there aren’t many tangible efforts in the
realm of civic and democratic engagement. However, the development of VoteSC over the past
few years has helped make strides in ensuring civic engagement and voting rights remain within
the conscience of the University administration. Though the COVID19 crisis has shifted the
University’s priorities, at least for the moment, we look forward to further collaboration with
USC administrators.
Landscape
Within USC, there is a limited presence of civic learning and democratic engagement in
our curriculum. Most efforts related to these causes are seen outside of the classroom. For
example, the Center for the Political Future actively provides students with internship and
scholarship opportunities, and there are numerous political organizations on campus. Many of
these organizations on campus are a part of VoteSC’s coalition and some of them have their own
civic engagement efforts (i.e. Trojan Advocates for Political Progress - Phone Banking,
Canvassing, rallies; College Dems - Invite local representatives to their weekly meetings,
canvassing, rallies). However, there is cause for concern when considering the students that are
reached by these organizations. Not only is there overlapping participation within many of these

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organizations, but many of the participants have a political, public service, or government related
major (i.e. Political Science, International Relations, Philosophy, Politics, and Law, Public
Policy, etc.), while students of apolitical majors tend to show significantly less engagement.
However, it is not that the University has been explicitly opposed to civic engagement
efforts. Rather, the main internal obstacles have been the changes within the University's
administration since the beginning of 2019, which resulted in a new University President,
Provost, and Vice President of Student Affairs. In addition to the main leadership, many campus
departments have undergone internal leadership changes. Given that many of our key partners
are getting familiar with their positions, adding additional work has been difficult. Additionally,
initiatives within the colleges can often be siloed across university departments. In these cases,
one department's work has gone unseen by other related campus groups and departments, so we
are being careful about our communication efforts to avoid this.
Of course, our ability to coordinate with the USC administration and engage in traditional
civic engagement events faces unprecedented circumstances due to the COVID19 pandemic.
Regardless of whether USC returns to class in the fall in person (with or without restrictions) or
continues to be online, the priorities of much of the administration have understandably shifted
towards managing the University's efforts and response to the pandemic. This means any civic
engagement efforts are likely to take a backseat or be outright tabled for the time being,
complicating our ability to effectively communicate and coordinate with the administration. Like
other student-led organizations across the country, our prior plans for the fall are clouded in
uncertainty, and our e-board is taking the time this summer to plan specific strategies for the
different scenarios possible for the fall as thoroughly as possible.

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As far as external barriers, our main problem has been re-establishing a polling location
on our campus. The recent shift to extensive voting centers in California has presented new
challenges in terms of space and money. Our campus is limited on venue spaces that would be
appropriate for housing a polling location. The one space we have has a limited availability and
is costly. We are looking to get these fees waived/covered but we have seen little success thus far
in meeting with the new VP of Student Affairs who would help with this, and the COVID19
pandemic has made such a meeting less likely in the imminent future.
In terms of our campus demographics, USC’s unique international and out of state
problems leads us to face unique challenges in regard to encouraging voting or civic
engagement. For our international students ineligible to vote and often distanced from the
tangible impact of U.S. politics, this is a particularly difficult problem for us. We have to
regularly examine our efforts to ensure that we are inclusive and fostering engagement despite
them not voting, whether it be through holding programming centered on civically informing and
engaging international students with the local community or recruiting them as volunteers for
other events. Additionally, about 40% of our students come from out-of-state and we have to be
ready to accommodate each of their voting needs. This can include addressing barriers that aren't
present for in-state voters (i.e. early deadlines, stamp needs, ballot notarization, etc.).
Additionally, California’s same day in-person voter registration laws ease our ability to
accommodate for out-of-state students.
Goals
As a nonpartisan student organization, VoteSC seeks to make voting more accessible to
students by removing barriers and increasing the information available on voting, elections and
civic engagement as well as to promote a campus culture of voter awareness, education,

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registration and turnout. Our mission is to increase voter turnout and campus civic engagement
on campus.
Continuous/Long Term Goals:
• We want students to know the importance of voting.
• We want students to be registered to vote, if eligible.
• We want students to make voting a priority and cultivate a culture of voting on campus.
• We want to continue to develop ways to incorporate students who aren’t eligible to vote
• We want to remedy any challenges students have for voting. (i.e. ballot notarization,
stamps, general confusion around the process, etc.)
• We want our efforts to be inclusive of faculty, staff, and surrounding community
members. (USC is one of the largest employers in Los Angeles and is located in an
extremely diverse community, so it’s important that we don’t limit our outreach or
resources to just students. At the same time, this is something that campus partners and
local organizations can help with.)
• We want to raise our registration and Voting Rate
• We want to have voter registration institutionalized through orientation, class registration,
housing, or some form of regular student life
• We want to expand our coalition to be more inclusive, especially of underrepresented
communities
Short Term Goals:
• Get an accessible and prominent vote center on campus
• Cement our partnership with Student Affairs

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• Increase institutionalization through Welcome Week and Orientation Activities that will
encourage new students to register to vote upon arriving on campus
• Expand our outreach to the graduate student population and Health Science Campus
• Strengthen our partnership with Athletics
• Host programming with the focus of making our coalition be more inclusive, especially
of underrepresented communities and apolitical majors
• Host “Voting 101” and other educational and engaging events to reduce voter apathy and
resolve misconceptions and concerns about voting
• In the event of an online semester, encourage the University to send an email outlining
how students can still vote or what their status is
• Increase student awareness of the nature of California’s vote centers (i.e. you can vote
across several days rather than just on election day)
• Increase student awareness about the ability of mail-in or absentee ballots to quell
potential fears of voting in the context of a pandemic
Many of these goals are specifically outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding we
shared with our University President, Dr. Carol Folt in September and Jack Knott, Dean of the
Price School of Public Policy. Dean Knott was the first campus administrator to support our
early efforts in 2018 and Dr. Folt is a new supporter of our efforts.
Voter Registration
• Achieve 90% voter registration for eligible students and 90% turnout for all eligible
students by Jan. 2021

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• Create campus-wide voting initiative, comprised of various and diverse representatives,
that expands a voting challenge to peer universities and supports community-based voter
engagement outside of campus
Creating a Voting Coalition
• Expand campus voting coalition to encompass more student organizations and campus
departments to solicit more feedback and to access more students
• Create VoteSC Advisory Board comprised of USC faculty and administrators to
coordinate efforts and leverage connections and communication and to convene all the
disparate USC schools
• Form partnership with USC Athletics to engage student athletes and incorporate voting
into campus culture
• Work with USC administration to send out campus-wide email blasts, incorporating
voting into courses and orientations, and otherwise institutionalize and expand voting
efforts, such as through hosting our TurboVote link on the myUSC widget
• Participate and work with the PAC 12 Voting Challenge that would encourage other
schools within the PAC 12 Conference to increase their voter registration and civic
engagement efforts, using the University of Michigan’s Big 10 Challenge as a template
• Expand voting engagement to local community (through collaboration with the Office of
Civic Engagement at USC) through working with community organizations and schools
to provide educational materials and pre-register students to vote
• Work with Graduate Student Government and other partners to better reach graduate
populations

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Organizational Goals
• Expand social media presence and incorporate educational and motivational materials,
such as voter testimonials and infographics
• Begin to meet more frequently with general members and expand our volunteer base
• Establish a culture of civic engagement among students, faculty, staff, and community
members through integration into basic school/community functions
• Meet potential voters where they naturally congregate through year-round outreach at
pre-existing events
• Become a consistent presence across prominent campus spaces
Strategy
Events and Activities in the Works:
• Voter Registration Drives (in Spring and Fall Semesters, and on both campuses)
• Establishing a Polling Location on Campus
• Campus Wide Emails and VoteSC Newsletter
• Social Media Campaigns - Voting Deadlines, How to Register, What is the Census, etc.
• Weekly Tabling on Trousdale and Office Hours with VoteSC for students that have more
questions about the voting process
• Classroom, Club Meeting, and Cultural Center visits and pitches
• Special Edition of the Daily Trojan - An insert in our campus newspaper with voting
resources and FAQs
• Election Countdown on the Media Wall in Wallis Annenberg Hall (School of
Communications and Journalism)
• General Election Watch Party with the Center for the Political Future

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• Create a Voting Month template for RA’s to use in campus dorms
• Partnership with Office of Civic Engagement to reach surrounding community
• Establishing a curriculum for JEP to share with local high schools to help them plan
registration drives and start voting organizations on their campus
All of these projects will be planned and staffed by VoteSC’s executive board and general
members. Some projects will be collaborations with current or future partners, and our efforts
will not strictly be limited to those listed above.
Reporting & Evaluation
Most of our marketing and reporting will occur on social media and through our website.
Currently we are sharing select NSLVE statistics through social media, but we hope to have also
update our website with that information. We also have data available from our partners at
TurboVote, which is shared in our social channels and newsletters to stakeholders as a motivator
to continue the efforts to expand voting accessibility on campus throughout the run-up to the
2020 election. As touched on earlier, we are also establishing a newsletter strategy to effectively
keep in touch with our partners and coalition members, with several different newsletters
targeting different groups in order to ensure we are reaching our audiences as best we can. One
newsletter will be weekly, to share with general members and interested students opportunities to
get involved with VoteSC. Another will be a bi-weekly newsletter to share with coalition
members and a monthly newsletter to share with campus administrators and outside
organizations to update them on our progress and encourage them to get involved with VoteSC.
Evaluation of our efforts will be carried out by a committee made up of the involved
stakeholders. The leadership of VoteSC will sit on the committee, alongside with representatives
of campus partners such as the President’s Office and the Center for the Political Future, and

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invites may be sent to other stakeholder partners that operate off-campus. The purpose of this
committee is to evaluate the progress on VoteSC’s stated goals as outlined above and provide
guidance on how to best move forward. The committee will review efforts after each election
and use these meetings to develop strategies to tackle voting on campus for the subsequent
election. The information gathered and discussed will serve to inform USC’s decision-making
needs on how to best aid students in voting on campus, and how to encourage a higher
registration and turnout rate.
Some methods of data collection and metrics that VoteSC has used thus far include a
Qualtrics survey distributed via departmental emails, TurboVote analytics, as well as the top-line
data provided by the NSLVE report. In the future, VoteSC aims to have more direct data, as we
are currently working on a partnership with several on-campus departments to better source our
data. Above all, during future election cycles we aim to understand why students are or are not
voting, what the biggest barriers they face to voting on campus are, and the demographic data
that can inform how we deploy our efforts to register students to vote.
As outlined in our goals, our performance indicators are mainly in the percentage
increase in registered students and students turning out to vote. We have lofty goals in place and
are hoping that our concerted efforts will help us achieve them in the run-up to the 2020 election.
Results will be available on our website, social media, and newsletter push.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract The American voting experience is rife with problems, including significant barriers to voting and technical issues, that often leave voters confused and frustrated with the process. In addition to these usual issues, the 2020 presidential election took place during a global pandemic and a large-scale civil rights movement, with a White House administration that made multiple baseless accusations of voter fraud throughout the election cycle. Despite these problems, there was one unifying force: a national call for voter registration and turnout. This paper explores the issue of voter engagement by reviewing the history of voting and analyzing the strategies and tactics used by California-based and national nonpartisan organizations as a model for how to mobilize voters. The first section provides a brief history of voting rights and examines the current state of voting, including voter suppression methods and the importance of the youth vote. The second section analyzes the modern communication strategies and tactics nonpartisan nonprofit organizations, higher education institutions, and local and state government agencies used to encourage voter engagement in the 2020 presidential election. The third section analyzes the role of advocacy within the public relations profession with the goal of providing guidance to young public relations professionals joining the industry. The fourth section lists recommendations that organizations considering launching voter engagement initiatives should incorporate into their strategy to successfully mobilize voters and increase voter engagement. The final section lists the author's personal goals and hopes for the 2020 presidential election, including election results and voter turnout outcomes, as well as for future elections.

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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

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Asset Metadata

Creator Plaza, Kristy (author)

Core Title Voter engagement in the 2020 presidential election: what we can learn from the voter engagement initiatives in California-based and national nonpartisan organizations to increase voter participation

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 12/12/2020

Defense Date 12/08/2020

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag 2020 presidential election,advocacy,California,civic engagement,election 2020,nonpartisan organizations,OAI-PMH Harvest,Public Relations,social media,U.S. elections,voter engagement,Voter registration,voter suppression,voter turnout,voting,voting rights,youth vote

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Floto, Jennifer Dayle (committee chair), Kim, Su Jung (committee member), LeVeque, Matthew K. (committee member)

Creator Email kplaza@usc.edu,plazakristy@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-405705

Unique identifier UC11668439

Identifier etd-PlazaKrist-9199.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-405705 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-PlazaKrist-9199.pdf

Dmrecord 405705

Document Type Thesis

Rights Plaza, Kristy

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA