ROCK THE VOTE JOINS 40 CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS CALLING ON DEBATE MODERATORS TO ADDRESS VOTING RIGHTS

Rock the Vote President Ashley Spillane released the following statement about the call on presidential debate hosts to discuss voting rights:

“Rock the Vote is proud to stand alongside 40 civil and human rights groups that are calling on voting rights to become an issue in the presidential debates. We are urging tonight’s debate host, CNBC, to make the third Republican presidential debate the first that asks our country’s potential future leader what it would do to strengthen the Voting Rights Act. In addition, we co-signed a letter to MSNBC president Phil Griffin to do the same when the news network hosts the second Democratic debate in November. Voting rights are one of our country’s most critical issues, and following the Supreme Court’s decision in 2013 to strike down parts of the Voting Rights Act, voters need to know where the candidates stand in restoring those rights.”

About Rock the Vote

Rock the Vote is the largest non-profit and non-partisan organization in the United States building the political power of young people. Fusing pop culture, politics, and technology, Rock the Vote works to mobilize the millennial voting bloc and the youth vote, protect voting rights, and advocate for an electoral process and voting system that works for the 21st century electorate. Since 1990, Rock the Vote has revolutionized the use of pop culture, music, art and technology to inspire political activity. Now, for almost 25 years, Rock the Vote has pioneered ways to make voting easier by simplifying and demystifying voter registration and elections for young adults.

Rock the Vote has run the largest voter registration drives for young people on record during the past six Presidential elections. In 2008 and 2012, our on-the-ground efforts, online organizing, and cutting-edge tools and technologies made us the largest non-partisan voter engagement campaign in the nation. All of these efforts have resulted in Rock the Vote processing nearly seven million voter registrations, bringing millions more to the polls, and becoming a trusted resource for young people, government agencies, and technological innovators passionate about political discourse and engagement.