Rock the Vote Launches “Get out the Vote” Campaign
With just 20 days until Election Day, Rock the Vote is shifting its focus from voter registration to educating and turning out the 44 million eligible voters under 30. Already this year more than 2.3 million individuals have registered to vote through www.rockthevote.org, doubling 2004 numbers.
This week Rock the Vote is launching its first Get Out The Vote (GOTV) public service advertisement (PSA) featuring Entourage’s Adrian Grenier, and an online Election Center to provide its audience with all the information they need about casting a ballot. In addition, Rock the Vote has initiatives encouraging young people to pledge to vote on Election Day and to vote early in states where this is allowed.
The current economic and environmental situation in our country is top of mind for most young Americans, and millions around the country are responding by registering and pledging to vote in the upcoming elections. The PSA encourages others to join this movement and “ask themselves” if they will join their generation in voting for their futures. Directed by Matthew Welch at Savant Film and produced by Reconcile Productions, the team took every measure to ensure that the project was as environmentally responsible as possible, utilizing natural gas transportation, a local organic caterer, and reusable water bottles for the cast and crew.
The PSA will run locally in key states around the country. It will also be distributed through Comcast’s ad distributions network and Rock the Vote’s 2.5 million members engaged through our YouTube, Facebook, Myspace profiles, email list and field efforts.
The PSA directs individuals to Rock the Vote’s online Election Center, which supports all of our GOTV activities. The online hub provides information for young voters including a polling locator, information for absentee and overseas voters, resources for college students voting away from home, and a state-by-state guide to rules on identification and other polling requirements. A partnership with the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law and the Election Protection coalition provides a hotline for voters to receive information and report polling problems: 1-866-OUR-VOTE.
“As young people stand at the forefront of this historic election we want to ensure that young voters are educated on the issues and motivated to take action on election day. Our Get Out the Vote efforts will inspire young voters to take their future into their hands and forever change the perception of the youth vote,” said Heather Smith, Executive Director, Rock the Vote.
Earlier this year, Rock the Vote’s mobile bus tour took to the streets, to build our community street teams, engage new voters in person, and inspire millions to get involved. We’ve been criss-crossing the country with Rock the Vote’s Road Trip, a state of the art mobile bus that is registering voters and educating them on the issues at stake. Rock the Vote’s Road Trip will now focus efforts on distributing information on polling place locators, absentee ballots, and sharing the 1-866-OUR VOTE hot line number so individuals are prepared if they encounter any problems, as well as shuttling people to the polls in early voting states.
Our pledge to vote effort will not only collect voter contact information to be used in turnout efforts across the country but it will also ask individuals to bring their friends along to the polls with them on Election Day. And our early vote efforts include at least 20 ‘Early Election Day’ events being hosted by our volunteer street teams. Through this multi-faceted approach, Rock the Vote will work to ensure that young American’s voice is heard and their vote counted.
About Rock the Vote:
Rock the Vote’s mission is to engage and build the political power of young people in order to achieve progressive change in our country. Rock the Vote uses music, popular culture and new technologies to engage and incite young people to register and vote in every election. And we give young people the tools to identify, learn about, and take action on the issues that affect their lives, and leverage their power in the political process. Rock the Vote is creative, effective, and controlled by nobody’s agenda but our own – we tell it like it is and pride ourselves on being a trusted source for information on politics. We empower the 44 million young people in America who want to step up, claim their voice in the political process, and change the way politics is done. www.rockthevote.org
About Reconcile Productions:
Peter Glatzer and Adrian Grenier founded Reconcile productions in early 2008 with a mandate to produce and distribute content with an environmental message. They recently completed their first season of Alter Eco, a green lifestyle show, for Discovery’s Planet Green.