Rock the Vote Goes Mobile for March 4th Primaries

From Iowa to Wisconsin, young voters have taken this election by force. In every primary and caucus this year not only have young adults increased their turnout at the polls, but more importantly they have been leading a movement– demanding to be heard and standing up for their future.

With the Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island primaries on the horizon, we are building on this incredible engagement and momentum among young people and arming them with tools to make a difference in their own communities.

Rock the Vote is launching a “Text to Turnout” campaign encouraging young voters to get out the vote through text messaging. On the Primary Election Day in these four states we are asking young people to participate in a text chain by texting 10 of their friends, asking them to head to the polls. The message is simple; take a stand in this election, ‘rock the vote’ on March 4th.


In addition to the text campaign, we will be distributing organizing toolkits for local volunteers on the ground to distribute flyers and educational materials to young voters. [downloadable flyers available here]


“This campaign builds on the success we have seen throughout the early contests thus far where we have been reaching out to young people through technologies such as mobile marketing, online networking and on the ground get-out-the-vote events. We know text messaging in particular is a quick, easy and effective tool for turning out young voters,” said Heather Smith Executive Director, Rock the Vote. “Rock the Vote’s poll released today shows that 60% of young people are talking to their friends about politics right now. We will make sure they are talking and texting their friends to turnout on March 4th.”


This year, Rock the Vote has teamed up with AT&T to launch a mobile outreach program which includes a massive opt in text list allowing us to organize millions to mobilize their peers to vote through text messaging. A study conducted in 2006 showed a measurable 4.2 percentage point increase in the likelihood of someone voting after receiving a text message.


Throughout this year, we will be conducting text polls to uncover the issues that matter most to young people and asking them to send in questions for the candidates, providing a direct link to the political campaigns and forcing them to address young people’s issues.


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 45 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