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Program empowers high-school-aged Americans to fight for common-sense gun reform by voting
Las Vegas, NV — Today, Our Lives, Our Vote, a nationwide initiative to organize high school students led by NextGen America, Giffords, Everytown for Gun Safety, and ACRONYM, announced that it has reached its program goal of registering 50,000 young Americans to vote. Since the program launched in April, the four partners have invested more than $1.8 million in registering and pre-registering eligible teenage Americans across ten states with the goal of electing candidates who will enact common-sense gun reform legislation. Through a combination of direct mail, digital advertising, and field organizing with community grassroots organizations, Our Lives, Our Vote (OLOV) is working to mobilize young people to vote for gun safety at the ballot box on November 6.
“We are witnessing an immense outpouring of political energy from young people all over the country,” said OLOV Program Manager Alexandra Farrington. “Online and in the streets, young Americans are demanding a solution to the gun violence epidemic and an end to the dangerous policies of the Trump Administration and its NRA-aligned Republican allies. Our program is working to channel the power of their activism into votes — because when we all vote, we have the power and numbers to achieve real, substantive change.”
OLOV registered more than 50,000 high-schooled-aged Americans to vote in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin, where NRA-backed candidates are up for election or re-election in competitive House and Senate races. The program’s field team worked with partners to canvass in neighborhoods, table on high school campuses, present in classrooms, and host creative events to encourage young people to register to vote. The initiative also awarded grants to various local organizations already engaged in voter-registration work in their communities, including the March for Our Lives, the Future Coalition, and PLAN.
In addition to its field organizing, OLOV used an innovative engagement strategy that utilized direct mail and digital advertising to register 18- and 19-year olds. Notably, the program sent “birthday packages” that included voter registration forms to newly-eligible voters when they turned 18, and targeted young voters with online advertisements that urged their audience to register. In states where it was legal, the program pre-registered 17-year olds who would be eligible to vote by November 6. Through digital advertising, OLOV also reached and registered thousands of young voters through the platforms they’re spending more and more time on, including Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
With less than three weeks until Election Day, Our Lives, Our Vote is committed to elevating the voices of high-school-aged Americans and empowering them to vote out NRA-backed politicians who refuse to prioritize their safety. Young Americans are passionate, determined, and hungry for progressive change — and as the largest eligible voting bloc, they are the key to flipping Congress and taking back state houses on November 6.
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