Contact
Laila Hirschfeld
(202) 624-1739
lhirschfeld@usaction.org

(Washington, DC)—The face of this year’s electorate was radically changed, in part due to an unprecedented effort by USAction Education Fund’s 19 state partners.  Together,  USAEF’s partners registered more than half a million voters and attempted more than 10 million individual contacts in an effort to turnout 1.2 million voters across the nation.  The majority of those registered and encouraged to vote were single women and people of color—communities that have historically been disenfranchised or under represented.

"Yesterday’s extraordinary turnout was no accident," said USAEF Executive Director Jeff Blum.  "We did everything within our power to help make democracy work for all Americans.  The more people who participate, the better off we are as a nation."

USAEF’s efforts included a massive non-partisan volunteer call program that logged nearly 2,300 volunteer hours in the weekend before the election—that’s more than an average full time employee works in a year.

"We had 1100 volunteers come through to make calls, and were able to contact 56,000 people," said Richard Kirsch, Executive Director of USAEF’s New York partner, the Public Policy and Education Fund of New York, which organized the calling program in five states.  

In addition to Florida voters who were contacted by mail and pre-recorded phone calls, 2500 volunteers knocked on 700,000 doors and made nearly 300,000 calls.  Canvassers in the Tampa area knocked on about 80,000 doors on Election Day.

In four states—Florida, Iowa, Wisconsin and Nevada—USAEF partnered with Women's Voices, Women's Vote to increase turnout among unmarried women.

"Everything we did was done to make voting easier for people who haven’t voted much in the past," said USAEF Civic Engagement Program Associate Rhonda Russell, who ran the WVWV program in Orlando.  "We arranged rides to the polls, we distributed voters' bills of rights, and in Tampa and Orlando, we provided free child care through a program called 'Mommy Vote.'"

USAEF worked with partners in 19 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Maine Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. 

Much of the organizing happened at a local level, and most USAEF partners involved in this project plan to continue their civic engagement work beyond this election. 

"The place to build this movement is at the ground level—in our local communities, and with the help of other leaders in our community," said Kirsch.  "All our state organizations vary in size and influence, but what is clear is that we have all grown dramatically through this program, and our reach has been broadened.  And that’s exciting."

USAEF will report voter turnout numbers as they become available in the more than 2,000 precincts our partners worked to register and turn out voters.

"We're waiting for the final data to come in, but we are encouraged by what appears to be record turnout of newly registered and infrequent voters," said Blum.  "It shows us that we accomplished what we set out to do, which was to try and make democracy work for everyone."

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USAction Education Fund is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to research and education concerning issues of racial, social and economic justice.  The organization works with partners in 24 states to help increase civic participation and advocate for consumers.  Members of the media who wish to interview USAEF board member William McNary, Executive Director Jeff Blum or other members of our staff should contact Laila Hirschfeld at (202) 624-1739.