This is an overview of what Vote Early Day is and the role this holiday plays in mobilizing voters across the country. As you build your activation, use these messages as a guide when you communicate with voters, volunteers, partner organizations, and members of the media.
About Vote Early Day:
Vote Early Day is a nonpartisan movement of media companies, businesses, nonprofits, election administrators, and creatives working to ensure all Americans have the tools to vote early. This holiday is a tentpole moment for partners of all stripes to engage with voters and urge them to cast their ballots.
It is our goal to change the culture around voting and make Election Day the LAST day to vote.
Created in 2020, Vote Early Day has brought thousands of national and local partners together in celebration and activation to increase the number of people voting early. This collaborative, open-source model—similar to Giving Tuesday and National Voter Registration Day—ensures that millions more Americans take advantage of their options to vote early through on-the-ground activations, get-out-the-vote pushes, national communications on traditional and social media, and efforts to create a new culture around voting.
2024 GOALS:
- Empower voters by urging them to take 1,000,000 powerful, measurable steps toward casting a ballot
- Recruit a broad collaboration of 200 national and 4,000 local partners to build a day of action for our democracy
- Do the long-term work to make Election Day the last day to vote
The Vote Early Day Model and Why This Strategy is Impactful
Overcoming Barriers to Vote
When you wait until Election Day, there are a number of barriers that could prevent you from casting a ballot—long lines, last-minute obligations, confusing election laws, and voter disinformation. When you vote early, you have time to plan ahead for anything that might come your way and make sure your voice is heard.
Meet People Where They Are
By bringing on thousands of amazing partners from all walks of life, we can break through the political noise — no matter where voters live, who they are, or how they vote.
Partners are the Bridge to Low Propensity Voters
While people who follow the news closely or volunteer in politics will hear countless reminders to vote, many voters will go without. That is why we actively reach out to sports teams, social media platforms, fashion brands, national food banks, and many other diverse groups to meet voters where they are with the information they need to vote early.
Impactful Celebration
Vote Early Day is a day of celebration, which is critically important to our success. With partisan politics as toxic as ever, it’s no surprise that many Americans decide to opt out of participating. Vote Early Day plays a unique role in encouraging Americans to vote early by making it fun and accessible, drawing in new voices and perspectives to the civic space!
When Vote Early Day partners build fun and exciting activations, we are lowering the barrier for entry that keeps many people out of their democracy.
Meeting the Moment
Each year voters are faced with incredibly important decisions on who will lead our nation, state, or community. Each one of us has the responsibility to share our voices and lift up the voices of our friends and neighbors. Whether it’s the bright lights of a presidential election or the lesser-known local races, Vote Early Day partners are committed to making sure every American has the tools to cast their ballot early.
Choose Your Own Adventure
Vote Early Day is an open-source holiday. Just like there is no right or wrong way to celebrate Halloween or the 4th of July, there is no one way to celebrate Vote Early Day. Each partner gets to build a voter turnout event that is meaningful and impactful for their community.
Measuring our Success
Vote Early Day partners are asked to focus their events around a “vote early action,” like getting participants to cast their ballot, make a plan to vote, or look up where they can obtain or drop off their ballot. When partners collect data about how many people took these steps towards making their voices heard, we better understand the breadth of this movement and its impact on voters.
The Momentum is Growing
During the last presidential election, defined by a global pandemic, Americans voted early in record-breaking numbers. Over 100 million people cast their ballot ahead of Election Day, more than the total early vote in the 2016 and 2018 elections combined. We have seen early voting increase year after year, and 2024 will provide a critical opportunity to prove we can change the culture of voting by making Election Day the last day to vote. We know Vote Early Day partners are eager to rise to meet this challenge.
Messaging Guide
Messaging goals:
- Celebrate the act of voting early!
- Spread information about how, where, and when people can vote early.
- Drive people to find and take advantage of their vote early options through Vote Early Day’s online voter tool.
- Bring in new voices to the civic conversation by recruiting a wide range of new partners and supporters.
- Make voting early the norm rather than the exception by showing people that Election Day is just the last day to vote.
Talking points for voting early:
- Millions of Americans are eligible to cast their ballot ahead of Election Day.
- The vast majority of voters have multiple options for how they can cast their ballot early— they can vote in person or by mail at a time that is convenient for them.
- When Americans vote early, they ensure last-minute problems, long lines at the polls, or confusing election laws cannot prevent them from casting their ballot.
- We’ve seen early voting numbers break records in 2018, 2020, and 2022!
Talking points for Vote Early Day:
- The goal of Vote Early Day is to increase the number of people voting early by giving voters the knowledge and tools to cast their ballot ahead of Election Day.
- Vote Early Day is more than a day of action—it’s a holiday! This is an opportunity to help your community make their voices heard and have fun while doing it.
- We are a trusted, nonpartisan movement dedicated to ensuring that every American has the knowledge and tools to cast their ballot early.
- Vote Early Day’s success comes from the strength of our partnerships. Groups big and small from across the country come together to rally around a tentpole moment of celebration and activation, and together we empower Americans to make their voices heard.
Messaging tips:
- When voters have questions about how to cast a ballot, they look to trusted organizations like you! Be proactive in offering resources and encouragement.
- Many people assume that Election Day is the only day to vote, so be sure to let them know that they have options to vote early! If your organization represents a particular state, county, or region, highlight the specific options for voting early in that area. You can find those on your local election authority’s website or by using our online voter tool.
- Keep the energy fun, engaging, and inviting.
- Make sure to keep your messaging nonpartisan by steering away from any discussion of candidates, political parties, or ballot issues.
- Personal messages—such as why members of your team vote early—are often the most moving and persuasive to potential voters.
- When you post online, always include a video or photo where possible and make sure to tag #VoteEarlyDay.
- Keep your messaging nonpartisan by not including endorsements of candidates, parties, or ballot issues in any of your vote early messaging.
- Every message should include some kind of call to action. Try to direct your audience to take a concrete step toward casting a ballot, such as:
- Locating their polling location
- Making a plan to vote
- Pledging to vote
- Requesting their mail ballot
- Attending your Vote Early Day activation.