Businesses can significantly impact voter turnout by empowering customers to make their voices heard. As a business, your nonpartisan civic engagement efforts will help build trust in your brand. Celebrating Vote Early Day is a win-win for companies, customers, and democracy!
The goal of every Vote Early Day celebration is to help as many voters as possible take measurable steps toward casting their ballot in a fun and engaging atmosphere. We encourage each business partner to design a celebration that best fits the needs of their unique customer group. This guide will help provide some inspiration and suggestions for activation ideas, but how you celebrate is up to you!
You can learn more about the successes of businesses that engage in Civic Responsibility here.
Goals:
For Vote Early Day celebrations, partners should measure their success nationwide by the number of voters who take one (or more) of the following actions:
- Casting a Ballot: How many people drop off their mail ballot or cast a vote in person as part of your Vote Early Day celebration
- Making a Plan to Vote: How many people create a concrete plan for when and where they will cast their ballot
- Looking Up Voter Information: How many people use the Vote Early Day voter tool or find information from a local election office.
As you begin to plan out your activation, you can use this worksheet to determine an achievable goal for your organization.
Celebrate by Engaging with Customers
Overview:
Vote Early Day is an opportunity to encourage your customers to cast their ballot early by making it fun and easy! It is the perfect opportunity to have an exciting celebration and show your community how much your business cares about our democracy. For even more exposure, you can post about your activation online and use #VoteEarlyDay to amplify the celebration to a national audience.
Examples:
- Create a promotional campaign around voting early: [Tier 2 – Community Impact]
Draw customers into your business with a special Vote Early Day celebration, decorate your space with Vote Early Day posters and swag, and set up a display to hand out resources for voting early. Have your employees wear Vote Early Day gear—we’ll send the stickers and posters! - Lean into what makes your business unique: [Tier 2 – Community Impact]
Plan a celebration centered around what your business does best. In the past, businesses have found some creative ways to combine their products and services with Voting Early:- Bars created special Vote Early Day drinks
- Dance companies organized “Dance to the Polls” recitals
- Bookstores curated displays of political and election-related favorite reads
- Coffee shops hosted panel discussions with local election officials and community leaders about why elections matter
- App-based companies pushed messaging to users within their platform
- Ice cream shops hosted pop-up events near locations for voting early
With any of these celebrations, include a “call to action.” Help your customers make a plan to vote early using our online voter tool or by filling out a plan-to-vote postcard.
Why this celebration works:
With a special event, people have a fun reason to cast their ballot and engage with your business on Vote Early Day. Instead of being just an item on their to-do list, voting becomes the highlight of their day! A community celebration is also a low barrier to entry into our democracy for people intimidated by politics.
Celebrate by Sharing the Tools to Vote Early
Overview:
Vote Early Day encourages you to use your business’s platform to help ensure that voters have the resources they need to cast their ballots early. This is an easy and effective way to not only show your customers how much you care about democracy but also nudge them to get out and make their voices heard.
Examples:
- Launch a #VoteEarlyDay social media campaign: [Tier 1 – Neighborhood Impact]
Empower your customers by sharing resources for voting early on social media. Direct your audience to Vote Early Day’s online voter tool, where they can find out where to vote and make a plan. Encourage your customers to post selfies with their “I voted” stickers after they vote early and share them on your account. Check out our sample social media posts and graphics for inspiration, and don’t forget to use #VoteEarlyDay to amplify your message! - Integrate Vote Early Day resources into your online platform: [Tier 2 – Community Impact]
Help your customers learn more about voting early and drive traffic to your website simultaneously! Integrate the Vote Early Day online voter tool into your website or other platform and make it easy for your customers to get all the resources they need to cast their ballot early. - Help your employees vote early: [Tier 2 – Community Impact]
Encourage your employees to make their voices heard by casting their ballots early! Send out workplace-wide emails leading up to and on Vote Early Day to let them know about their options for voting early. Include a link to our online voter tool to help them make a plan to vote and find their locations for voting early. Consider giving employees time off on Vote Early Day to ensure they have time to cast their ballots early. - Send out an email blast about voting early: [Tier 1 – Neighborhood Impact]
Ensure your customers know their options for voting early by sending out an email blast or mentioning Vote Early Day in your newsletter. Direct them to our online voter tool to find their location for voting early (in person or with a ballot drop box). - Give a pitch encouraging employees to vote early during a meeting: [Tier 1 – Neighborhood Impact]
Give a brief pitch about voting early at the beginning of a staff meeting. Share nonpartisan reasons why voting is important and reflects your company’s values. Using the Vote Early Day online voter tool or our print-at-home postcards, ensure everyone leaves with a plan for casting their ballot early. You can find a sample script here.
Why this celebration works:
Sharing resources for voting early helps build trust in your brand and reminds the public how important this election is! By encouraging your customers to share their voting experience online, you help create a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) for anyone who hasn’t joined the fun.
Studies also show that people are much more likely to vote if they make a concrete plan for how they will cast their ballot. When you share Vote Early Day’s online voter tool, you make it easy for voters to make this plan.