Taylor Swift gets 35,000 people to register to vote
The pop star’s Instagram post on National Voter Registration Day boosted sign-ups through the nonpartisan website Vote.org.
Look what she made you do.
More than 35,000 people registered to vote after pop superstar Taylor Swift posted a request for her fans to participate in upcoming elections.
“I’ve been so lucky to see so many of you guys at my US shows recently,” Swift posted to her Instagram Stories on Sept. 19, which was National Voter Registration Day. “I’ve heard you raise your voices, and I know how powerful they are. Make sure you’re ready to use them in our elections this year!”
Swift then posted a link to Vote.org, a nonpartisan organization that helps people register to vote across the country.
Vote.org said Swift’s post led 35,252 people to register to vote in one day, the highest single-day voter registration number the group has seen since 2020, the group told Teen Vogue.
“Vote.org saw record-breaking traffic to our site this week as we celebrated National Voter Registration Day, a highly encouraging sign of voter enthusiasm especially among newly eligible voters,” Vote.org CEO Andrew Hailey told Teen Vogue. “Time and time again young people are showing up and demonstrating they care about their rights and access to the ballot box.”
Swift has endorsed a handful of Democrats in the last few years. In 2018, she endorsed Democrat and former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen in the Tennessee U.S. Senate race, though he ultimately lost to Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn. In 2020, she endorsed Joe Biden for president.
Vote.org did not release a state-by-state breakdown of the number of registrations Swift inspired.
For Pennsylvanians, registering to vote became easier after Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro announced the state will now use a system that will automatically register eligible voters when they go to get a driver’s license or ID card at a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation driver license center.
Like Swift, Shapiro made the announcement on National Voter Registration Day.
“Automatic voter registration is a commonsense step to ensure election security and save Pennsylvanians time and tax dollars,” Shapiro said in a statement.” Residents of our Commonwealth already provide proof of identity, residency, age, and citizenship at the DMV – all the information required to register to vote — so it makes good sense to streamline that process with voter registration.”
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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