Organising Voters and Voter Registration

How civil society can support the crucial task of accountable elections in the pandemic

*Please note: the 'Safeguarding training for Leadership Groups' is being rescheduled for a later date.*

Join us this Thursday, 25th Feb from 16:00-17:15 for our Topical (and timely!) Learning Session on Organising Voters and Voter Registration.

Local elections for 2021 across the United Kingdom are fast approaching. It is vital for Citizens leaders to organise together for high voter turnout.

Elections currently scheduled to take place this year in May include local councils, 13 directly elected Mayors and 40 Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales. There will also be elections in the Parliaments and Assemblies of Scotland, Wales and London.

Citizens UK leaders have some exciting and important work to do - for example, 16 and 17 year olds in Wales will be eligible to vote for the first time this year, so maybe you want to make sure they know how to! Perhaps you are involved in one of Citizens UK's campaigns on tackling hate crime, and want to encourage high turnout for Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Or maybe you know that building political engagement is key for growing relational power around common self-interests.

One vital way to build the power of people-led campaigns is to motivate people to vote.

With many of these elections having already been delayed by a year, and with lockdown restrictions looking likely to stay in place across the UK for March and April, we need to organise effectively to minimise the risk of low voter turnout.

That is why Citizens UK is working with other organisations who care about democracy to launch an exciting programme of measures to push voter registration and turnout. We need your help to deliver this in a safe and engaging way.

Join our session on the 25th to hear from Citizens UK Organisers and Communication experts and get involved in our work on:

• Learning from successful strategies for online organising around voter registration pioneered in America during 2020 such as When We All Vote’s #CouchParty initiative.
• Guiding communities through the registration process. Hear about our work to create inclusive, multi-lingual information to support migrant communities eligible to vote and other voters who may not be aware that they can vote.
• Creative and strategic digital communications - how video from trusted leaders like you, combined with social media, can make a big difference

Register by filling in your details and you will receive the Zoom link for the session. Please remember to tell us which Citizens chapter you are a member of/your institution is thinking of joining.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Learning Thursdays Team