Sign our petition: Make October National Civic and Voter Education Month!

The Biden Administration

In 2022, just 23% of young people voted. 42% of young non-voters said they don't know enough to vote in 2024. That’s why we are leading the call to address a major – and often hidden form of voter suppression – the lack of adequate and trusted civic and voter education.  

A Band of Voters (ABOV) and a growing coalition of organizations, faculty, and students are asking for your support for a simple Presidential proclamation that can unleash the people’s power and substantially increase the turnout of youth and other underserved eligible voters.

Below is our letter to President Biden asking him to proclaim October 2024 the first National Civic and Voter Education Month (NCVE).  

This letter explains the necessity and urgency of this Executive Action. NCVE has the potential to activate 6,000 colleges and universities, 100,000 k-12 schools and 17,000 public libraries to educate, inspire, and mobilize 41 million Gen Z voters in 2024.  

Without a new and increasingly diverse generation of voters and civic leaders, our democracy cannot survive and thrive.  

Our public institutions – and the culture at large - need the President’s support to address the critical necessity of helping a new generation learn how to vote and why it matters.  

Please help our democracy and add your name to our petition!


To: The Biden Administration
From: [Your Name]

Dear President Biden,

As a coalition of nonprofits and young leaders working to register, educate, inspire, and turn out young voters, we are concerned about the future of our democracy. In the 2022 Midterms, just 23% of young people voted. Our democracy is under threat, and whether by neglect or intent, the largest bloc of voters was left behind — again. Young people have been left behind for decades, facing numerous systemic barriers and years of voter suppression tactics that deny them access to the ballot box.

It is clear you share our concerns and we truly appreciate the work you and Vice President Harris are doing to expand access to voting. We especially applaud Executive Order 14019, Promoting Access to Voting, and the current college tour of the Vice President shows the value you place on student voters. There is, however, one pernicious barrier not explicitly addressed in the EO, one that millions of young people and other low-propensity voters face - the ill-conceived gutting of civic and voter education.

President Biden, with the stroke of your pen, you can proclaim the month of October 2024 National Civic and Voter Education Month (NCVE) and take a decisive step to bring back civic and voter education to inform, grow, and turn out a new generation of voters.

Nothing will happen overnight, but this was the brainchild of Community College faculty who told us that Federal recognition would be the fastest way to help them bring civic and voter education back into the classroom and onto their campuses. For some faculty we’ve talked to, it would also offer support to those afraid to bring up anything that could be interpreted as "political" and worried about teaching anything election-related.

Like Hispanic Heritage or Black History Month, NCVE has the potential to systemically harness the creativity, energy, and people power of 6,000 public colleges and universities to activate 19 million college students. 98,000 K-12 public schools will graduate an estimated 3.9 million high school students in 2024. And with 17,000 public libraries, and 100’s of non-partisan grassroots organizations, young people, their parents, and communities will be able to find the civic education and voter support they need to access their political power and vote.

Such a systemic effort is desperately needed. In 2001, No Child Left Behind deemed civics a "soft subject" and removed it as a required test for graduation. This virtually guaranteed it would not be taught in most public schools. As a result, in 2022, just 47% of Americans could name three branches of government. No wonder more young people aren’t voting. No wonder people don’t trust the government. They don’t know how it works.

In conversations with students, especially from underserved communities, we’ve learned that most young people want to vote on the issues that impact them, but lack the confidence that even a bit of civics and encouragement can make. We have seen remarkable increases in turnout when we support students, faculty, staff, and administration working together to create action plans, disseminate trusted information, and host peer-to-peer events and civic celebrations.

In one example, with funding and support from #VoteTogether, A Band of Voters, and MTV, UCLA students raised Midterm turnout from 4,500 in 2014 to over 16,000 in 2018. NCVE would provide a powerful framework to increase such activities and funding substantially, bringing back civic participation as a permanent staple of our educational system — and our culture.

President Biden, we know how much you, the First Lady, Vice President Harris, and your administration care about college students, equitable access to the ballot box, and democracy itself. Therefore, we respectfully, and urgently, ask that you proclaim October 2024 as the first National Civic and Voter Education Month and call upon public officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

Please help us ensure our democracy survives and thrives.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

A Band of Voters (ABOV)
ABOV Student Advisory Board

The Dolores Huerta Foundation

Voto Latino

March for Our Lives

Campus Voter Project

Future Coalition

March On

Generation Vote

WAVE

One Fair Wage

Operation Period