VoteRiders 2022 Impact Report: A Democracy at Risk

Dear friends,

At VoteRiders, we’ve long been aware of the damaging impact that voter ID laws have on our democracy – to say nothing of voters. An estimated 25 million voting-age Americans lack current, government-issued photo ID and may be unable to exercise their freedom to vote as a result. Many millions more are disenfranchised due to confusion.

Voter ID laws disproportionately affect and unfairly exclude the very communities that are already under-represented in our democracy: voters of color, young and student voters, Americans with disabilities, people who change their names (married women, trans and nonbinary individuals), and more. Our democracy works best when all of us can have a voice at the ballot box, but voter ID laws are making that harder by the day.

As the country’s leading organization focused on voter ID, we saw the need for our nonpartisan work exponentially increase in 2022.

In the wake of the 2020 elections, voters across the country faced a rapidly-rising tide of states with new or stricter voter ID laws. By November, 36 states had voter ID laws in place, with 11 states having passed new or stricter voter ID laws since 2020 that were in effect for the midterms. Forty million more Americans lived in states with voter ID laws than when VoteRiders was founded in 2012. The threat to our democracy posed by voter ID laws had never been greater.

But VoteRiders rose to meet the challenges of this moment.

We supported seven million voters across the country with the voter ID information and free help they needed to cast a ballot that counted (nearly five times our 2020 reach!). And it made all the difference as we saw the decisive impact that voter ID work can have when achieved at scale.

Thank you for being the key to our success!

Lauren Kunis

CEO and Executive Director | VoteRiders

“Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part…” – Rep. John Lewis’s posthumous address, July 30, 2020

2022 BY THE NUMBERS

7,000,000+ voters directly reached (grew 400% over 2021)
1,000,000 Voter ID Information cards printed and shipped for free to partners
800,000 voter contacts by partner organizations with our voter ID resources
140,000 handwritten letters to voters
3,700,000 text messages sent by volunteers
9,000 volunteers (grew 55% over 2021)
1,155 partner organizations (grew 33% over 2021)
7,500 calls or texts to our Helpline/Chatbot (378% increase in traffic from 2021)
11,000 individuals helped to obtain ID and/or underlying documents

Voters Need VoteRiders: Voter Stories

The stories of the voters we’ve empowered and the lives we’ve changed are as motivating as they are heartening. This year, VoteRiders helped nearly one thousand Americans a month to obtain the ID they needed for voting – an ID many also used to unlock new opportunities related to housing, healthcare, employment, and more.

“I can just see how important VoteRiders is for the state of Arizona.” – Stephen

“It’s so important to me as a citizen to fulfill this duty.” – Mercedes

“People without any identification or anything – they’re trapped. Thank God for VoteRiders.” – Rosari

“I want to have my chance to vote and have my vote counted. Now I have everything I need to do that.” – Keith

“I’ll be more comfortable. Once your pronouns are on your ID, there’s nothing to worry about.” – Chanel

“Wow! Thank you again for that golden nugget of info letting me know it may be possible to use my out-of-state driver’s license that is still valid!”

“Can’t thank you enough for your quick response and great suggestions. Such an important election with democracy itself on the line, that I’d be mortified to miss it. Glad there’s people and organizations like yours that can help.”

“Missouri’s voter ID law went into effect in August, and I don’t have an ID. I knew enough to be aware of the law change, but when I tried looking up the requirements for getting a non-driver ID on the state website, it was confusing. I need help understanding which documents I should be gathering and possibly help acquiring those documents.”

2022: Year in Review

VoteRiders went strong ALL year long. Our goal: To make sure that voters were prepared well ahead of Election Day with everything they needed.

In January, we launched our Partner Toolkit: a one-stop shop for our diverse partner organizations to learn about VoteRiders’ voter ID resources, tools, and services. Cast members from Hamilton also popped into a virtual volunteer briefing, reinforcing how to take meaningful direct action with VoteRiders throughout the year.

In April, VoteRiders celebrated 10 years of service to voters – a decade of growth, expanding partnerships, and powerful impact. Our National Voter ID Month of Action leveraged this milestone to inform and assist even more voters. Mayors and governors across the country joined us as our team, partners, volunteers, and celebrity ambassadors uplifted the urgent need for voters to gather required documents to cast a ballot. We held community events, organized trainings for partner organizations, held large-scale virtual volunteer events, and aired PSAs on radio stations and in movie theaters to reach voters in need.

At VoteRiders, Pride Month is for voters – especially for the millions of trans and nonbinary voters who face challenges due to onerous voter ID laws. In June, we updated and widely disseminated our #TransPeopleVote resources, including with our partner HeadCount, while also engaging in Pride-themed community-based and online events throughout the month.

It was then full speed ahead through election season and the midterms!

Our staff on the ground in eight states – Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin – were everywhere: college campuses, community resource fairs, food pantries, block parties, and everywhere in between. We provided voters with free ID information, offering on-the- spot and long-term help to ensure they would be prepared. At the same time, our volunteers were hard at work sending millions of text messages and handwritten letters to at-risk voters in the same states. Our efforts culminated in reaching nearly 6 million voters before Americans went to the polls on November 8 in a midterm election that saw historic turnout.

We weren’t done yet. VoteRiders went into high gear ahead of Georgia’s December 6 U.S. Senate runoff, with a particular focus on the young voters of color who are hard-hit by the state’s voter ID law. We reached millions of additional Georgians–including the 157,000+ registered voters without an ID on file with the state–via text messages, letter-writing, and community events to help every Peach State voter get to the polls with the ID they needed.

Getting Creative & Getting Results

We know that voter ID laws hit groups differently.

For that reason, we spent this year concentrated on working with and in communities that we know are most in need of our support.

In partnership with the Students Learn Student Vote Coalition, we created new resources for student voters, for whom voter ID laws are confusing at best and nearly insurmountable at worst. We worked with partners such as Black Voters Matter, Rock the Vote, When We All Vote, Democracy Works, Vote America, Vote.Org, and SO many more to make sure that every conversation they had with voters–whether it was via door-knocking, phone calls, text message, or email – included the necessary ID information and reminders.

We also partnered closely with direct service providers such as shelters, churches, community centers, health and vaccination fairs, and employment agencies to provide what was oftentimes life-changing ID help to the communities they serve. We found powerful allies in election offices and government agencies such as the Milwaukee Election Commission, Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the Georgia Department of Driver Services, and many more.

Because a thriving democracy is everyone’s business, we partnered with scores of companies and brands this year to help spread the word about shifting voter ID rules. We hosted a letter-writing campaign for Target employees, joined Microsoft for in-person events and virtual text-banks, partnered with Yahoo and Snapchat to embed our voter ID information in their voter- facing resources, and worked with many more corporate civic champions in similar ways. We received valuable support from both Lyft and Uber in the form of rideshare credits that we used to transport voters to and from ID-issuing offices.

We are also exceptionally grateful to our many institutional supporters, including new foundation partners such as the Barbra Streisand Foundation, Blueprint NC, Bridge Together, The Heinz Endowments, Herb Block Foundation, Houston Endowment, The Rockefeller Foundation, Scarlet Feather Fund, Seller-Lehrer Family Foundation, Serena Foundation, and others.

VoteRiders in the News, on the Airwaves, and Online

Our work garnered attention from major outlets such as CNN, Forbes, The Hollywood Reporter, Ms. Magazine, NBC News, Politico, People Magazine, TIME Magazine, USA Today, and many state and local outlets.

We also worked with and are so appreciative of celebrity ambassadors such as Jack Black, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ed Helms, Piper Perabo, Sarah Silverman, Barbara Streisand, Kerry Washington, David Sedaris, and others to host engaging live events and harness the power of social media to expand our reach.

On the airwaves and powered by volunteer outreach efforts, hundreds of radio stations aired our voter ID PSAs in English and Spanish year- round. Our partners at Galaxy Theatres likewise played VoteRiders PSAs for moviegoers in key states such as Arizona and Texas. Our messages were featured on digital billboards at public transit hubs where we knew we’d be more likely to reach eligible voters without ID. We hosted live events on platforms such as Reddit and Twitter to engage with voters online. We advertised on platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok to reach young voters to ensure they knew where to turn for voter ID help.

A Note of Gratitude and Looking Ahead

As we close the books on 2022, we are filled with gratitude for our dedicated and ever-growing voter, volunteer, donor, and partner community. You inspire us and raise the bar every single day without fail. We simply can’t wait to see what good trouble we’ll get into next.

2023 will not be an ordinary “off year.” The presidential election of 2024 is looming on the horizon, while this year we’ll see consequential municipal and statewide elections. Already, four states (AZ, NE, NH, and OH) have passed new voter ID measures that will likely go into effect in 2023, with more foreshadowed as state legislatures convene early this year.

VoteRiders is an “always-on” organization. Voter ID laws are causing exactly the confusion and disenfranchisement we feared they would. There are simply no shortcuts. We need to do the work to meet voters where they are with the ID information and free help they would not otherwise have knowledge of, have access to, or seek out.

It takes time to identify, educate, and assist the tens of millions of voters who wish to exercise their fundamental freedom to vote. Our individually-tailored and fully-paid ID assistance programs do the long-term work of growing the electorate with equity, and they cannot be allowed to slow down.

As we celebrate VoteRiders’ successes of 2022, we continue to pursue our mission each and every day.

The stakes are higher than ever. We are deeply grateful for your participation in our quest to build a stronger democracy.