CAA Foundation, Democracy Works Launch Civic Alliance to Boost Voter Engagement
CAA's philanthropy arm is partnering with Democracy Works in launching the Civic Alliance, a nonpartisan group through which dozens of businesses will work to increase voter turnout ahead of the 2020…
CAA’s philanthropy arm is partnering with Democracy Works in launching the Civic Alliance, a nonpartisan group through which dozens of businesses will work with to increase voter turnout ahead of the 2020 election.
“We are lucky to live in a country where people can participate and make a difference, whether it’s through voting, volunteering or participating in a Census or town hall,” said CAA president Richard Lovett in a statement. “We have commitments from dozens of leading companies like Amazon, Facebook and Starbucks, who will work together to support the strength of our communities and democracy, particularly in an election year where we can encourage first time voters, promote online registration efforts, and create digital campaigns to help people find their nearest polling station. We hope more companies and citizens will join us in this effort to shape a more optimistic future.”
Both Democracy Works and the CAA Foundation have led civic engagement initiatives and boosted voter turnout. According to their joint announcement, in 2018 alone, the two organizations and their partners helped 2.7 million people register to vote and 4.9 million people find their polling places.
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Now the Civic Alliance is encouraging other companies to step up their efforts. For example, CMT is offering fans the opportunity to register to vote on tour stops and at events like the CMT Awards; MTV is hosting workshops with content creators to help them integrate storylines about voting into their shows and is working toward creating polling sites on college campuses to make voting easier; and Univision is working to promote civic engagement in the Latino community through its Vota Conmigo campaign.
“Companies have the ability to drive voter turnout rates to historic levels in 2020,” said Democracy Works CEO Seth Flaxman. “Americans interact with brands nearly every moment of their day — on their phones, at work, and at home. Through the Civic Alliance, we will provide strategic guidance so that companies transform each of those interactions into reminders to be civically active at the moment it counts and deliver trusted information that voters need about how to participate.”
Civic Alliance’s other Hollywood members include AMC Theatres, Anonymous Content, Bad Robot, BET, Comedy Central, Entertainment Industry Foundation, Paramount Network, Studio71, TV Land, Verizon Media and VHI. They join mega-partners outside the entertainment industry such as Target, Twitter, Microsoft and Lyft.