As the United States presidential election approaches, I've been thinking a lot about democracy and voting. Even when voter turnout increases in a given election year, I'm usually disappointed that half of the eligible population stays home on election day. It's particularly frustrating to know that for the last 30 years, voters have been disproportionately of higher income, older, or more partisan in their interests than non-voters, and that because of that, politicians don't conduct outreach to many communities.
By Flickr user faeryboots
Even though I work for a nonprofit (and one that supports
other nonprofits), I'd never really considered the role that the sector could play in increasing voter engagement. Then I heard from the
Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network (NVEN), and I started to consider what organizations in the sector can do to reduce barriers to participation.
Because of confusing lobbying rules, many nonprofit professionals might think their organization can't get involved in voting or elections. Not only is this not true, but the reality is nonprofits can play a significant role in promoting democracy. On the
Why Nonprofits? page of the NonprofitVote.org website, the Network points out, "Any map of the nonprofit sector reveals its highest density among underrepresented populations with a history of lower voter participation." Nonprofits can build democracy by providing calls to action, educating voters, and helping to reduce barriers to participation.
What you want to steer clear of, as Put wrote last week, is
doing anything with the goal of affecting the outcome of the election.
To help you figure out the rules, and get ideas for how your organization can help, the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network is giving away complimentary 501(c)(3) "
Nonprofits Help America Vote" kits, including their Nonprofits, Voting and Elections guide to nonpartisan activities for charities.
This entry is by Hannah, who most recently wrote about our culture of consumerism for the Idealist in NYC blog.
