In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s a presidential election year with all the political campaigning and conventions that go with it. But beyond the accompanying headlines, there are grassroots efforts to encourage people to get out to the ballot box.
In a conference room on a rainy Saturday afternoon, freshly trained volunteers are hitting the phones to remind people to vote in the general elections this November. But getting people to engage with the issue of voting can be tricky. Several of the call-handlers are getting cut off by those on the other end of the line when they raise the subject.
Tyrell Ford knows why that might be.
"We know that our community is turned off and has a distrust in the electoral process," Ford said.
Ford is the Executive Director of Voice Buffalo, a nonprofit that focuses on racial justice. It’s one of five organizations that are collaborating to mobilize low-propensity voters in Buffalo – that’s people who are registered to vote, but don’t use their vote in every election. Ford and co. aim to take a face-to-face approach to get people to the polls. He says the collaborative aims to knock on 500 doors to canvass would-be voters.
"In those 500 doors, we want to get folks to sign pledge cards," Ford said.
The pledge cards are a little bigger than a regular postcard and are emblazoned with the date of Election Day, November 5. Those who answer the door and say they intend to vote will be asked to voluntarily make a pledge to do so, and to seal the deal by signing the card.
"I love this initiative really, because it is putting the power back into the voter," said Jasmine Westbrook of the Healthcare Education Project, the lead organization for the nonpartisan initiative. "We're sending [the pledge card] back to the registered voter in mid-October, right before early voting starts, so people are reminded of the commitment that they made. So although it's August, they may forget our conversation, but when they get this postcard in the mail, it'll be a reminder."
The Buffalo Urban League Young Professionals, Open Buffalo and the New York Civic Engagement Table make up the rest of the collaborative, which has trained around 30 to 35 volunteers how to canvass in a nonpartisan manner.
Westbrook says low-propensity voters in the 14214 and 14215 zip codes are on the organizations' radar. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows the population in those two zip codes is mostly Black, Asian or Hispanic. And the latest data indicates that registered Black, Asian or Hispanic voters do not use their vote as much as registered white voters in New York State.
"I've always lived on the east side of Buffalo. It's always been a low number of turnout of voters coming to the polls, whether it's a local election - presidential we usually have more - but it's still low compared to other parts of our area," Westbrook said.
Figures from 2022 show that 79% of registered white voters in the state turned out to the polls, compared to 67% of registered Black voters, 64% of registered Hispanic voters, and 56% of registered Asian voters. Professor Conor Dowling of the University at Buffalo’s Department of Political Science says that the groups’ door to door approach is the most likely to put a dent in these numbers and get voters to the ballot box.
"The more personable the contact, the more effective it tends to be," Dowling said.
He adds that generally speaking, low-propensity voters exist due to the sheer number of elections that take place in the United States, as well as a general lack of education and media coverage of elections other than the presidential race every four years. And there are often structural barriers that may deter people come Election Day.
"Those are those things that different people face to different degrees, in terms of just being able to get time off work or making sure they can just schedule their lives around voting, we might say."
According to Dowling, the mobilization of low-propensity voters is important for both campaigns and democracy as a whole.
"For a political campaign, like a partisan campaign, they're identifying low-propensity voters who they think are also likely to vote for them right? To support them as candidates. From a democratic standpoint, small 'd' democratic right, for democracy - it's important, because the more people that vote, the more people have a voice in the system. And I think from a general perspective, the better we feel about the will of the people is who's electing people, and it's not just some small group of people who vote all the time," Dowling said.
And that’s the motivation for Ford and the collaborative’s nonpartisan efforts.
"Even though folks are distrusted in the process, it is still a process," Ford said. "Our ancestors fought so hard to have this process, and it's up to us to continue and teach our next generation that part of the process is sometimes you get what you want, sometimes you don't. But if you continue to stay out of the process, you lose your voice."
