Planned Parenthood Votes, NextGen America, Alliance for Youth Action To Reach Millions of Young Voters With Youth Voter Guides 

Washington, DC –– Today, Planned Parenthood Votes, NextGen America, and the Alliance for Youth Action network announced the release of their 2018 Youth Voter Guides. Together, the organizations, which have large youth supporter bases across the country, will invest six figures to distribute the guides to over two million young voters in 19 key election states –– including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin. The guides will be mailed to voters, used in the field, and distributed digitally through text, email, and digital ads.

The guides detail where candidates, up and down the ballot, stand on hundreds of issues –– including reproductive health care access, college affordability, and climate change.

Click here for an example of the Youth Voter Guide for Florida’s 26th Congressional District.

Young people can decide the outcome of the 2018 elections. According to new polling by The Washington Post, 67 percent of voters ages 18 to 39 say they are “absolutely certain to vote,” compared to just 42 percent from the 2014 midterms. Research from CIRCLE shows that the midterms could be “historic for youth political participation” — with levels of engagement reflecting a presidential election year, rather than a midterm.

The Youth Voter Guides are a data-backed approach to mobilizing and turning out these same young voters. Research from similar efforts in Virginia in 2017 showed that mail pieces like the Youth Voter Guides increased turnout by 1 percentage point among voters ages 18 to 39, including a 1.7 percentage point increase among people of color.  

“Young voter enthusiasm is at an all-time high this year, but unfortunately, so is misinformation. These voter guides clearly explain where candidates stand on the issues young people care about, like college affordability, clean air and water, and gun safety,” said NextGen America Youth Vote Director Ben Wessel. “On November 6, young voters will demand solutions to these issues by making their voices heard at the ballot box.”

“We created the voter guide program to ensure young people have the information they need to participate in elections,” says Sarah Audelo, executive director at Alliance for Youth Action. “Voter guides change the way young and first-time voters are engaged when organizers are able to have face-to-face conversations about what’s to be expected on the ballot. These locally created guides reflect the issues young people care about most in their communities — issues they’ll vote on this year and will organize around in the next. We’re excited to see this program scale to reach a generation already hyped to vote this fall.”    

“For young folks, our health care and rights are on the line in these midterms. This isn’t some abstract future, this is right now,” said Kelley Robinson, national organizing director at Planned Parenthood Votes. “The threats to our health and rights are real. We will not let 2018 be the year that young people lose our rights. Planned Parenthood advocacy and political organizations are working with more than 350 Planned Parenthood Generation Action campus groups this fall to mobilize young voters all across the country to vote on November 6. These Youth Voter Guides will play a critical role in educating young voters about where candidates stand and what’s at stake." 

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Planned Parenthood Votes is an independent expenditure political committee registered with the Federal Election Commission.