Take Action On National Voter Registration Day
This Tuesday, September 22, is a huge day for the Outdoor State. Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day. What is that, you ask? National Voter Registration Day is a nonpartisan civic holiday that, in short, celebrates our nation’s democracy by spreading awareness about the different ways to register to vote. Since its inception in 2012, National Voter Registration Day has helped register millions of new voters in time for the November elections.
So why is National Voter Registration Day so important? The health of our outdoor spaces has never been more important than it is today. With quarantines, social distancing and “inside time” forced into our lives, connecting with our community in the outdoors is imperative to our mental and physical well-being. We’re all craving those intimate moments—chairlift chats, shared powder turns, trail jokes, singletrack slogs—now more than ever, and doing our part to vote and make sure our community is registered to vote is the most important step in ensuring those intimate moments with our friends in the wild continue for years to come.
Image by POW Creative Alliance Member Brendan Leonard, creator of semi-rad.com
Each year millions of Americans are unable to exercise their right to vote, whether due to missed registration deadlines, not updating their registration, transportation issues or even a lack of understanding about how to register. On September 22, volunteers and organizations across the United States (including POW!) will mobilize in a coordinated effort to bring awareness to the ample voter registration resources available in order to bring thousands of unregistered voters the information they need to speak their voice this November. No effort is too small and doing your part to register your community to vote benefits everyone who spends time outside. Do it for yourself, your trail partners and your favorite local backcountry zone, stretch of singletrack, hiking trail or climbing crag. It’s the least we can do.
There are over 50 million Americans who identify as climbers, skiers, snowboarders, trail runners, mountain bikers and anglers; that’s over 38 percent of all voters in the 2016 election. Mobilizing just a fraction of our “Outdoor State” to vote this November can make all the difference in ensuring the longevity of the outdoor spaces we rely on for mental and physical wellbeing. National Voter Registration Day is the perfect excuse to double-check that you’re all set up and registered to vote, as well as ping your local community to check in on their voter status. If you or your friends are unsure how to verify your information, be sure to use POW’s easy Make A Plan To Vote Tool. And if your voter registration is all up to date, use POW’s Team App to check which of your friends is still unregistered and urge them to get it done!
Get started with our Make A Plan to Vote Tool, and we’ll:
- Guide you through requesting an absentee ballot.
- Print your application and mail it to you with a pre-stamped return envelope. Really.
- Help you plan your approach to the polls for in person voting.
- Send you reminders to assure you don’t miss any deadlines!
