As Chief Election Officer for the City of Detroit, educating and encouraging residents to exercise their civic duty to vote has been a top priority. However, the spirit and intent of state election law prohibits non-partisan election administrators, such as myself, from participating in partisan Get Out The Vote (GOTV) efforts to increase the number of residents who vote on Election Day. These same laws, while they restrict election administrators, have very little constraints on community and business leaders and non-profit organizations from partnering together to increase voter turnout. We all know you cannot keep executing the same strategies and expect a different outcome. As City Clerk of the largest municipality in the state of Michigan, I would like to offer a few alternatives that community and business leaders might consider.
In most urban communities, the lack of transportation presents an added challenge for many voters willing to go to the polls to vote. Transporting voters to the polls on Election Day is an aggressive and effective GOTV strategy. A natural option is reaching out to churches, schools, taxicab and limousine companies that own transportation fleets to offer free rides to and from the polls. Most organizations and businesses have a vested interest in helping the community where they conduct business, and they search for ways to demonstrate and strengthen their connection to the community.
Another sound strategy to increase the number of residents that vote is to remind them of their civic duty and their constitutional right to participate in the democratic process. A recent study shows that a phone call to encourage a likely voter to vote or simply asking if they intended to vote ended up making the person more likely to vote.
Finally, if many residents did not have to choose between their jobs and going to the polls during business hours to vote, voter turnout would increase significantly. As a long-term strategy, community and business leaders should jointly appeal to the Michigan Legislature to make Election Day a statewide holiday. While this suggestion is not an overnight solution to increasing voter participation, for many reasons, in terms of a GOTV effort, this idea is a sure fire way to increase the number of voters who actually vote each election.
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