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Governor Jerry Brown Signs Auto Registration Bill Into Law Today

October 10, 2015

Rock the Vote applauds California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) for signing a bill into law today that will automatically register eligible citizens to vote when they interact with the DMV. According to the Brennan Center, there are 6.6 million eligible but unregistered citizens in California, and this measure could dramatically boost California’s registration rate, which was ranked 38th in the country in 2012.

“Our democracy is strongest when all eligible voters are empowered to participate. Implementing automatic voter registration is an effective ways to boost participation, especially when it comes to young people across California,” ”said Rock the Vote President Ashley Spillane. “We thank Governor Brown for his leadership and bold action to increase voter participation in the state of California, and we hope other states will follow his lead in making registration and voting easier for young people.” 

The results from a statewide survey, released by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) in June of this year, found that 69% of California adults favor registering all eligible citizens to vote when they go to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

California is the third state in the country to pass automatic registration and the second state to enact it. This law simplifies the registration process by putting the onus on the government to register eligible voters. California is the largest state to adopt automatic voter registration.

In March of this year, Oregon became the first state to enact automatic voter registration, and the New Jersey’s legislature passed a bill this past June that Gov. Chris Christie has yet to sign.

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About Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote is the largest non-profit and non-partisan organization in the United States building the political power of young people. Fusing pop culture, politics, and technology, Rock the Vote works to mobilize the millennial voting bloc and the youth vote, protect voting rights, and advocate for an electoral process and voting system that works for the 21st century electorate. Since 1990, Rock the Vote has revolutionized the use of pop culture, music, art and technology to inspire political activity. Now, for almost 25 years, Rock the Vote has pioneered ways to make voting easier by simplifying and demystifying voter registration and elections for young adults.

Rock the Vote has run the largest voter registration drives for young people on record during the past six Presidential elections. In 2008 and 2012, our on-the-ground efforts, online organizing, and cutting-edge tools and technologies made us the largest non-partisan voter engagement campaign in the nation. All of these efforts have resulted in Rock the Vote processing nearly seven million voter registrations, bringing millions more to the polls, and becoming a trusted resource for young people, government agencies, and technological innovators passionate about political discourse and engagement. See more information here. 

As of yesterday, ‪‎Vermont became the 15th state, along with the District of Columbia, to offer same-day voter registration – a move that will make it easier for young people to exercise their rights at the ballot box.

There are significant benefits of same day voter registration. It leads to higher turnout, on average by 10 percentage points compared to states without same day registration, partially because it eliminates deadlines that occur before most voters are actually tuned into what’s happening in an election.

To learn more about the benefits of same day registration, check out this great explainer from our friends at Demos: http://www.demos.org/publication/what-same-day-registration-where-it-available

Think your vote doesn’t matter? Think again.

Take 5 minutes to register to vote or update your voter registration

According to The Washington Post​, Millennials account for about 25% of the voting-age population, while owning about 65% of student loans.

In other words, student debt is a major problem for young people and in part because of our generation, presidential hopefuls are taking notice.

Now we need to take the next step - register and turn out to vote!

See the Washignton Post article as it originally appears here.

Bipartisan Discussion on Millennial Americans Highlights Economic Challenges Facing Millennial Generation, Opportunities to Engage Young People in Government

From L to R: Nick Timiraos, Wall Street Journal; Rep. Will Hurd (TX-23); Ashley Spillane, Rock the Vote; Allen Blue, LinkedIn; Dr. Beth Ann Bovino, S&P Ratings; Rep. Patrick Murphy (FL-18). Photo Credit: Tony Powell for Rock the Vote.

Washington, DC – This morning Rock the Vote, LinkedIn, and the McGraw Hill Financial Global Institute hosted the inaugural Millennial Economic Forum at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The event featured panelists including Rock the Vote President Ashley Spillane, LinkedIn Co-Founder Allen Blue, Rep. Patrick Murphy (FL-18), Rep. Will Hurd (TX-23), and Dr. Beth Ann Bovino, Chief U.S. Economists, S&P Ratings, moderated by Wall Street Journal economic correspondent Nick Timiraos, for a wide ranging discussion about the economic challenges facing the Millennial generation and opportunities to engage young people in the political process specifically around these critical issues.

The discussion was centered around a new Standard & Poor’s report from Dr. Bovino on Millennials and the U.S. economy that outlines how the student loan debt Millennials are graduating with, which is the largest amount of debt in American history, is having a disproportionate impact on the economy as a whole – including the housing market, credit access, and the American workforce.

“This morning’s panel provided a great opportunity to discuss the challenges facing our generation and the potential we have as the largest generation in American history to be the most influential bloc in the country – forcing politicians to pay attention to the issues that Millennials are dealing with,” said Rock the Vote President Ashley Spillane. “We need more elected officials and candidates talking about our issues and demonstrating the value of civic engagement to our generation. Only then will Millennials truly tap into our potential to shape the country’s future.”

“I want to thank our participants, Allen Blue from LinkedIn, Reps. Patrick Murphy (FL-18) and Will Hurd (TX-23), and Dr. Beth Ann Bovino of S&P Ratings, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for making this such a successful event. We hope to do similar events across the country, engaging more leaders to think about the challenges Millennials are grappling with,” added Spillane.

Photo Credit: Tony Powell for Rock the Vote.

Currently, Millennials spend around $600 billion annually with that amount potentially increasing to $1.4 trillion a year by 2020, and the Millennial generation recently became the largest share of the American workforce at an estimated 53.5 million.  As a whole, the generation is the largest in the country at nearly 93 million in population, according to census estimates.

In part, Dr. Bovino’s report indicates that massive student loan debt, coupled with ongoing wage stagnation, could cost the American economy $244 billion over the next five years. Dr. Bovino’s report also noted additional economic challenges facing Millennials, including the fact that only 55% are saving for retirement because they’re already carrying significant debt. Her report full report can be read here.

Throughout the conversation, panelists also discussed the need to speak with young people with an authentic voice in order to effectively capture their attention.  Congressman Patrick Murphy also highlighted the need for Washington to produce results in order to build trust with Millennial Americans.

“I believe that if we are really going to get Millennials more involved, we going to have to prove to them that we can deliver,” said Murphy.

Congressman Will Hurd discussed the need for his colleagues in Congress to engage in a sustained conversation with Millennial Americans beginning immediately. Already, Hurd says, Congress is seeing the opportunity and the need to advance this dialogue.

“I think people realize there’s an opportunity with this large group of people that have not been as engaged,” said Hurd. “We’re not where we need to be, of course, but I think people recognize we need to move forward,” said Hurd.  

Photo Credit: Tony Powell for Rock the Vote.

LinkedIn’s Allen Blue highlighted the economic demand for a skilled workforce to meet the needs of employers in today’s economy, a point that emphasizes the need for ongoing investments in higher education despite the financial challenges that may currently exist for certain Millennials. “The skills gap is a real thing actually exists,” said Blue.

Rock the Vote plans to announce additional forums and conversations in the near future. 

Washington, DC – Rock the Vote President Ashley Spillane released the following statement after online voter registration legislation became law in Florida:

“Our democracy is strongest when more people exercise their right to vote, and as a principle, we ought to encourage everyone who is eligible to have their voice heard at the ballot box. Online voter registration has already proven to boost participation in other states, particularly with young people, and Florida’s move toward this system is a welcome one.”

About Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote is the largest non-profit and non-partisan organization in the United States building the political power of young people. Fusing pop culture, politics, and technology, Rock the Vote works to mobilize the millennial voting bloc and the youth vote, protect voting rights, and advocate for an electoral process and voting system that works for the 21st century electorate. Since 1990, Rock the Vote has revolutionized the use of pop culture, music, art and technology to inspire political activity. Now, for almost 25 years, Rock the Vote has pioneered ways to make voting easier by simplifying and demystifying voter registration and elections for young adults.

Rock the Vote has run the largest voter registration drives for young people on record during the past six Presidential elections. In 2008 and 2012, our on-the-ground efforts, online organizing, and cutting-edge tools and technologies made us the largest non-partisan voter engagement campaign in the nation. All of these efforts have resulted in Rock the Vote processing nearly seven million voter registrations, bringing millions more to the polls, and becoming a trusted resource for young people, government agencies, and technological innovators passionate about political discourse and engagement.  

By Ashley Spillane, President of Rock the Vote

Last week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could bring marriage equality to every state in the country. The fact that they’re even hearing this case, let alone are on the verge of extending this right across the country, is a direct result of the power young people have demonstrated in recent years when it comes to shaping our country’s future. It also showcases the opportunity for our generation to do more, and that’s an opportunity we can’t afford to let slip by. We need to be even more engaged in the political process because if we don’t, the future we live in will be shaped without our input.

According to Pew Research, 67 percent of young Americans support marriage equality. And if the court ultimately decides to extend this right to all states, young people should take pride in knowing that their views played a significant role in forcing and shaping this debate. Beyond exercising our power at the ballot box in recent elections, and as an extension, support for marriage equality, young people are also being credited for lobbying and changing the minds of the older generation by simply forcing a dialogue about how our generation approaches this debate. In fact, it has been reported that many politicians have altered their position on marriage equality in large part because of conversations they’ve had with their millennial children, a fact that highlights how these conversations are just as important as voting in elections.

This cultural shift is obviously significant. But where we go from here is just as important. There are 93 million of us in America right now, and as a result, we have the potential to be the most powerful voting bloc in the country. Imagine what we could do if we harnessed that number, and the power that comes with it, into action at the ballot box? Politicians would not only be forced to listen to our views but similarly be forced to act upon them. If not, they’d know that we would hold them accountable in the next election.

In the same way that so many young people were at the forefront of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, we can and should shape the future of our country on other issues that matter to us, regardless of what they are.

Politicians are ultimately responsible to the voters every election. The people who make our laws, the laws they write, and the way they’re enforced and interpreted – the whole system is a direct reflection of our engagement at the ballot box. We need to recognize that reality, show up, and participate, because if we don’t, the future that we will inherit will be shaped without us. We can’t afford to let that happen.

See this Op-Ed as it originally appears here. 

Ashley Spillane is the president of Rock the Vote, the largest nonprofit and nonpartisan organization in the country building the political power of young people. You can register to vote at www.rockthevote.com/register.

In Message to Instagram Followers, Sierota Also Encourages Supporters to Register, Participate in Future Elections

Washington, DC - Lead singer Sydney Sierota of multiplatinum recording group Echosmith today marked her 18th birthday by registering to vote on RockTheVote.com – a move that she highlighted to nearly 175,000 of the band’s Instagram followers.  Sierota is the latest artist to encourage voters to register to vote using RocktheVote.com; last fall, supermodel Kendall Jenner released a similar message on National Voter Registration Day.

“It is my 18th birthday in Paris, and I just went on RockTheVote.com to register to vote,” Sierota says in her video. “Make sure that you guys are a voice in this generation too, and make sure to register as well,” she added.

To view Sierota’s message, click here: https://instagram.com/p/1vgGWUlxYM/

“There isn’t a better way to celebrate your 18th birthday than registering to vote,” said Rock the Vote President Ashley Spillane. “Sydney is setting a great example for young people across the country, and we hope Millennials will follow her lead and commit to voting in future elections.”

About Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote is the largest non-profit and non-partisan organization in the United States building the political power of young people.  Fusing pop culture, politics, and technology, Rock the Vote works to mobilize the millennial voting bloc and the youth vote, protect voting rights, and advocate for an electoral process and voting system that works for the 21st century electorate.  Since 1990, Rock the Vote has revolutionized the use of pop culture, music, art and technology to inspire political activity.  Now, for almost 25 years, Rock the Vote has pioneered ways to make voting easier by simplifying and demystifying voter registration and elections for young adults.

Rock the Vote has run the largest voter registration drives for young people on record during the past six Presidential elections.  In 2008 and 2012, our on-the-ground efforts, online organizing, and cutting-edge tools and technologies made us the largest non-partisan voter engagement campaign in the nation.  All of these efforts have resulted in Rock the Vote processing nearly seven million voter registrations, bringing millions more to the polls, and becoming a trusted resource for young people, government agencies, and technological innovators passionate about political discourse and engagement.  See more information here.

About Echosmith
LA-based alt-pop band Echosmith had a truly breakout 2014, with the success of their debut album Talking Dreams and hit single “Cool Kids” propelling them into the spotlight, and now they are gearing up for an even bigger 2015 with their new single “Bright,” already charting at Top 40 and Hot AC and recently performed by the band on Late Night with Seth Meyers and Live! With Kelly and Michael. Both MTV and VH1 took notice of Echosmith in 2014 and named the band an MTV “Artist to Watch” and VH1 “You Oughta Know” Artist for the year, while “Cool Kids” dominated everywhere, charting in the Top 5 at Hot AC, Top 10 at Top 40, and in the Top 10 of the iTunes singles chart, plus Top 15 of Billboard’s “Hot 100”. The Sierota siblings - Sydney (vocals/keyboard), Jamie (vocals/guitar), Noah (vocals/bass), and Graham (drums) – performed the hit on Conan, The Today Show, Ellen, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and earned rave reviews from the likes of ELLE,Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, and Grantland, for their distinctive melody-minded, New Wave-influenced sound.

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For Immediate Release
April 15, 2015

Rock the Vote Statement on Rhode Island Online Voter Registration Legislation

Legislation Also Creates Four Week Early Voting Period

Washington, DC – Rock the Vote President Ashley Spillane released the following statement after Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea yesterday unveiled a plan that would allow for online voter registration and a four week long early voting period:

“Our democracy is strongest when all eligible voters are empowered to participate. Implementing early voting and online registration policies should be a matter of commonsense; both are easy, effective ways to boost participation, especially when it comes to young people across Rhode Island.  We hope making registration and voting easier for young people in Rhode Island will be seriously considered.”

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About Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote is the largest non-profit and non-partisan organization in the United States building the political power of young people. Fusing pop culture, politics, and technology, Rock the Vote works to mobilize the millennial voting bloc and the youth vote, protect voting rights, and advocate for an electoral process and voting system that works for the 21st century electorate. Since 1990, Rock the Vote has revolutionized the use of pop culture, music, art and technology to inspire political activity. Now, for almost 25 years, Rock the Vote has pioneered ways to make voting easier by simplifying and demystifying voter registration and elections for young adults.

Rock the Vote has run the largest voter registration drives for young people on record during the past six Presidential elections. In 2008 and 2012, our on-the-ground efforts, online organizing, and cutting-edge tools and technologies made us the largest non-partisan voter engagement campaign in the nation. All of these efforts have resulted in Rock the Vote processing nearly seven million voter registrations, bringing millions more to the polls, and becoming a trusted resource for young people, government agencies, and technological innovators passionate about political discourse and engagement. See more information here. 

By: Ashley Spillane, president of Rock the Vote

(As seen in the Washington Post)

Earlier this year, North Carolina lawmakers passed a bill aimed at stifling the newfound political muscle of their youngest eligible voters. The package of laws, known as HB 589, stripped away crucial policies that made it easier for young people to cast their ballot and participate in the political process. This week, lawyers have descended on Winston Salem to argue that eliminating these policies may have violated the 26th Amendment, which prohibits age-based voting discrimination.

The programs under attack have been proven to boost youth participation. In 2012, young people in the state were 2.6 times more likely to take advantage of same day registration.  And over a three-year period, 160,000 eligible young people were automatically registered to vote from pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds. Now these options are unavailable to the young residents of North Carolina.

Laws like HB 589 are part of a troubling pattern taking hold across the country, triggered by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, thus allowing Southern states to make changes to their voting laws without securing federal approval. A raft of voter ID laws—designed primarily to suppress turnout of minority voters—are also turning away young people, and often, both at the same time. Millennials are the largest, but also the country’s most diverse generation, with 43 percent identifying as people of color. In all, 22 states have new, restrictive voting laws that will go into effect before the 2014 midterms.

An undisguised attempt to block new immigrants and minority voters, new laws in Kansas and Arizona require voters to present proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in the first place. That means when you’re stopped on the street by a nice kid with a clipboard, you have to have your birth certificate, passport or naturalization documents just lying around in your purse or back pocket. Rock The Vote recently joined other community-registration arms including Voto Latino to sign an amicus brief, arguing that the laws unduly impair efforts to register new voters. It also launched an online petition to spread the word.

In Texas, a handgun license qualifies as proper ID for voting, but state university ID cards do not. In Florida, student unions were rejected by the state as suitable locations for early voting sites. And in Tennessee, employees of public universities are allowed to use their employee IDs to vote; however, students of the same universities are not allowed to use their college IDs.

These developments leave young voters on the defensive, instead of the offensive in the fight to expand voting rights. Our country should be making it more convenient for eligible young people to vote, not less. That means supporting efforts to expand online registration and same-day registration, institute pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds, and broaden opportunities for early voting.

Every day, 12,000 Americans turn 18 years old. As country’s fastest growing generation, we comprise a pivotal voting bloc that is growing stronger every day, despite efforts to silence our voices. Efforts to suppress youth turnout aren’t just unconstitutional—they are un-American.