If you type in “how to register to vote,” Google returns a neatly organized chart with all the information you need to register and vote in your state. The information on where to vote and who’s on your ballot are the handiwork of Jen Tolentino, who has been working in public policy and voting efforts for nearly a decade.
But Tolentino wanted to move “from a passive role to promoting the information and pushing it towards people.” So she joined the staff at Rock the Vote, which has been focusing its efforts on getting young people registered to vote and out to the polls since 1990.
Today is National Voter Registration Day: a day to organize momentum across the entire county. And it’s a day Tolentino, Rock the Vote’s director of civic tech and policy, has been eagerly anticipating.
Tolentino says having one day where Rock the Vote and its partners—including WeWork, Twitter, Tinder, and Virgin America—can push registration with a unified voice has been “super impactful.” Besides these partners, Tolentino is really excited about joining with MTV to revamp the show Total Request Live to Total Registration Live.
“Young people are going to be the most diverse voting bloc,” the WeWork Culver City member says. “Making them feel like they are empowered to change their country is really, really important.”
Voting is more than getting to the polls, says Tolentino. It “helps young people identify as a voter and feel like a part of the process,” she says. “It’s part of who they are and who they want to be as an informed citizen.”
This focus on young people isn’t new for Tolentino, who is a millennial herself. She’s volunteered with the youth organization For Love of Children, where she “saw so many young people who did not understand how to fully navigate the process of being an adult.”
Tolentino says one young woman she mentored wanted to vote when she turned 18, but she didn’t understand the process.
“I’m so glad she asked me,” Tolentino says. “It made me realize how many young people don’t have someone to ask these questions to, or anyone to even ask them if they will vote. It was really exciting to help walk through the process and see her view registering as part of what it means to be an adult.”
Today’s youngest voting demographic is of utmost importance to the entire Rock the Vote crew. Multiple studies have shown that if people start voting at a young age, they will almost always vote.
What issues interest young voters? According to the USA Today polling Rock the Vote has done, “the top issue is consistently the economy, because young people are still facing a lot of hardship. The recovery has happened, but young people went to college, have a ton of debt, and may be marginally employed.”
In order to get young people registered, Rock the Vote has created some great tools. Tolentino is proud of her company for having helped pioneer online voter registration. Today, 31 states, plus Washington, D.C., allow online voter registration. Rock the Vote and WeWork have partnered to create a tool at we.co/vote that will direct the user to those systems if they are eligible. If not, it walks them through the federal voter registration form, provides a PDF with all of the most important information, and gives the mailing address for the user’s local election office.
This form, available in 13 different languages, is more than the federal government itself has available. Rock the Vote also focuses on helping students decide where to register to vote—at their campus address, at home, or wherever—and walks them through the relevant processes once the user has determined where they’d like to register.
But the best thing about the Rock the Vote tools?
“They even work on mobile,” says Tolentino. “You can register right from your phone!”
For more information on the elections happening in your area, check out the Rock the Vote Election Center. To register yourself, head to we.co/vote on your smartphone or computer.