I was honored to speak at the 2016 National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference, where I addressed 80
people at a forum about what nonprofits can do to engage citizens in the 2016 election cycle.
I was asked to speak by one of the conference by one of its sponsors, the Food Research & Action Center, FRAC. Project Vote and FRAC have been working together to raise awareness of the National Voter Registration Act among organizations that work on anti-hunger issues, such as food banks. These organizations do a lot of work on outreach related to SNAP and WIC programs, and have strong relationships with the state agencies that administer these programs. Section 7 of the NVRA requires that meaningful voter registration services be provided to consumers receiving SNAP and WIC benefits. Project Vote is working on educating these anti-hunger groups about the NVRA and getting them involved in advocacy with the state agencies about improving the voter registration services that are offered with SNAP and WIC programs, as required by the NVRA.
“The need is great: in the United States, only 40 percent of eligible Americans making less than $12,500 per year are registered to vote, while more than 60 percent of eligible, higher-income Americans are registered to vote.”
At the conference, I gave a presentation to the attendees about the requirements of the NVRA and how those requirements should work with SNAP and WIC enrollment. The forum also discussed other things that anti-hunger nonprofits can do to encourage increased participation in the election process by the individuals they serve.
The need is great: in the United States, only 40 percent of eligible Americans making less than $12,500 per year are registered to vote, while more than 60 percent of eligible, higher-income Americans are registered to vote.
More needs to be done to encourage more participants in the electoral process by lower income Americans. One way to address this problem would be to improve compliance with the NVRA at public assistance agencies. We also discussed other steps that nonprofits can take, such as conducting their own voter registration drives or Get-Out-the-Vote efforts that would be directed at their clients.
I provided information and resources to help these organizations get more involved in these activities. These resources included Project Vote’s state-specific voter registration guides, which provide information about how to properly conduct voter registration drives within that state; and additional information about how to get further assistance from Project Vote with voter registration.
The executive director of the Ohio Association of Food Banks, Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, also talked about the great experiences the food banks in Ohio have with offering voter registration services to their clients. Finally, all the panelists discussed some specific ideas for get out the vote efforts, like putting-up signs in food banks to remind their clients to go vote, and training food bank staff in the fall, providing them with nonpartisan talking points that can be discussed with clients in the months leading up to the November general election to encourage eligible individuals to vote.
The response at the conference was overwhelmingly positive. I am very hopeful that will be able to continue to work with these groups during this election cycle to increase registration and participation by the lower income individuals that they serve.