Youth participation was high across the country on Election Day and national organizers hope to reinvigorate young voters ahead of Georgia’s crucial elections, which will determine which party controls the US Senate.
With only five days to go, young people from across the country continue to contact voters in Georgia.
According to Emily Zanieski, a student at Georgia Southern University who helps lead the organization’s national programming, Students for Ossoff and Warnock attracted members of Students for Markey – a group that gained national attention for its intelligence and online humor while helping Massachusetts Sen Ed Markey won his Democratic primaries in September.
Zanieski, 20, said Students for Ossoff and Warnock also gained popularity in neighboring South Carolina.
“Seeing so many young people across the country who were excited about Biden, now helping out here, is motivating to keep us doing a good job here in Georgia,” Zanieski told CNN.
In turn, the Sunrise Movement, the progressive youth-led climate justice organization, mobilized its more than 400 local centers to call and text Georgia. The group is prioritizing contact with young voters under the age of 35. Since November, more than 1,000 Sunrise volunteers have made over 500,000 calls, sent more than 299,000 texts and reached 18,700 young voters in Georgia, according to the organization.
Be creative with digital techniques
In addition to traditional calls and text messages, some organizers are turning to alternative modes of organization.
Using opening lines like “Want to know what I think is cute?” and responding with “Vote for Warnock and Ossoff in the January 5 election!” about 100 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 35 signed up, defined their geolocation for Georgia and stole Peach State.
The group emphasizes that participants must use their own photos and suggests that volunteers add political and progressive content to their biographies in the apps.
Celebrities and influencers from across the country also have Georgia in mind.
Tommy Dorfman, an Atlanta native and 28-year-old actor who starred in “13 Reasons Why”, encouraged his 1.4 million Instagram followers to get involved and pay attention to Georgia’s runoff elections.
“This particular election seems extremely personal to me because I am a transgender person from Georgia,” said Dorfman, who studied at the same K-12 school as Ossoff, but now lives on the West Coast, on CNN.
Although Dorfman did not travel home to Georgia before the elections because of the Covid-19 pandemic, they emphasized the role they continue to play at a distance and encourage their followers – most of whom are aged 12-25 – to do the same. same.
“I like to remind people that they can do things from the couch and the bed, by changing the geo-locator to (Georgia), there are Zoom events every day,” said Dorfman.
Dorfman has been especially active in the runoff elections due to his ties to Georgia, going live on Instagram with Ossoff to talk about the election and hosting phone banks with Students for Ossoff and Warnock.
On the right, College Republicans organized a “National Call Competition”, encouraging College Republican chapters across the country to compete in a telephone bank competition to see which chapter can make the most calls to Senator Kelly Loeffler and Senator David Perdue , to Republican Presidents.
About 300 College Republicans are making calls from home, according to the organization.
So far, Republicans from New Hampshire College, Republicans from Virginia College, Republicans from West Virginia College, Republicans from Tennessee College and Republicans from California College have been victorious in several weeks of competition. Alaska College Republicans have also been very active, according to the national organization.
“We can’t easily slam doors, although some of us will go to GA to do so, so I asked our chapter presidents to sign themselves, and as many members as they were willing, to make calls to Georgia and make 10 calls per day. day – which will increase over time. To really make a difference in Georgia – the state of Washington – requires persistence and responsibility from university republicans to do their part, even if they don’t feel that their efforts matter, “Gabe Hernandez, president from Washington State College Republicans, he told CNN.
And while Gen Z GOP, a group looking to build a new home for young Republicans destitute of the current state of the Republican Party, did not endorse a presidential candidate in the 2020 election, the group also maintains telephone banks for Perdue and Loeffler.