Today, our democracy is challenged by gaps in voter participation by age, income and education. These gaps lead to other disparities in involvement with government or public policy and other kinds of civic participation. Community service organizations, like The National Drifters, Incorporated, are uniquely equipped to address issues of voter participation and to help close participation gaps and strengthen democracy.
In August 2015 at the 59th National Convention, delegates voted to make voter education and registration an organizational-wide focus of the National Program theme, Strengthen Our Families to Build Better Communities: Save Our Children – Assist Our Seniors.
Registering and helping people vote is one way to further empower the communities we serve. Some of The Drifters’ goals include:
- providing high quality resources (such as speakers bureau and marketing materials) for individuals and social service agencies to promote voter participation;
- building lasting capacity for nonpartisan voter and election engagement;
- encouraging increased voter participation, especially among voters new to the process and in areas with lower voter turnout;
- participating in voter education forums and programs to educate communities about the power of the vote; and
- collaborating with local, regional and national organizations to increase voter education and registration.