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Voting in U.S. Elections

If you'd like resources to help you vote in a U.S. election, this guide will help you find everything you need to know to show up to the poll informed and ready to exercise your civic right to vote in U.S. elections.

Campaigns as Power

Politics is Power

Campaigns try to harness "people power" to vote in large numbers in support of their policy agendas and platform. When a campaign is successful in mobilizing voters to support their platform, their candidate can win elected office and exercise the power of government to enact that agenda. There are many ways to get involved in a campaign or to support your preferred candidate before and after voting for them on your ballot.

Finding Ways to Get Involved

The most direct way to get involved with a candidate's campaign is to go to their website or social media page to see what kinds of support they're seeking from voters. Most campaigns will have sign-up forms to be notified of opportunities to get more involved. Primary ways most campaigns request supporters to volunteer are through:

  1. Canvassing: Door to door knocking to speak with people in the community about your candidate and campaign goals. This is usually organized by the campaign on the local level with opportunities to work as a group with other canvassers.
  2. Phone Banking: You can call prospective voters and encourage them to vote for your candidate. Campaign websites often have tools for calling without using your personal phone number, scripts to help you engage potential voters, and tracking software to record the person's response.
  3. Yard Signs & Merchandise: Delivering yard signs to voters who have requested them, putting them in your own yard, and/or purchasing campaign merchandise and wearing or visibly displaying it is another more passive way to support a campaign. 
  4. Digital Action: Sharing campaign messages to your social media accounts, emailing relevant articles and/or campaign advertisements, and/or joining virtual calls are all ways you can support a candidate's campaign without going door-to-door or making phone calls
  5. Political Party Chapter(s): Every state has a chapter of the political party you want to support. Visit their website to learn more about how to get involved on and sustain work for your preferred candidate's campaign after Election Day.
  6. Issue-Based Campaigns: You might also choose to do campaign volunteer work that is issue-based rather than candidate or political party-based, although sometimes these lines can blur. Many different organizations and campaigns exist for any political advocacy issue you can imagine and vary in strategy and messaging. Find one in your state to get started.

Digital Tools & Apps

image of multiracial hands holding up megaphone with the definition of the word advocacy underneath: "public support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policy"

Source: Pollicy's Digital Advocacy Toolkit

Advocacy Tools

The tools here have been selected and curated to be as general and nonpartisan as possible. When a tool is effective but has ideological or political bias, this will be identified and a goodfaith effort made to include a similar tool representing other ideological or political views--if one exists. All of the tools included here are meant to encourage accessible, digital forms of campaign support for your preferred candidate.

Many tools have come and gone in the last 10+ years! Finding one that works for you and can be sustained in financial and labor terms can be a challenge and subject to many changes year to year.

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