Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Taylor Swift's Call To Vote Inspires Huge Spike in Voter Registration

Taylor Swift (image via Instagram)

After becoming the most decorated female artist in American Music Awards history last night (22 trophies now), pop superstar Taylor Swift continued to raise her newly-found political voice telling the AMA audience to "get out and vote."

"This award and every single award given out tonight were voted on by the people, and you know what else is voted on by the people?," said Swift as she accepted the 'Artist of the Year' award. "The midterm elections on November 6."



As reported earlier here, Swift took to her Instagram account Sunday night to not only urge people to register and vote, but she enthusiastically endorsed two Democrats in her home state of Tennessee.

Along the way, she also denounced Republican Senate candidate, Marsha Blackburn for her anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion positions.

"I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country," Swift said. "I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG."

The post has garnered over 2 million 'likes' since Sunday.

In less than two days, Vote.org (which helps register voters) saw a huge spike (240,000) in registrations, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

To put that into perspective, 190,178 registered in the entire month of September.

In Tennessee, there was a corresponding reaction.

In the past two days, Vote.org saw 2,144 registrations in Tennessee. Compare that with 2,811 new Tennessee voter registrations for the entire month of September and just 951 in August.

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I’m writing this post about the upcoming midterm elections on November 6th, in which I’ll be voting in the state of Tennessee. In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now. I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent. I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love. Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values. I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives. Please, please educate yourself on the candidates running in your state and vote based on who most closely represents your values. For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway. So many intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and now have the right and privilege to make their vote count. But first you need to register, which is quick and easy to do. October 9th is the LAST DAY to register to vote in the state of TN. Go to vote.org and you can find all the info. Happy Voting! 🗳😃🌈

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