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."

"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... is the midterm elections on November 6th. Get out and vote."
-Taylor Swift, sticking a fork in the GOP after winning Artist of the Year pic.twitter.com/UEkPCSWYY5

— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) October 10, 2018

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.

View this post on Instagram

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! 🗳😃🌈

A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Oct 7, 2018 at 4:33pm PDT

Maryland Becomes 12th State Plus District Of Columbia In Automatic Voter Registration

(image by Maryland Dexter GF via Flickr)

Maryland has become the 12th state in the U.S. to adopt automatic voter registration.

The new law will automatically register voters when they obtain a driver's license, use state social services or buy insurance on the health exchange.

Automatic voter registration will go into effect in July 2019.

From The Baltimore Sun:

Voters can decline to be registered. But advocates say the automatic voter registration program’s out-opt structure will end up getting more people registered than the current opt-in one.

Already, the Maryland Vehicle Administration and other state agencies offer residents the option of registering to vote. The new law will have state workers informing residents they will be registered to vote unless they decline. It also requires people who electronically file taxes to be offered an opportunity to register to vote.

Oregon was the first to pass automatic registration in 2016 and the result was 270,000 new voters registered and the highest voter participation of any state in the union in the last presidential election.

Anything that encourages eligible voters to take part in the democratic process is a good thing :)

More please.

Currently Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and the District of Columbia have adopted automatic voter registration.

p.s. 4 million teens turn 18 before the 2018 election.
p.s.s. 17-year-olds can register to vote if they will be 18 on or before Election Day.

Happy National Voter Registration Day

Today is National Voter Registration Day!

It's true that a lot of politicians attain office in great part because huge numbers of citizens don't vote.

I've never missed an election since I came of voting age. I encourage everyone to make sure you're registered and you get out and vote.

Click here for more info on where to register and alerts for elections.

National Voter Registration Day

Yessiree - today is National Voters Registration Day!  So if you - by some strange happenstance - are not registered to vote, make time today to get it done!

I never miss a chance to exercise my democratic right to vote. Never, ever, ever, never.  From the day I turned 18 and was allowed to vote, I make every single election.

You gotta do it, kids, if you want to see things move forward.

You can start by heading here to see if your state allows online registration, thanks to the good folks at RockTheVote.

For more info, head over to NationalVoterRegistrationDay.org