SSIR Guide to Voting, Civic Engagement, and Repairing Democracy

(Illustration by iStock/simon2579)

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, vast fires evoking the brutality of climate change, protests against racial injustice and counter-protests marked by deadly violence, and ever-worsening political polarization, the United States is holding its 59th presidential election on November 3. 

Before a single vote has been counted, the quadrennial event is shaping up to be an alarmingly contentious contest for the American presidency. The integrity of the process and its outcome are in question due to the pandemic and changes at the US Postal Service. Members of both parties are claiming in advance that a victory by their opponent will be illegitimate. Foreign nations continue to disrupt the process with the delivery of disinformation through social media. 

As civil society braces for the chaos ahead, what can it do to get people to the polls, push for policies that help solve social problems, and help address underlying issues with American democracy that will remain beyond the election? Explore the articles below for answers to these questions and more. 

1. Building Democratic Infrastructure

Models and policy recommendations for boosting civic engagement and fortifying American democracy.

2. Increase Turnout by Informing Voters About Policy Differences

More people would vote (and a more diverse group of people would vote) if they knew more about candidates’ fundamental policy positions. Read more articles about what the social sector can do to encourage people to vote in the Increasing Voter Turnout series from 2016. 

3. Encouraging Millennials to Vote for the Issues That Unite Them

Building on a quarter-century of get-out-the-vote efforts, MTV’s 2016 “Elect This” campaign encouraged young people to vote in support of the polices that inspired them, rather than the political system that didn't. Read more articles about what the social sector can do to encourage people to vote in the Increasing Voter Turnout series from 2016. 

4. A New Approach to Reversing the Downward Spiral of Low Turnout

To increase voter turnout, other approaches are needed—ones intended not to inflame passions about what may be at stake in a particular election but instead to connect more voters to the process of voting and to the value of participating in our democracy. Read more articles about what the social sector can do to encourage people to vote in the Increasing Voter Turnout series from 2016. 

5. Civic Health and Social Distancing

Good civic health looks like people making meaningful connections with their neighbors, public officials, and contributing to governance decision-making. But what will become of civic life during COVID-19?

6. Healing Our Health System, One Vote at a Time

How the work of bringing voter-registration kiosks into emergency rooms has become more urgent—and more difficult—during the COVID-19 pandemic, and also expanded in scope.

7. More Seats at the Table

How the West Virginia Can’t Wait movement is using a gubernatorial race as a platform to raise up new leaders for the future, win or lose.

8. Webinar Video: Realizing Democracy: Turning Participation Into Power

This discussion explores the power relationships between civil society, the public sector, and market forces in American democracy and asks how civil society groups should organize people to change the rules and conditions by which elites currently prosper.

9. How Government, the Economy, and Civil Society Can Achieve the Democracy We Need and Deserve

Three takeaways to establish the structural and institutional guardrails necessary to creating a serious, concerted, and holistic effort to address issues of power and inequality across civil society, government, and the economy. Read more articles about democracy reform that addresses underlying systemic roots of exclusion and inequality in the Realizing Democracy supplement in SSIR’s Winter 2020 issue. 

10. Webinar Video: Realizing Democracy: Policymaking as Powerbuilding

Policymaking experts and movement leaders share lessons in inclusive democracy and offer actionable policy and institutional design strategies geared toward rebalancing community authority in governance.

11. Human-Centered Design for the Voting Experience

IDEO brings a human-centered design lens to voting in Los Angeles County—and finds compelling opportunities to increase participation nationally. Read more articles about what the social sector can do to encourage people to vote in the Increasing Voter Turnout series from 2016. 

Read more stories by SSIR Editors.