Youth Votes!

To honor the Suffragists, one of the Collaborative's goals has always been to encourage Mainers to use their right to vote. But the Covid-19 pandemic created special hurdles for first time voters here.

Maine is one of the few states that does not have online voter registration. With town offices and voter registration drives closed, young, first time voters were left to sort through confusing information, gather envelopes and stamps, access printers or scanners, and register by mail - which meant they didn't do it. Maine went from having one of the highest new voter registration rates to one of the lowest. 

Enter Youth Votes! our program with the League of Women Voters, in which we worked with Maine high schools and community colleges to send voter registration and ballot request forms to all eligible students, along with a stamped envelope addressed to the student's town clerk. New voters could register - and eventually vote - from their couch!

The Suffragists didn't let the 1918 pandemic stop them and we didn't let Covid stop us. Dozens of volunteers sent thousands of voter registration packets to high school and college students all over the state.