Social Platforms Join Civic Alliance to Help Push Voting in U.S.

Nonpartisan nonprofit Democracy Works and the CAA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency, teamed up to form the Civic Alliance, which they described as a “nonpartisan coalition of businesses working together to build a future where everyone can vote, volunteer and take action to shape our country.” Social platforms and applications that are part of the Civic Alliance include Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, Spotify, Tumblr and Twitter. The Civic Alliance said Snapchat will help invest in the next generation of voters by giving them tools to register to vote prior to the 2020 presidential election in the U.S., while Spotify is creating a movement around civic engagement for fans, artists, podcasters and employees. Other Civic Alliance member companies include Amazon, AMC Theatres, Anonymous Content, Bad Robot, BET, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, CAA, CMT, Comedy Central, Entertainment Industry Foundation, FleishmanHillard, Gap, General Assembly, Intelligentsia Coffee, Just Salad, Kenneth Cole Productions, Lyft, Magic Hat Brewing, Microsoft, MTV, Paramount Network, Salesforce, SB Projects, Speakable/Action Button, Starbucks, Studio71, Target, Thumbtack, Tribeca Enterprises, TV Land, UncommonGoods, Univision, Urban Outfitters, Verizon Media, VH1, Warby Parker, WordPress and Xandr. The Civic Alliance said it will provide tailored support for those member companies via a “civic concierge” service, providing best practices and connecting them with nonpartisan agencies, organizations and initiatives including the Ad Council, All In Together, BallotReady, Circle at Tufts University, Civic Responsibility Project, The Civics Center, Countable, DoSomething.org, Fair Elections Center, HeadCount, Motivote, My Faith Votes, National Conference on Citizenship, National Voter Registration Day, Nonprofit Vote, Students Learn Students Vote Coalition, Time to Vote, VoteRiders and the U.S. Census Bureau. Democracy Works CEO Seth Flaxman said in a release, “Companies have the ability to drive voter turnout rates to historic levels in 2020. Americans interact with brands nearly every moment of their day—on their phones, at work and at home. Through the Civic Alliance, we will provide strategic guidance so that companies transform each of those interactions into reminders to be civically active at the moment it counts and deliver trusted information that voters need about how to participate.” CAA president Richard Lovett added, “We are lucky to live in a country where people can participate and make a difference, whether it’s through voting, volunteering or participating in a Census or townhall. We have commitments from dozens of leading companies like Amazon, Facebook and Starbucks, who will work together to support the strength of our communities and democracy, particularly in an election year where we can encourage first-time voters, promote online registration efforts and create digital campaigns to help people find their nearest polling station. We hope more companies and citizens will join us in this effort to shape a more optimistic future.”