Alex Aronson
October 14, 2008
Find your inner Frankenstein, knock on some doors in costume, then party down with like-minded monsters at Trick or Vote–the nation’s spookiest nonpartisan get-out-the-vote effort.
The Best Way on the Best Day
Studies show that the most effective way to get young people to vote is to simply ask them (to their face). And what’s the one day each year that people actually expect strangers to knock on their doors? Halloween, of course, which takes place at the same time every year: Just days before the General Election.
Launched in 2004, when the Oregon Bus Project’s 850-person Trick or Vote event set the record for the biggest canvass in state history, Trick or Vote has grown tremendously in 2008.
This year, Trick or Vote events will be going down in over 30 cities and 50 college campuses nationwide to fight the fright of young voter apathy. Trick or Vote 2008 is the effort of a national coalition of over thirty leading youth engagement organizations working to make targeted voter contacts in urban areas on Halloween. Just days before the election, costumed volunteers will canvass low-turnout, youth-dense precincts to remind people to vote, distribute nonpartisan voter guides, and generate both grassroots and media awareness before Election Day.
Participation in Trick or Vote is Simple, Fun & Costumed
Get started by signing up at TrickorVote.org. On Halloween, you’ll get a spookily simple training by expert Trick or Trainers, then knock on some blood-curdling doors to creep-out-the-vote. Afterward, you and your ghoulish friends can toast your success with live music and Halloween shenanigans at the Trick or Vote afterparty.
Don’t let the day after the election be the scariest day of the year.
Trick or Vote!
Alex Aronson joined the Bus Project in 2006 as lead organizer for the Building Votes youth registration and mobilization program, the largest in the Pacific Northwest. He currently serves as the Bus Project’s Youth Vote director, overseeing the Building Votes program and Trick or Vote. He’s a big fan of chocolate chip cookies, the Boston Red Sox, and all things corduroy.
