Since the 2020 general election, at least 8 million young people will have turned 18 and are eligible to vote in this year’s General Election. My School Votes is excited to work with a new generation of voters ready to get involved in their communities on the issues they care about. 

There is so much at stake. This November, all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and thirty-five Senate seats (about a third) are up for election.

If young people are engaged this year, they have the power to make their voices heard in the 2022 Midterm Elections across the country.  

Through monthly trainings, students acquire organizing skills, connect national issues to the local level, and learn how to develop highly effective student-led registration campaigns capable of registering over 90% of a given student body. 

First, head over to weall.vote/tumblr to check your voter registration status. Second, ask one to three friends to pledge to vote with you.

It’s people like you who will make all the difference this fall—whether that’s by casting a ballot or by organizing your communities to make sure all your neighbors can do the same.

The importance of state and local offices is particularly relevant in our current environment where the Supreme Court is giving increased power to state legislatures on decisions like health care rights, voting rights, the environment, jobs,  and more. 

Other local offices, like school boards, greatly impact the lives of students as they can determine school curriculum and textbooks, budgets and spending priorities, and more.

What happens in state and local races that also directly impacts your life.

While it may feel like your hard work is just one drop in the bucket, please know that with every election we are one step closer to obtaining a just future for us all. 

Will you join us by checking your voter registration right now? It  takes only a few minutes. weall.vote/tumblr

No matter what state or county you live in, you can contact your local election authority to: 

Here is a great place to start, if you need more information: https://vote.gov/

Learn More at aapd.co  m/wevote

As a non-partisan disability rights organization, The Whole Person advocates for the “Independent Living Philosophy,” which focuses on the key concepts of independent choice, control, freedom, and equality for people with disabilities. We echo the rallying cry of disability advocates worldwide, “nothing about us without us,” in the belief that when people with disabilities have access to voting systems, they have the power to innovate positive change in whatever way that may mean for them.

This fall, voters will elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives, 35 out of 100 Senators, and countless elected officials in their local and state governments. 

From Congress down to your local government, access to health care, the way communities are policed, the judges who make decisions in courts at every level, how this country combats climate change, and more are all on the ballot.

99% of all elected positions are at the state and local level -- yes, 99%. 

Statewide elected officials don’t just include the governor or attorney general -- judges, administrators, and secretaries of state all make critical decisions that impact our everyday lives. 

So, it’s important everybody checks their voter registration status and ensure all of their loved ones are registered to vote, and have a plan to head to the polls these midterm elections. 

Be sure to check your voter registration status today: weall.vote/tumblr

Did you know...

1 in 4 people in the US have a disability, so the government should strive to bring people with disabilities into conversations about policies that affect them.

People living with disabilities rarely see themselves represented in government and political officials, and their needs are seldom addressed or prioritized in these political campaigns. 

Get prepared now! Be sure to check your voter registration status today: weall.vote/tumblr

There is a 6 percentage point turnout gap between voters with and without disabilities. This turnout gap results from different access barriers that exclude people with disabilities from the democratic process. Disabled people are twice as likely to face barriers when voting. Even though polling places are required to be accessible, a 2017 government report found that 83% of polling locations had some kind of access barrier either inside or outside of a polling location.

In addition to physical barriers, information about voting, including ballots, are rarely available in formats that are accessible to people with disabilities, such as plain language or American Sign Language. There is also a large gap in digital and broadband access among people with disabilities making it harder to get important information about when and how to vote.

Finally, many disabled people feel disconnected from the political process because of these access barriers, a lack of representation of disability in elected leaders, and a lack of acknowledgement of our communities by candidates and politicians. A recent Century Foundation poll found that only 3 in 10 disabled voters felt that leaders in Washington care about people with disabilities.

In order to address this turnout gap, we need fully accessible elections, candidates that represent the diversity of the disability community, and elected leaders that prioritize the disability community.

First and foremost, check your voter registration status and make sure your loved ones - and your community - are registered to vote. Visit weall.vote/tumblr to find out !

Second, host a voter registration drive in your community. And when Early Vote begins, make sure everybody you know has a plan to vote. 

There are so many ways communities can come together these midterm elections. Visit whenweallvote.org to find out how to get involved.

In America, 1 out of every 4 adults has a disability. In the electorate, there are over 38 million eligible voters with disabilities. People with disabilities, both visible and invisible, exist in every single community, across race, age, religion, sex, gender, ethnicity, location, etc.

That means that, even if your organization does not specifically focus on people with disabilities, your organization’s audience includes many people with disabilities. Without ensuring that your organization is accessible and inclusive of disabled people, you could be excluding many of the people you are trying to connect with.

By acknowledging disability as one of the identities many of us hold, organizations can be more effective and inclusive in the communities they work with.

State and local elections impact our everyday lives determining everything from funding for schools and COVID-19 protections to fixing roads and potholes in your neighborhoods are also up for election. 99% of all elected positions are at the state and local level -- yes, 99%. 

On the federal level, this November, voters will elect all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 seats in the Senate. 

39 state and territorial gubernatorial races will take place, and numerous other state and local elections will also be contested. 

With so much at stake, be sure to check your voter registration status today: weall.vote/tumblr

One of the best things you can do to expand your worldview is learn about a culture you may not be familiar with. Taking the time to see how other cultures operate is incredibly important to understanding each other. That’s why we were so excited to sit down with South African movie maker Akim Omotoso, the director of the 2016 film, VAYA. The movie chronicles the lost innocence of three young South Africans who journey away from their rural homes, each in search of something.

We asked Omotoso how the current culture in South Africa inspired the making of this his film, and how his movie may inspire other people—particularly South Africans—to create art themselves.