8 last-minute ways to volunteer on Election Day

Maybe you’ve already voted, like 92 million other Americans. But if you happen to work at a company that gives Election Day off as a paid holiday, here are some last-minute ways to volunteer to contribute to this incredibly consequential presidential election. Volunteerism is surging now; Mobilize, a left-leaning digital platform that connects people with election-related volunteer opportunities, has had more than a million shift signups over the last four days. “We’ve just seen an incredible explosion of volunteer activity in 2020,” Mobilize CEO and cofounder Alfred Johnson says, adding that it’s about 12 times the activity that the startup saw in the 2018 midterms. “The midterms was, at that time, the largest digital mobilization that had ever happened in American political history.”

Call or text your friends and family to make sure they’ve voted

For someone who might not necessarily vote, a nudge from a friend is more effective than a call or text from a stranger. VoteWithMe is an app that searches through your phone contacts to flag people who live in areas with tight races or who don’t always vote in presidential elections. It’s  found in its own studies that texting a friend can get out the vote between two and 20 times more effectively than traditional tactics.

A recent Columbia study found that friend-to-friend texting increased voter turnout as much as door-to-door canvassing. “If people are looking at the prospect of sitting around and doing doom-scrolling on Twitter versus doing something with their time, we’re seeing a lot of people make the choice to double or triple the impact of their vote by finding one or two other people to vote, too,” says Johnson.

Ask voters to contact three friends

At the polls in some states, the nonpartisan nonprofit When We All Vote is organizing volunteers to ask people who’ve just voted to each text or call three friends to ask them to also come vote.

Phone or text banking

If you have a cell phone, you’ve probably already been inundated with text messages about the election. But campaigns are still looking for help reaching voters on election day, and it’s something that you can easily do from home. Sites like Mobilize can help you quickly find a volunteer shift for key Senate races in states like North Carolina, Florida, Iowa, Georgia, and Maine. There isn’t a right-leaning equivalent of Mobilize for Republican opportunities but state party and campaign websites often list volunteer opportunities.

Volunteer for a local campaign

This isn’t just about the presidential race or Senate races—state and local ballot measures and city council races matter, too. The website Act/Vote/Win lists some volunteer opportunities, but it may also make sense to reach out directly to local campaigns for issues you care about.

Watch social media for disinformation

Election Protection, a nonpartisan coalition that protects the right to vote, organizes volunteers to monitor Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Nextdoor, and other social media for misinformation that could lead to voter suppression, so it can be flagged for removal. (Volunteers can also proactively post helpful information, such as the number for a hotline to speak to a legal volunteer about any voting issues at the polls, 866-687-8683.)

Help voters cure their ballots

It’s easy to make a small mistake on a mail-in ballot that makes it invalid—if your signature has changed over time, for example, and doesn’t match the one that the state has on file, the state can reject it. In primaries earlier this year, thousands of mail-in ballots were rejected. But some states allow voters to fix the problem. Volunteers can help follow up with them to make sure their votes are counted, working with groups like NextGen America.

If you’re a lawyer, you can help protect the integrity of the election

Lawyers are needed to staff hotlines so voters know their rights, and to observe ballot processing. The nonprofit We the Action helps coordinate volunteers.

Buy (or hand out) pizza

With record turnout expected—despite the surge in mail-in ballots because of the pandemic—long lines are likely to be a challenge. To keep voters from giving up after they’ve been waiting for hours, the group Pizza to the Polls delivers pizza to crowded polling sites. They need volunteers to report polling places in need and to make sure the pizzas get delivered, motivating voters to stay in line long enough to cast their ballots.