Did you know that there are four civic holidays happening this fall? If you’re interested in celebrating civic engagement and democracy in your community, read on to learn more about these holidays and how you can get involved!
National Voter Registration Day
Tuesday, September 29th, 2023
National Voter Registration Day (NVRD) is a nonpartisan civic holiday celebrating civic engagement by encouraging prospective voters to register to vote. According to U.S. census data, up to 25% of the eligible population of Americans are not registered to vote. NVRD seeks to close this gap between the number of eligible vs. registered citizens by creating awareness about how to register to vote, where people can register, and how people can keep their registration up to date.
NVRD partners utilize a combination of field, technology, and media efforts to register eligible citizens. Since the holiday was first observed in 2012, more than 5 million voters have registered on the holiday to date. You can join the movement by registering to vote if you are
a U.S. citizen above the age of 18 years old, updating your voter address or other out-of-date information if you are already registered, and by encouraging friends, family, and community members to register to vote or update their voter registration. Employers can sign onto the Time to Vote movement to commit to allowing their employees ample time to
vote without the risk of losing pay. Non-profit organizations can sign onto the Nonprofit Staff Vote campaign to ensure paid time off to allow their employees to vote on or before election day.
National Voter Education Week
October 2nd-6th, 2023
National Voter Education Week (NVEW) acknowledges the systemic barriers that bar eligible voters from having access to the ballot. This week-long holiday seeks to tear down these hurdles by educating voters about how they can get registered, stay up to date about when elections are happening, how voters can make informed decisions when voting, as well as the different means by which they can cast their votes.
You can help educate voters by signing up to become an NVEW partner. Partners have access to NVEW’s educational toolkits, webinars, and resource library that they can use to host educational events or to distribute to prospective voters. Non-partners may still attend their events, which include anything from Q&As and “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) sessions on their various social media platforms to roundtable discussions with voter advocates.
Vote Early Day
Thursday, October 26th, 2023
Vote Early Day (VED) was launched during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to encourage voters who were worried about waiting in long lines on election day to consider voting early in person or by mail. However, due to the inconsistent rules surrounding early voting from state to state, voters have often been left confused about when, and even if, they can vote early, and how they can go about doing so. VED encourages individuals to educate and provide resources to their own communities to help voters vote early.
They recommend celebrating the holiday in these four ways:
Encouraging ballot-making and plan making
Throwing a party or parade to/at the polls
Spreading the word and distributing resources about how to vote early in your state
Hosting an event to educate voters about early voting, or to simply celebrate the opportunity to vote
Partners can sign up here to receive materials from VED.
Election Hero Day
Monday, November 6th, 2023
Election Hero Day (EHD) serves to honor the people who ensure that Americans have access to safe and secure voting. Election heroes include state and territorial election officials, county and municipal clerks and directors, election office staff, poll workers, and you, the voter!
One of the simplest ways to celebrate EHD is to thank your local election workers. If you are voting in person, make sure to thank the election staff that helped you go through the voting process. Organizations looking to celebrate EHD can head to their website and download their partner toolkit. You can also apply to become an election hero yourself! Apply to work the August 8th, 2023 election here!
In 2022, Cleveland VOTES honored Cuyahoga County Board of Elections employee Elia Burgos.
Cleveland VOTES will be celebrating all four civic holidays this year. So make sure to stay tuned for announcements about our upcoming civic holiday programming. You can find out how we’re celebrating democracy by subscribing to the #CommitToCle blog here and subscribe to our email newsletter at the bottom of this page. Announcements will also be shared via our social media pages.
Feeling extra inspired and want to celebrate everything, too? Well you’re in luck – you can sign up to become a partner for all four civic holidays through a single application here!
