If voters don’t turn out to vote this election, it won’t be because they didn’t know about it. Election officials in Los Angeles and Orange Counties have joined forces with several media outlets to launch an innovative effort that seeks to engage and inform Southern California voters for this Nov. 4, 2014 General Election. The campaign represents a new outreach approach that utilizes the internet, social media and mobile media technologies. The campaign will run from Oct. 6 to Nov. 4.
The campaign will feature a new user-friendly portal (www.socalvotes.com) — created by the two election offices, to connect voters to important voter information. Voters will also be able to receive the location of their polling place directly on their mobile devices through a text message.
“We are looking forward to engaging and assisting new and existing voters through new technologies that help to empower voters by giving them direct access to important election information,” said Neal Kelley, Orange County Registrar of Voters. “Southern California serves more voters than most states in the nation, this partnership is about finding creative and innovative ways to make elections more user-friendly,” concluded Kelley.
Media partners for the campaign include both English and ethnic language outlets, including CBS Radio Los Angeles, Emmis Communications (Power 106), Entravision Communications (Super Estrella 107.1 and Jose 97.5/103.1), LA 18 (Asian language programming) and Pandora Radio. The combined reach of the media partners will generate approximately 6 million impressions.
“As the eligible voter population grows, so must our strategies for engaging and informing voters,” said RR/CC Dean C. Logan. “We need to engage voters where they are, increasingly—that’s online. This partnership is an excellent example of two government agencies collaborating with strong messengers to engage a diverse electorate through new more relevant tactics. We encourage voters to visit www.socalvotes.com to find helpful voter information,” added Logan.
Why focus on online and mobile tools? Ninety percent of American adults have a cell phone and 81 percent of cell phones owners use their phones to send or receive text messages. In addition, connecting to the internet has become an integral part of mobile usage with 60 percent of people using their cell phone to access websites.
The mission of the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk is to serve Los Angeles County by providing essential records management and election services in a fair, accessible and transparent manner. For more information, visit www.lavote.net.
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