Voting groups: RBG’s death led to surge in new registrations
Motorcyclists head out for the 2020 Multicultural Unity Ride that started at the Harley-Davidson Product and Development Center on West Capitol Drive in Wauwatosa on Saturday. The goal of the ride was to bring awareness to distracted driving through the Parents Against Distracted Driving program hosted by the Love From Afar-The Christopher Allen Williams Foundation. The program included a motorcycle ride through the city to unite riders of all ages, genders, races and religions.
Many Americans signed up to vote after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, according to multiple voter registration organizations.
Vote.org said it had 40,771 new registrations on the weekend that followed Ginsburg’s death on Sept. 18, a 68% increase over the previous Saturday and Sunday. The group said it received 35,288 requests for mail-in ballots, a 42% jump from the weekend before.
“Following Justice Ginsburg’s passing, the significant uptick in interactions with Vote.org’s registration and mail ballot resources, culminating in record numbers on National Voter Registration Day, speaks to an energy among Americans who want to make sure their voices are heard this election,” Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey said in a statement.
Carolyn DeWitt, president of Rock the Vote, told CNBC her organization experienced a similar surge.
“I do think that the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg has galvanized eligible voters, in particular, who understand the role of the Supreme Court and are concerned about the future of civil rights,” DeWitt said.
Ginsburg’s death came just before Voter Registration Day, when Rock the Vote, NextGen America and When We All Vote – a voter engagement organization co-chaired by former first lady Michelle Obama – broke previous registration records, according to CNN. When We All Vote reported more than 82,000 voters started or completed the registration process from Sept.19 to Thursday.
Filling Ginsburg’s seat on the bench has become a hotly debated partisan issue before the Nov. 3 election. Eighty percent of likely voters in a recent Economist/YouGov poll said the choice of the next justice is important to them. When asked if the seat should
“I do think that the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg has galvanized eligible voters, in particular, who understand the role of the Supreme Court and are concerned about the future of civil rights.”
be filled right away by President Donald Trump or if he should wait for the election results, 83% of Democrats said the seat should be left vacant for the election winner, while 80% of Republicans said the seat should be filled now.
Despite the reported registrations surge related to Ginsburg’s death, voter registration is dramatically down from 2016, according to a recent study from the Brennan Center for Justice. The study attributed the decline to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 200,000 people in the U.S.
The study, released Monday, found voter registration had plummeted an average of 38% in 17 of 21 states that it analyzed.