Earn points by helping eligible people in your community register to vote using nonpartisan Vot-ER tools such as badges and custom materials and completing civic engagement – focused high impact actions worth different point values. track your points using our Vot-ER leaderboard.
Your team will consist of a team captain, a faculty advisor, team members and a state organizer assigned to help you with your campaign goals. Teams will have the opportunity to earn extra points on civic holidays and during the final days leading up to Election Day.
Pre-Season: August 12th – August 28th
Official Competition: September 3rd to November 5th, Election Day
General HDC Overview Resources:
HDC Captain Resources:
HDC Team Member Resources:
If you’d like to access your team’s Healthy Democracy Campaign leaderboard, please email students@vot-er.org to get access.
Competition High Impact Actions:
September 3 – Election Day
Let’s create a healthier democracy and build out long-lasting civic engagement into your community. Register voters and complete high impact actions right on your campus, in your local community, and in your local healthcare facilities.
EARN THOSE POINTS: Your team will need to fill out our high impact action point tracking form for EACH high impact action that your team completes. If you do not complete this form, your points will not be counted. Your state organizer will remind you to fill out this form when they see your team has completed an action.
Pro tip: Each badge scan on your Vot-ER Voter Registration badge = 1 point for your school.
Host a virtual event (with a voter registration-related ask at the end)
Your ask can be as simple as asking your audience to order a Vot-ER badge or asking for a commitment to participate in specific civic engagement actions such as participating in a voter registration event. Your goal for this event is to register at least 20 voters! Chat with your HDC coach on the best ways to host a virtual event! Here are some examples from last year’s HDC:
Host a virtual voter registration event on Zoom using Vot-ER digital materials
Host a virtual presentation on the importance of civic engagement in your community where you encourage participants to check their voter registration status
University of Miami hosted a virtual watch party for a movie about civic engagement and democracy with a discussion at the end
Host a Vot-ER badge training and get sign-ups
Teach your teammates and others involved in your HDC team how to use Vot-ER badges to help register voters! Host your own trainings before class begins, during grand rounds, or set up your own lunch n’ learns.
For more information about using Vot-ER badges, take a look at our Badge 101. We also encourage you to attend one our Vot-ER Basics trainings to gain some additional knowledge on badges.
Build civic engagement into your school’s curriculum
Work with your faculty advisor / institution to develop a lesson or section of an existing course dedicated to examining the social determinants of health and the link between voting and health outcomes. Gain bonus points on top of the lesson by having students check their voter registration right there, on the spot using your team’s specific Vot-ER voter registration links. You might even be able to recruit more people to your team too!
Partner with a community organization to co-host any other HIA
While registering your peers to vote is essential to your HDC efforts, taking your voter registration ‘super powers’ out into the surrounding communities is a perfect way to ensure more voices are heard come Election day. Chat with your HDC coach on the best ways to partner with a community based org and use our email template to introduce your team! Here are some examples from last year’s HDC:
Saint Leo University partnered with Camelot Community Care, a non-profit charity helping families experiencing abusive situations, to hold a voter registration drive
Healing The Vote partnered with their University hospital to host a table at their community health fair where they registered voters
UMiami partnered with American Medical Association and UMiami Law Center to host a panel on civic health and health justice where audience members checked their voter registration status
Host an in-person event (with an ask at the end)
Bringing people together and energizing peers is the perfect way to make sure everyone knows how interconnected health and voting are. Your ask can be as simple as asking your audience to order a Vot-ER badge, check their voter registration status or commit to joining your team. Your goal for this event is to register at least 20 voters! Chat with your HDC coach on the best ways to host an in-person event! Here are some examples:
Achieve a time off to vote policy at your school
Work with your school’s administration to give the entire student body time off to vote on Election Day. You can use our guide here to build out an exact plan for how to make this happen at your school. Access our FREE guide HERE.
100 Badge Scans (+ Every Additional 100 Badge Scans)
You’ve ordered your Vot-ER voter registration badges, now you’re ready to use them! Your team’s badge holders will be having conversations with peers and patients, reminding them that health and voting are connected, and encouraging them to check their voter registration. While not every badge ‘scan’ will result in someone registering to vote, those initial ‘scans’ are the first part of the effort, so you definitely earn points there. For every 100 scans your team gets on your Vot-ER Badges, your team will earn HIA points! Click here to learn more about how to use your badge.
Throw a voter Registration themed Block Party or Cookout
Chat with your HDC coach to get the cookout going! This action is meant to inspire community building efforts. At your team’s cookout or block party, your team will have a goal of registering as many community members to vote as possible. Your goal for this event is to register at least 20 voters!
Get an Email reminder about registering to vote sent by school’s leadership
Think you can get your university’s leadership to send all students and staff an email reminding them to check their voter registration using a Vot-ER link? Then absolutely go for it! Use our template to help make the ask. If you need help, add your Vot-ER coach for support. You can access a FREE customizable template for your email HERE!
Establish a Vot-ER chapter at your school
Building a Vot-ER Chapter at your institution will cement your commitment to building lasting student civic engagement on campus. Your HDC team will be able to pass the torch to new students interested in building a healthier democracy in the upcoming years. Our guide to building a Vot-ER student chapter can be found HERE