Join Third Act’s “Senior-to-Senior” initiative to help high school seniors in your life to register to vote!

Third Act is thrilled to partner with The Civics Center and the Ready to Vote Coalition to help make every eligible high school senior a voter! And to gear-up for national Student Voter Registration Week September 19-23, 2022.

About 4 million young people turn 18 every year in the US and become eligible to vote. However, in many school districts less than 20% of youth who will turn 18 by the 2022 midterms were registered to vote, despite being eligible.  

Third Actors like you are dependable, long-time voters with important stories to share that will help inspire and motivate young people to register to vote and begin a lifetime of civic engagement.

Here are three ways you can get involved:

1. Encourage Youth to Register to Vote Online

September 20, 2022 is National Voter Registration Day. Use Third Act’s Turbovote Site to check your own voter registration, find out new rules, get notifications about important election and vote-by-mail deadlines, and encourage young people—or anyone eligible—in your life to register to vote online. It’s super easy! And there’s a NEW feature where you can encourage 15-17 year olds in your life to Pledge To Register. They will get reminders so they won’t miss out once they turn 18 and are eligible to register and to vote. Don’t miss an election – use Turbovote today!

2. COMPLETED! Train to be a Senior to Senior
Voter Registration Drive Ambassador

COMPLETED: Register for one of the The Civics Center and Third Act volunteer workshops and get trained to be ambassadors who will build connections with high schools and recruit educators and students to implement student voter registration drives at high schools across the country, especially during Student Voter Registration Week, September 19-23 (and National Voter Registration Day on September 20). Workshops for adult volunteers are on Wednesday afternoon/evenings through September 7 (except not on August 24 or 31).

2. Record a Tribute Video
About Life Milestones (Like Voting!)

Third Act wants to contribute to creating a culture where democracy and voting matters. Please share your invaluable voting experiences with the next generation of voters! Using the Tribute video platform, you can take a video—of yourself, or with a high school senior, or a teacher in your life—reflecting on prompts like these:

  1. What does democracy mean to you? Reflect on major milestones (i.e. turning 18, graduating, etc..) What are some ways voting has changed your life/community?
  2. What does voting mean to you, what motivates you? What message do you have for younger generations? Make a video together with a younger person, if you like!

Share your video on social media and recruit other friends and family to record Tribute videos of their own. Third Act will share these videos on our social media platforms to inspire and support young people to participate in The Civic Center’s “Class of 2022 Ready to Vote Challenge” and to be “Ready to Vote.” Click here for detailed instructions. Visit this link and get inspired by some of the videos already shared by Third Actors like you. 

Background Resources
About High School Voter Registration Programs

Do you want to learn more about why high school voter registration is so important? See the links below for research and more information.

Enormous opportunities exist in high schools to register voters before every election. In most states, students who are 17 can register to vote right now if they will be 18 by November 8, 2022. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia allow preregistration beginning as early as age 16. This means that most of the 3.7 million graduating and first-semester seniors are eligible to register. High schools provide an ideal environment for this effort, before students enter the workforce or go to college.

Background resources to learn more:

Ways to get involved

All the different ways you can get involved with Third Act: