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Our Massive Project: How to Vote in Every State

2016-08-05 · announcement · Hank · 2:25 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: civic or action cta, self promotion, timely hook

Hank launches How to Vote in Every State, a 54-video guide to registering, getting a sample ballot and voting in each state, and argues that not voting is no protest: local elections are often decided by one vote and democracy needs participation.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Launch: a video in 54 parts on registering, sample ballots and voting in every state; 30,000 words of scripts

  • ★★★ Hank introduces a video in 54 parts explaining how to register to vote, get a sample ballot and vote in each of the 50 states and a few other cases. — 00:00:00 · How to Vote in Every State
  • ★★ Hank says voting works differently everywhere in the US because each state sets its own voting laws and procedures, which he calls beautiful and a little annoying. — 00:00:09 · United States
  • ★★ Hank says the team wrote over 30,000 words of scripts for the project, which was a bit of a pain but worth it. — 00:00:21 · How to Vote in Every State

00:00:28 — Why vote: many ways to vote, not voting is no revolutionary act, one vote and local elections, a sample ballot and an hour of research

  • ★★★ Hank feels voting is one of the most important parts of being an American. (hedged) — 00:00:28 · United States
  • ★★ Hank says people vote in philosophically different ways: for the world they want, for likely change, or on one issue; how and whether to vote is up to each person. — 00:00:32
  • ★★★ Hank says not voting is no revolutionary political act: if you don't vote, no one hears your voice, so politicians have no reason to represent you. — 00:00:50
  • ★★ Hank says registering and voting are harder in some places than others, and his videos make the process clear. — 00:01:00 · How to Vote in Every State
  • ★★★ Against 'no one voter decides an election', Hank says if everyone thought so only one drunk voter would decide the country; viewers voting together would be an important voting bloc. (playful) — 00:01:06
  • ★★★ Hank says most government in America is local, and local elections frequently get decided by one person. — 00:01:25 · United States
  • ★★ Hank says local elections are how change happens, laws get made and rights are granted or taken away, especially as national government has become less effective in recent years. — 00:01:32
  • ★★ Hank says that if you don't feel informed, a sample ballot (explained in each state's video) and an hour or half hour of research make it easy. — 00:01:42 · How to Vote in Every State

00:01:57 — Share the videos; we change the country as an electorate; click your state; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank asks viewers to send this video or their state's video to everyone they know who might not vote because it is too complicated. — 00:01:57 · How to Vote in Every State
  • ★★★ Hank says Americans change the country not as individuals but as an electorate; democracy does not work without participation, even if slow and imperfect. — 00:02:05 · collective action
  • ★★★ Hank asks viewers to click their state's name to watch how to check their registration, register, get a sample ballot and vote. — 00:02:15 · How to Vote in Every State

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In the description Hank says he thinks one reason some people don't vote is that figuring it out is a pain, and he can see it is complicated. (hedged) — video description
  • ★★ In the description Hank says that in some places they are making voting complicated in the hopes that young people will stay home. — video description
  • ★★ Hank stresses that, however intense or pressing this election seems, every election is important. — video description · United States presidential election
  • ★★ Hank credits the project's team: Taylor Behnke Peters (writing and research), Derek Knabenbauer (editing), Nicole Sweeney (graphics), Nick Jenkins (director), and Spanish translators Liza Platae, Rafael Arévalo, Amber J Holder and John Flores. — video description · How to Vote in Every State
  • ★★ Besides the state videos, the project has videos for Washington DC, the unincorporated territories, and military and overseas voters. — video description · How to Vote in Every State

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: How to Vote in Every State · paradox of voting · voter registration · voter turnout

Also: collective action · democracy · local government · United States

Only in the description or credits: Amber J Holder · Derek Knabenbauer · John Flores · Liza Platae · Nick Jenkins · Nicole Sweeney · Rafael Arévalo · Taylor Behnke Peters · voter suppression · Washington, DC

Also centred on paradox of voting: Tiny Chickens Invade, But Still I Vote · You. Must. Vote. · Ten Terrible Reason to not Vote (and two good ones) · Why I Didn't Vote (And Six Reasons You Might Not)

Also centred on voter registration: Why I Didn't Vote (And Six Reasons You Might Not) · We've Got Some Weird Voting Laws…

Also centred on voter turnout: You. Must. Vote. · Terrible at Frenching: My Spicy Summer Camp Story · Ten Terrible Reason to not Vote (and two good ones) · The Trouble with Wishful Thinking · If you don't go…

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