Madison, WI — Today, NextGen America is celebrating the historic youth turnout in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election. To galvanize this critical voting bloc, NextGen leveraged its grassroots organizing infrastructure in Wisconsin and collaborated with partners to turn out thousands of young Wisconsinites. Overall, NextGen sent over 1 million texts, made nearly 75,000 calls, and contacted more than 30,800 young voters by email ahead of the election.
On-the-ground efforts were dedicated to education and direct conversations with students across the state, pledging them to vote in the race — including a ‘Youth Vote Rally’ at UW-Madison with the 45th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin Mandela Barnes and educational events co-hosted by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin featuring former State Treasurer and Senate candidate Sarah Godlewski.
NextGen also launched its 2023 dating app organizing program during ‘Courting the Vote in Wisconsin,’ where organizers and volunteers across the country kicked off using the apps to connect with young people in Wisconsin – encouraging them to pledge to vote, sharing NextGen’s WI Voter Hub with key voting resources, and more.
“From abortion access to voting rights justice, young people recognized the stakes of this election and mobilized to address some of the most challenging issues our country is facing right now,” NextGen America President and Executive Director Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez said. “The youth vote is strong in Wisconsin, and NextGen America is excited to continue to foster this excitement and passion heading into 2024 and beyond.”
NextGen’s 2023 work follows its historic work in 2022 to mobilize young voters across seven key states, including Wisconsin. These efforts contributed to the second-largest youth voter turnout in a midterm election in 30 years and underscored young voters as a powerful voting bloc in the country.
