Celebrities offer exclusive experiences in campaign to mobilize young voters

Celebrities are offering exclusive performances, dance lessons and virtual “happy hours” as part of a campaign to mobilize youth voters, the organizations behind the campaign announced Tuesday. 

Global Citizen, a nonprofit dedicated to ending extreme poverty, and HeadCount, a nonprofit aimed at promoting voter participation, are partnering on the nonpartisan “Just Vote” campaign. The effort aims to engage 1 million young voters and get 50,000 young people registered to vote ahead of the November election. 

Voters will be able to unlock access to opportunities or memorabilia from artists by checking their voter registration status as part of the Just Vote campaign. Participating celebrities include Billie Eilish, Billy Porter, DJ Khaled, FINNEAS, Julianne Hough, Loren Gray, Nicky Jam, Quavo, Taylor Swift and Usher. 

Participants will be able to unlock access to a variety of experiences, including a virtual dance lesson with Usher and his choreographer, a never-before-seen performance from Nicky Jam or a virtual get together with DJ Khaled.

The Just Vote campaign will employ “precise tracking of voter registrations to track the campaign’s success,” according to the organizations’ joint announcement. 

“‘MAJOR KEY ALERT!’ Checking your voting status and registering to vote is easy and important,” DJ Khaled said in the announcement. “I’m partnering with Global Citizen and HeadCount, to make sure everyone has a chance to use their voice. I’m looking forward to hosting a virtual meet and greet with the Just Vote campaign to talk with young people who have taken the time to check their voter registration status.”

The push comes as candidates and political groups have aimed to mobilize youth voters ahead of the election. 

Millennials account for 27 percent of all eligible voters, while members of Generation Z, who are just starting to reach voting age, make up about 10.1 percent of the electorate, despite millennials and those born after them now making up a majority of the United States’s population, according to recent research from the Brookings Institution.

Recent polling released by the progressive group NextGen America found that 77 percent of registered voters aged 18 to 35 across 13 battleground states said they “definitely will vote” in this year’s general election, a 7-point increase from the amount who said the same in July. 

The same poll found the majority of surveyed young voters in battleground states said they backed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden over President Trump, as well as backed the Democratic Senate candidate in their state over the Republican.