Statement: The Voter Participation Center Responds to Congresswoman Claudia Tenney

In a press release and letter issued today, Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-24) mischaracterized the nature of the Voter Participation Center’s important, non-partisan work to register and turn out eligible Americans to vote. The goal of the Voter Participation Center (VPC) as a 501(c)(3) non-profit is to register to vote, and turn out to vote, eligible Americans from underrepresented populations including people of color, young people, and unmarried women.

To reach these underrepresented populations, VPC uses digital ads to identify prospective voters, and incorporate their likely or known interests into our targeting to engage them online. For example, we used digital interest categories on Facebook to include prospective voters interested in “College Football,” “College,” “Fraternities in North America,” “Dorm Life,” and other terms to find likely young voters. We also used other popular interests, including “Taylor Swift,” “I love to Salsa,” “Meet the Browns (TV series),” “Goya Foods,” and “Black History,” to engage with Black and Hispanic would-be voters. We also exclude interest categories like “Luxury Travelers” and “Luxury Shoppers” that are likely to reach people who are likely to be registered to vote already. This is standard procedure in the digital advertising industry used to reach specific demographics. These practices are not partisan and are fully in line with federal tax rules for tax-exempt charitable organizations. Our one and only goal is to make sure that eligible, underrepresented Americans are able to engage in our democracy, regardless of how they choose to vote. 

People of color, young people, and unmarried women are underrepresented in our electorate, making up 64% of voting-eligible Americans, but over 70% of unregistered eligible voters. In 2020, only 61% of the voters in these communities turned out to the polls, as opposed to 75% of voters outside their ranks. Since 2003, VPC and our sister organization, the Center for Voter Information (CVI), have helped more than 6.2 million people register to vote through our digital and mail programs. While VPC’s work is focused on these underrepresented communities, we are happy when our ads reach any eligible citizen and they are able to register to vote.

Our hope is that all elected officials will support our efforts toward building a representative democracy, instead of misleading and alarming voters about our effective, non-partisan voter registration programs. Elections should be a contest of ideas – not a contest of who gets to vote.

The Voter Participation Center and Center for Voter Information are non-profit, non-partisan organizations founded in 2003 to help members of the New American Majority – unmarried women, people of color and young people – register and vote. Since then, the organizations have helped over 6 million people register and cast ballots.