New Get-Out-The-Vote Initiative Seeks To Wield The Power Of Content Creators To Get Patriots To The Ballot Box
Fitness guru and actress Brooke Ence has never been one to pay much attention to politics. Like many young girls raised in southern Utah, she lived a normal life ranching and playing sports in a family that prioritized the importance of community.
“I’ve grown up looking to [certain people in my life] and have watched how they take care of their neighbors and how they take care of the community,” Ence told The Federalist. “Some people would say I’m a little bit of a different breed, especially in the industries that I’ve been a part of.”
Ence gained notoriety as an athlete after competing in the 2015 CrossFit Games. In the years since, she’s accumulated a sizeable following on social media, where she publishes content on fitness and personal wellness. She’s also tried her hand at acting, starring as an Amazon in DC’s “Wonder Woman” and “Justice League,” and most recently launched From the Farm, a digital farmer’s market that aims to “create a parallel economy for ranchers and farmers [so] they can get paid what they’re worth and [stay in] business.”
While wading into political matters was never on her bucket list, Ence had a change of heart when she started to see how the left’s destructive policies harm children. An aunt to 12 nieces and nephews, she realized remaining silent was no longer an option.
“If all I was going to do was share my opinion and it did nothing but create controversy [and didn’t] solve the problem … it was unnecessary to me,” Ence said. But “when things really started to affect kids, that’s where I drew the line. I no longer cared.”
Seeking to make a difference, Ence is one of several social media personalities partnering with Vote4America. Launched earlier this summer, the initiative seeks to work with public figures like Ence to register and turn out low-propensity voters friendly to conservative causes during the 2024 election cycle.
“There are millions of people who are disenfranchised by politics and therefore, not voting,” Vote4America spokesman Stephen Aaron told The Federalist. “We developed a way to speak to these voters through social media personalities they trust and convey the importance of participating in the electoral process.”
The Mission
Aaron said it became apparent during the initiative’s early development that “many voters do not understand the anxieties they feel in their personal [lives] are the result of elected officials.” The purpose of Vote4America, he explained, is to help everyday Americans recognize they hold the power to make a difference in their own communities through civic action, including at the ballot box.
“We’ve been working with content creators to remind people that they are the solution to their own problems,” he said. “If they vote, they can change the elected officials and the decisions creating problems for [them].”
The venture works with creators who appeal to more conservative audiences, such as those publishing content about women’s sports and veterans’ issues. Creators are given complete autonomy in deciding when and how they approach their followers about registering to vote and civic activism, according to a Vote4America spokesman.
The group views influencers who specialize in activities like hunting and fishing as great avenues to reach unregistered outdoorsmen. Data collected by the initiative and shared with The Federalist indicates there are potentially hundreds of thousands of hunters and other gun owners living in battleground states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan who are eligible but unregistered to vote.
By utilizing the creators’ online influence, Vote4America also seeks to target younger demographics who are more inclined to use social media and historically don’t turn out in elections. Analytics provided to The Federalist show the vast majority of several creators’ audiences, including Ence’s, are individuals in the 18-34 and 35-54 age groups.
While Vote4America measures the number of individuals who register through its website, it is currently exploring avenues to determine the effectiveness of its efforts and whether these new voters are casting ballots in elections, according to a Vote4America spokesman.
Connecting with Prospective Voters
Through their various platforms, creators share ways for their audiences to become engaged in the voting process.
This includes guiding prospective voters to Vote4America’s website, which provides users with a portal to check their current registration status and register to vote if not already. Vote4America partner and former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, for example, recently highlighted the initiative when commenting on the Biden-Harris administration’s support for allowing men to invade women’s spaces under the guise of “transgenderism.”
“Moms, vote for your daughter’s privacy and safety in November,” Gaines wrote on X, before linking to Vote4America’s homepage and encouraging her followers to register to vote.
Speaking with The Federalist, Vote4America partner and Army veteran Dan Hollaway noted how political issues are “always part of the natural conversation” on his shows. Hollaway hosts the “Drinkin’ Bros” podcast, which covers a variety of political and cultural topics, and the “Citizen Podcast,” which focuses on “what it means to be an American citizen.” Both programs largely cater toward veterans and outdoorsmen.
“Pretty much anything we talk about when it gravitates around a particular social, political, economic, [or] foreign policy issue, I always kind of not-so-gently remind people that your fate is in your own hands,” Hollaway said. It’s “as Plato said: If you refuse to take part in governments, you’re doomed to be ruled by fools. And that’s where we find ourselves today.”
Meanwhile, creators like Ence take a more indirect approach. The CrossFit athlete said she tries to avoid presenting herself as an “expert” on any given subject, instead issuing posts she hopes her followers find “interesting” and “thought provoking.”
“There’s really no perfect recipe for it, because you cannot truly know who people are, especially through a screen,” she said. “If we want real change, then we need people to change individually. We need to care. I can’t make you care, but I [can show that I] care.”
Getting Off the Sidelines
Hollaway closed his remarks by highlighting the importance of citizen activism in sustaining the American republic. While understanding conservatives’ concerns for the country, he noted that those worries are meaningless unless and until they’re acted upon.
“You can b-tch and moan about your rights, and you can wait around for somebody else to secure them for you, and you’ll be subject under their rule,” Hollaway said. “Or you can secure your rights yourself by performing responsibilities required of you. That’s what makes you a citizen.”
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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