Are you ready for some football?! How about some leftist-led get-out-the-vote (GOTV) games?
Well, you get both with the NFL Votes campaign.
The all-powerful National Football League says the “League-wide, nonpartisan initiative supports and encourages civic engagement among NFL players, and legends, club and league personnel, and fans.” Launched in 2020 as a joint effort between the NFL and NFL Players Association, NFL Votes “focuses on three key components of the electoral process: voter education, voter registration, and voter activation,” according to the league’s website.
Sounds noble enough.
But if you’re scoring along at home, the NFL’s teammates include some of the most left-wing activist organizations on the election field today. Starting on the campaign’s roster is Rock the Vote, Voto Latino, and I am a voter.
Rock the Leftists
Rock the Vote has been around since 1990, when music executives partnered with MTV and celebrities on the “Censorship is Un-American” campaign after foul-mouthed rap acts such as N.W.A and 2 Live Crew brought out an indignant wave of speech silencers.
It was a simpler time, when MTV actually played music videos.
Thrilled by its accomplishment of activating “millions of young people” to turn out to the polls, the leftist nonprofit has parlayed its GOTV successes into a multitude of leftist causes over its 30-plus years in operation — even as targeting the young adult vote remained central to its efforts.
“The group claims to be nonpartisan, but has produced videos throughout the years using celebrities who largely endorse a left-of-center agenda, including abortion rights, liberalizing criminal justice policy, and marijuana legalization,” non-profit tracker InfluenceWatch reports.
In 2009, Rock the Vote used its multimedia muscle to promote President Barack Obama and Democrats’ healthcare agenda, including what would become the government-driven Obamacare.
The progressive network is led by a laundry list of former Democrat Party and leftist operatives. Rock the Vote President and Executive Director Carolyn DeWitt previously served as a deputy director at the Democratic National Convention. Rasheed Varner, Rock the Vote’s Data and Research associate, formerly worked for the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and the Center for Tech and Civic Life, the 2020 election-rigging front for “Zuckbucks.” And Amanda Brown Lierman, co-chair of Rock the Vote’s board of directors, served as political and organizing director of the Democratic National Committee and was “organizer for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2007, before working for the Obama transition team,” according to InfluenceWatch.
Send in the Leftist Celebrities
Voto Latino, also known as the Voto Latino Action Fund, is a leftist-funded and staffed voter mobilization organization that, according to InfluenceWatch, pioneered texting-based voter registration. The “nonpartisan” group in 2013 put its weight behind a campaign for liberal immigration policy reforms, partnering with, among others, Rock the Vote. The Squad queen, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., appeared in a 2019 video for Voto Latino after receiving a birthday card from the group signed by 10,000 well-wishers, InfluenceWatch reports.
Voto Latino’s leadership team includes CEO Maria Teresa Kumar, who previously served as a legislative aid to the late Rep. Vic Fazio, D-Calif., and has been a member of the boards of EMILY’s List and Planned Parenthood. Kumar also is a frequent MSNBC contributor. Former Obama administration Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro is a senior adviser for Voto Latino.
Like Rock the Vote and Voto Latino, I am a voter is populated and supported by a gaggle of leftist celebrities. The “ostensibly nonpartisan” get-out-the-vote organization was co-founded by fashionista and liberal activist Mandana Dayani and actress Debra Messing, among other Hollywood glitterati.
“Despite framing itself as politically neutral, I am a voter regularly associates with left-of-center celebrities, and Dayana and Messing are well-known for their left-of-center views on matters like racial issues, LGBT issues, and gun control,” InfluenceWatch reports.
Dayani and Messing co-host a podcast that has featured a who’s who of far-left politicians and activists — from Jane Fonda and Hillary Clinton to Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and “Trans Trailblazer” Schuyler Bailar.
Another NFL Votes partner is RISE to Vote, which encourages professional athletes and their fans to vote. Who started the RISE to Vote initiative? Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, arguably the most partisan Democrat state election official in the country. Before she took over as the swing state’s top election integrity denier, Benson led the Ross Initiative in Sports (RISE), where she launched RISE to Vote.
More ‘Social Justice’ from the NFL?
Rock the Vote, RISE to Vote, and I am a voter have been with the NFL partnership since its launch in 2020, on the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. That was the same year the NFL was genuflecting at the altar of the violent Black Lives Matter movement, which had turned U.S. cities into riot zones in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody, among others. The NFL, like other mega U.S. corporations, was swept up in the anti-law enforcement and race-baiting narrative constructed by a complicit corporate media and the American left en route to the rigged 2020 presidential election. The NFL’s kowtowing to the leftist social justice movement alienated a lot of fans who resisted the forced dose of politics with America’s most popular sporting spectacle.
Four years later, NFL Votes is doubling down on its brand of “civic engagement,” working alongside the usual suspects on the left known for targeting likely Democrat voters in their GOTV campaigns. In what polling suggests will be an extremely close election, every vote counts. And the leftist groups on the NFL Votes team have a proven record of turning out votes for Democrats.
RISE has provided “education programming” to almost all of the NFL’s 32 franchises, Scott Pioli, NFL media analyst, said in a press release.
“As a member of RISE’s board of directors, I know RISE facilitators have engaged with players, coaches, staff and other employees within the clubs,” he said. “RISE is a national nonprofit that educates and empowers the entire sports community to eliminate racial discrimination, champion social justice issues and improve race relations. It has also served other leagues and colleges athletes across the country.”
While the NBA, the WNBA, and professional and amateur athletes from other sports have participated in similar voter engagement efforts, they can’t compete with the NFL’s footprint and influence. Once again, the league has mandated its franchises reach out to elections officials “and offer their facilities for voting-related activities.” In the 2020 and 2022 general elections, “NFL facilities were used as election sites for voter registration, ballot drop-off, early voting and Election Day polling locations — an area of the NFL Votes initiative that has long been a personal passion of mine,” Pioli wrote.
A ‘Shady Way’
Rock the Vote also partners with Vote411, a leftist project of the League of Women Voters Education Fund. Organizers bill the project as a “nonpartisan” election resource, a “one-stop-shop” for “election related information,” my Federalist colleague Logan Washburn reported last month.
“It offers ‘general and state-specific information’ on things like voter registration and ID requirements. But it also collects user data for the leftist groups League of Women Voters and Rock the Vote,” he wrote in the piece headlined, “Vote411 Feeds Voter Info To Leftist Data Harvesting Machine While Masquerading As ‘Nonpartisan.’”
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen has warned voters about what he called Vote411’s “misleading public service announcement.”
“I’m exposing this data-mining collection effort masquerading as Vote411. It’s a sham,” Allen said in a press release. “This is simply a shady way to collect the IP addresses and personal data of Alabama citizens.”
The Terms of Use section on Vote411’s website acknowledges that it collects user IP data and asks for additional information, but the League of Women Voters claims it “will not rent, sell or trade your email address or phone number with any third party.”
“The League may, from time to time, share the name and mailing address of its non-member financial supporters with other non-profit organizations. Members and supporters, (such as donors and electronic communication recipients) may also receive additional communications from the League, such as occasional news and alerts about the issues on which we work,” the site notes.
When clicking on the “Register Now” box toward the top of the NFL.com site, users are directed to the partners.rockthevote.org page. They are prompted to provide their email address and their Zip Code. A small print disclaimer below advises that, “By continuing, you accept Rock the Vote’s Privacy Policy and agree to receive occasional election reminder emails from Rock the Vote. You can opt out from emails at any time.”
Depending on the level of interaction with the Rock the Vote site, the liberal activist group may collect the following information, according to the privacy policy:
- Identifiers, such as your name, email address, physical address, phone number, Social Security Number, and other government issued ID numbers.
- Demographic information, such as your date of birth, gender, race, marital status.
- Professional information, such as your employer or the organization you are affiliated with.
- Internet activity information, such as your IP address, device ID, browser type and version, pages you visited on the Services, search terms and results on the Services, date and time you viewed pages on the Services, your language preferences, and other information about how you interact with the Services.
- Non-precise geolocation information, such as geolocation derived from your IP address.
‘Democracy is not a Spectator Sport’
NFL media relations officials did not return The Federalist’s request seeking comment about NFL Votes and its activist partners. According to the league’s webpage, “All 32 clubs and players throughout the league support this initiative and will engage in efforts to highlight the importance of voting and encourage fans to become informed and active voters.”
“Democracy is not a spectator sport. We urge everyone who is eligible to cast a ballot in our elections and have a say in our country’s direction and future,” the NFL insists.
But the company the football colossus is keeping in its “civic engagement” campaign raises some serious questions about its ultimate aims.
Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
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