National Voting Standards Legislator Toolkit
Hashtag
Use #RecessCanWait in your posts! @StateInnovation and @SiXAction will be monitoring the hashtag and sharing your posts.
Tip: Click to tweet or save these tweets in your drafts on Twitter. You can also copy and paste the text into your social media or notetaking app.
Tweets
Messaging Guidance
The messaging guidance below is from DFAD, Opportunity Agenda, and Fight Back Table.
Extremist state legislators around the country are passing laws to deny our freedom to vote. The Senate must act quickly to pass national voting standards that ensure all voters can safely and freely cast their ballots, regardless of where we live or what we look like.
- Describe the goal using phrases like “freedom to vote,” “cast our ballots equally,” or “national standards for voting access.”
- Describe attacks on voting using phrases like “barriers to voting,” “denying our freedom to vote,” and “anti-voter bills.” Avoid using “voter suppression,” because many people don’t understand it, or conflate it with concepts of “fraudulent” votes.
- Avoid abstractions like “democracy,” “voting rights,” and “election integrity.”
- Connect voting to specific issues or tangible outcomes. (e.g. Voting is how we have a voice in the healthcare we have access to, the education our kids can receive, etc.)
Technical Guidance
- Use camel case format in your hashtags to increase readability and accessibility (e.g. use #RecessCanWait instead of #recesscanwait)
- Don't overuse hashtags and mentions because they can clutter your tweet, making it harder to read and less likely that other folks will want to share it.
- See our digital tips guide for tips on taking high-quality photos with your smartphone.
Other Social Media Prompts
Have more time? Brainstorm ways to personalize your social media posts during the week of action.
Contextualize the voting rights battles in your state:
- How many anti-voter measures were introduced in your state this year? Did any pass?
- What hurdles have the constituents in your state had to overcome to cast a ballot? (Or what obstacles would they have had to overcome if the anti-voter bills weren’t defeated?)
- Share an anecdote from the last election day in your state.
Make the impact of anti-voter bills visceral for people who haven’t experienced them first-hand. What does the impact of the anti-voter bills look like? Feel like? What would it mean for your community to have the freedom to vote?
Call upon the history of resistance that has gotten us this far, and why we’re not willing to give up now. We've collected some historical voting photos for to you to use, including images from voting demonstrations at the Capitol in 1965. Download the photos below or from this Google Drive folder.
Woman at the door of a voting booth during the first election where women could vote, New York City, 1918 
Marchers with signs at the March on Washington, 1963 
Voting in Cardoza High School in D.C., 1964 
Marchers facing a line of state troopers in Selma moments before police beat the protestors on March 7, 1965 
Police carry out a civil rights demonstrator from the U.S. Capitol after protesters staged a sit-in demanding action on voting rights, 1965 
Voter registration drive at Chicago Black Expo, 1973 
Registering to vote at city hall in Tallahassee, Florida, 1957
