Power the Polls

The Challenge

Address the 2020 national poll worker shortage by educating the public about the need and recruiting 250,000 new poll workers to offset the decrease in sign-ups due to COVID-19.

The Impact

Built and fostered a civically engaged community of sign-ups and supporters on social media through account administration, graphic design, strategic talent outreach, and partner engagement, nearly tripling the original signup goal.

Services

Program Design
Digital Strategy
Talent Relations
Community Engagement
Marketing and Communications
Project Management
Partnership Development
Branding, Logos, and Web Design
Communications Strategy
Social Media Management
Social Media Content Strategy
Consumer and Audience Research

713K

poll worker sign-ups

22K

new Instagram followers

5.1K

new Twitter followers

Summary

With the country preparing for an election in the midst of a pandemic, Impactual geared all efforts toward identifying and solving crises before they arose. After seeing poll worker shortages lead to polling site closures and extremely long wait times in the 2020 primary elections, Impactual stepped up to align the founding partners and messaging of a first-of-its-kind program: Power the Polls. We collectively set a goal to recruit a new generation of poll workers to step up and serve in this historic election. This included developing sophisticated tech solutions; fostering corporate, nonprofit, and influencer partnerships to spread the word; building out social and PR strategies; and laying the groundwork at the local level to ensure these efforts were helpful to local election officials and that sign-ups would be appropriately trained and placed. By aligning founding partners with the donor community and designing the program strategy, timeline of execution, and stand out branding, Impactual played a key role in the program launch on June 30, 2020.

After the June launch, our team oversaw the hiring of a full-time staff while managing all pieces of the program through diligent and thoughtful project management. Our team also took on the full-time administration of social accounts and influencer engagement. A key element to Power the Polls’ growth was a strong social presence with fast-acting strategies. Starting at the grassroots, Impactual created key messaging and graphics to be used across platforms, and managed the celebrity and influencer outreach while organically growing Power the Polls’ social channels. Impactual built out a social media strategy and a plan for plugging the program into the civic engagement ecosystem from June 2020 until Election Day.

Many strategies were implemented to engage both the audience as well as influencers with Power the Polls. Through the production and distribution of comprehensive influencer toolkits, Impactual was able to share and highlight days of action (such as National Poll Worker Recruitment Day), provide shareable content, and maintain communication with celebrities and influencers. These strategies, along with collaborations with brands like Glossier, Eileen Fisher, and Now Simplified, led to engagement from countless influencers and over 75 celebrities like Billie Eilish, Jennifer Aniston, Kerry Washington, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tracee Ellis Ross, Bella Hadid, and many more. We also received account verification on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook within 6 weeks of the program launch. By engaging in and maintaining communication with followers, various networks, and celebrities, Impactual doubled the following of the Power the Polls’ social channels in one day on National Poll Worker Recruitment Day, while the Instagram account made over 5.1 million impressions, reaching 1.9 million accounts in one week.

We broadened the impact of the program by gearing messaging and reach to networks outside of the political sphere. Through an open and active conversation about how to fulfill one’s civic duty, Impactual created a large and engaged community that’s ready to partake in democracy.