When Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris last week — and shared a link in her Instagram story promoting voter registration — Vote.org saw a 585% spike in activity.
According to the organization, between 9 p.m. and midnight Eastern Time on Tuesday, September 10, following the presidential debate (and Swift’s fast-acting viral post), 585% more voters used the website’s registration and verification tools, compared to the same time interval just eight days prior.
It solidified what Vote.org already knew: That influencers and celebrities don’t just have social clout — they have political power, too.
A recent survey from influencer marketing software company IZEA found that 87% of influencers plan to use their social media channels to encourage voter registration and participation this year — and Vote.org wants to get in on the action.
The organization is partnering with Linktree — the digital host where content creators keep all of their important URLs (usually in the “bio” section of their profiles) — to launch a star-powered voter registration campaign today: National Voter Registration Day.
Their key players? Musicians and athletes like Olivia Rodrigo, Maggie Rogers, Stephen Curry, and Tara and Hunter Davis Woodhall. Content creators are also getting in on the action, including Hank Green, Bella Poarch, Hannah Chody, Michael Kosta, Connor Franta, and Erika Alexander.
All of them will turn their Linktree profiles into voter registration hubs.
“These influential figures are using their most valuable online real estate — their link-in-bio — to encourage their followers to check their voter registration status ahead of the November U.S. election,” a press release from Linktree said.
“Where you might typically find your favorite musician’s tour page, athlete’s merch website, or lifestyle creator’s shop link, visitors will be redirected to a voter registration page powered by Linktree and Vote.org, making it easy for U.S. voters to verify or update their registration.”
To do this, influencers and celebrities can add a straightforward voter registration link to their bio, or utilize Linktree’s redirect tool, which would send any visitor that clicks on their profile directly to a voter registration page instead.
Many will also change their Linktree display to feature a voter registration banner, while others will be featured as part of a massive marketing campaign across social media — and on billboards in Times Square — to promote voter registration and participation.
Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey said that this approach is key to capturing people’s attention “in an age of increasing fragmentation and decreasing attention spans online.”
“By partnering with Linktree, voters who are naturally interested in any given creator’s content will be far more likely to encounter voter registration information through the Linktree voter registration hub linked in that creator’s bio,” Hailey said in a statement.
“This is the exact sort of partnership that has led Vote.org to help register young voters at unprecedented rates this election cycle — and partnering with Linktree will only help us reach more and more young voters on National Voter Registration Day.”
For the partnering creators, it’s an easy opportunity to build on the values they have already established among their fan communities.
Rodrigo, for example, inspired her swath of young female fans to get out the vote at a sold-out concert in Los Angeles last month.
Green, on the other hand, has long been advocating for voter registration. For years, he’s been teaching young viewers how to vote in all 50 states through a project with his digital education company, Complexly.
In fact, prior to this National Voter Registration Day campaign, Green posted to X (formerly Twitter) to champion Vote.org.
“Vote.org kicks ass and has everything you need in one place to make sure you’re registered, register if you aren’t, find out if you can vote by mail, find your polling place, etc,” he wrote. “All in one non-partisan place!!!”
All of this in mind, you don’t have to have millions of followers to boost civic engagement this fall. Any Linktree user can add a voter registration link or banner to their profile. Meanwhile, paid Linktree subscribers can use the redirect tool to send their audience directly to a voter registration page.
Lara Cohen — Linktree’s senior vice president of marketing, partnerships, and business development — said this partnership with Vote.org allows high-profile people — and everyday citizens — to “rally their communities in making sure their voices are heard in this crucial U.S. election.”
“With 50+ million of the most powerful voices on the internet, Linktree exists to empower creators to own their audiences, and drive their followers to the things they care about most,” Cohen said.
“For so many in our community that’s about looking to use their platform to drive social impact and good.”
While it’s unclear how impactful the project will be on voter registration numbers, the idea is that Linktree users can approach civic engagement without intimidation.
Cohen added, “We’re proud to simplify the voter registration process and bring it to the forefront of their digital spaces.”
Header images courtesy of Keith Allison (CC BY-SA 2.0), Linktree, and Justin Higuchi (CC BY 2.0)
