As major parties try to woo voters during the U.S. presidential election, Snapchat is ensuring that users of its app are being responsible citizens.
On mobile device, it is impossible to escape the lure of Snapchat. Recognizing that millennials are using Snapchat heavily, non-profits are appealing to them through the service and encouraging them to register to vote. This follows increasing use of Snapchat during the U.S. presidential election campaign by major contenders and shows that the service is very popular in spite of the Google Allo being branded as a possible Snapchat killer.
The current appeal to voters to register via Snapchat kicked off on Sept. 15 and will last until Oct. 7 and is run through video ads on the app. Mashable states that the ads are only being displayed to those who are 18 years of age and older and are popping up in the Stories section of the app. The outreach to younger voters via Snapchat is understandable as the service is used by 41 percent of all people aged 18 to 34 years old in the U.S. on a daily basis.
With the U.S. presidential election turning out to be a close fought race, major parties have been appealing to people to vote. Getting new voters to register is also a major part of this drive and the Democrat party is focusing on millennials. People in this generation generally do not turn up to vote, so this latest voter registration drive is a direct appeal to them. Speaking to Mashable, a spokesperson from Snapchat pointed out that the company wants to "[amplify] our community's voice" during the election.
The actual voter registration is being handled by TurboVote, which is a service run by the Democracy Works non-profit organization. Snapchat's strategy to attract its users is to rope in celebrities including Jimmy Fallon, Dwayne Johnson and Jared Leto to create the video ads in Stories.
Once users swipe upwards on these videos, they are taken to the register.turbovote.org landing page where they can start the registration process. On this landing page the process is quick and can be completed in about a minute. Users just have to enter their personal information, including their name and contact information, and they will be guided through the steps until they are registered.
In states where users need to send in a ballot using the postal service, TurboVote will follow-up to ensure that the registration is completed and sent to the appropriate authorities.
As the country heads into the final phase of the presidential elections, the focus is shifting to millennials and getting them to the register and finally turn up and vote. To this end, Brandon Naylor from Democracy Works acknowledged that the efforts made by Snapchat so far have been impressive.
