The Untold Story of the 2008 Election

The Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP) recently shared the findings of a new report which tell the story of the massive voter-registration and mobilization efforts of the 501(c)(3) civic engagement community.

The report details the gains in voter registration among typically underserved populations and examines how new infrastructure and technological advances helped civic engagement groups succeed. The report also provides a series of recommendations for funders looking at the 2010 mid-term elections and beyond.

It’s particularly important to examine 2008 because those civic engagement successes haven’t carried over to 2009. This drop off would be a real tragedy for our democracy if it carried into 2010. Every study on the subject shows that new voters who vote in consecutive federal elections become lifetime voters. Significant drop off in underrepresented communities in 2010 would wipe out many of the impressive gains of 2008, putting the civic participation community back at square one in 2012. 

Tom Novick, Executive Vice President, M+R Strategic Services presented the findings of the report.

Here are some highlights from the report:

Four Major factors in Civic Engagement Success

1. Increased Organizational Capacity and Impact.
2. Collaboration and Sharing.
3. New Technology.
4. Innovation and Experimentation.

The 2008 election saw a record 132 million Americans vote—9 million more than in 2004. That 62.3% turnout was the highest the U.S. has seen since 1964. Most of these new voters came from traditionally underrepresented communities. The increase included about 3.4 million youth voters, 2 million African-American voters, 2 million Hispanic voters, 2.5 million single women voters, and about 600,000 Asian-American voters. Tellingly, the number of non-Hispanic white voters remained statistically unchanged. 

Organizing by 501(c)(3) groups played a critical role in significantly increasing turnout, particularly for traditionally underrepresented communities. The numbers speak to the importance of 501(c)(3) organizations in the 2008 election: they registered more than 4 million new voters and turned out 2.2 million voters. 

New technology has had a major impact on civic engagement and promises to continue to improve the work in the future. Technological advances go beyond the data technologies. Online tools to register and contact voters were a huge step forward as well.

As organizations look to 2010 they are seeking to apply the lessons learned from 2008 and to continue to refine and improve their civic engagement efforts. In order to build on the success of 2008, the following recommendations address key points funders should consider relating to civic engagement in 2010. These recommendations are detailed in the report and listed below for overview purposes.

1. Support organizations’ efforts to communicate with and mobilize voters they registered in 2008.

2. Maintain emphasis on opportunistic new voter registration and mobilization.

3. Ensure civic engagement programs and organizations continue to have access to data and voter file tools.

4. Encourage and fund grantees to integrate evaluations and assessments into their work.

5. Fund and encourage experiments.

6. Provide opportunities for ongoing training and technical assistance.

7. Support efforts that encourage collaboration.

8. Monitor new trends and support pilot projects to test new voter registration methods.  

About FCCP:

The Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP) believes that a vibrant and inclusive democracy is critical to the health of our nation. FCCP serves leaders in the philanthropic community working to further this vision with heightened attention to issues of equity and historically disenfranchised and underrepresented communities. Its members support non-partisan efforts to engage voters, eliminate structural barriers to voting, advance reforms to improve government and electoral systems and inspire public involvement in civic life.