Searching for the best, gold-star, crème de la crème TurboVote strategy? Want to sign up the most voters with the least amount of effort, time, and upkeep? Well, look no further. Embedding TurboVote into tools that your audience already uses is key to effectively scaling your voter engagement efforts. And don’t just take our word for it—these implementation strategies are backed by research.
Integrate TurboVote Within Existing Processes
What do we mean by this? Including TurboVote as part of existing administrative processes such as student orientation, volunteer registration, or employee onboarding makes signing up an “opt-out” decision for your audience. We consider this approach to be a gold standard for boosting engagement, and research has shown that it can increase political participatory attitudes and behaviors among users.
By integrating TurboVote in a platform that your audience already uses, you can frame engagement as the norm rather than just an “opt-in” alternative. Adding a TurboVote feature like Registration Assistance as a required administrative module—where your audience is invited to sign up for TurboVote as part of an existing process—reinforces voter participation as the default for your community.
It's Easy to Optimize the Platforms You Already Use
Your organization likely uses some type of learning management or information and engagement system such as Anthology, Confluence, or Qualtrics. Talk to your IT administrator about including TurboVote in your organization’s digital platforms. You do NOT have to create a new process from scratch.
| Campus Partners: Does your institution use Campus Labs Engage by Anthology? Enable the Voter Engagement Extension in a few brief steps and watch the TurboVote signups roll in! |
Important information to have ready for your IT administrator:
How should users access TurboVote?
Depending on the platform you use, you can either embed TurboVote directly on the page or provide the link to your TurboVote destination site (e.g., example.turbovote.org). Your IT administrator can help determine what is technically feasible with your organization’s digital platform.
You can add a referral code to your custom URL to track how many TurboVote signups originate from this promotion strategy. This is particularly useful when making the case for continued investment in civic engagement.
If asked, there is no SSO (single sign-on) required to enter the TurboVote site.
What should it say?
Take this as an opportunity to remind your community about the importance of civic participation. You can include messaging about why voting matters, preview what’s on the ballot in upcoming elections, and reinforce your organization’s commitment to democracy. The TurboVote Elections Toolkit includes key messaging and other resources to engage your audience in elections this year.
The call-to-action should be short and direct, encouraging users to take a specific action and providing clear next steps (e.g., “Sign up with TurboVote for help registering to vote and casting your ballot in upcoming elections.”).
What do you want it to look like?
Do you want it to be a banner across the top of the page? An image on the side? Do you want a button? What would best draw your audience’s attention to take action?
We’re here to help. Our Partnerships team can work with you to identify high-impact opportunities to leverage TurboVote in existing administrative processes. Contact partnerships@democracy.works to discuss your implementation strategy.