Former first lady Michelle Obama announced a partnership with major artists H.E.R., Jennifer Lopez, Becky G, and more to encourage voting in the upcoming midterm elections.
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Obama launched the When We Vote initiative in 2018 to help encourage voter participation during the midterm elections. By introducing a Voting Squad to help keep citizens engaged, the nonpartisan organization arranged more than 2,500 local voter registration events across the country, educated more than 200 million Americans about the significance of voting, and texted nearly four million voters the resources to register and get out to vote.
In this year’s effort, Obama joined an assembly of artists and cultural leaders who will serve as co-chairs to the organization, including Selena Gomez, Tom Hanks, Janelle Monae, H.E.R., and more.
Following the year’s latest wave of voter suppression throughout the country, making sure that people vote is more essential than ever to the program. More than 55 million Americans live in states that enacted restrictive legislation in 2021 alone.
The initiative’s message imparts the same sense of urgency from the previous year’s, as former co-chairs joined to issue a nationwide statement.
“You are the only person who can have that conversation with your friends. It’s up to you to change the game,” the co-chairs said in the statement. “When we make our voices heard, when we all vote, we can change the world.”
In an additional statement on her Twitter account, Jennifer Lopez said, “The fight for our right to vote has never been more important. That’s why I’m joining @michelleobama as a @whenweallvote Co-Chair.”
“Together we will: change the culture and voting, increase voter participation, close the race and age gap, [and] fight voter suppression,” she continued.
Photo by Trae Patton/NBC.
