It’s not enough to just want change … You have to go and make change by voting.
Taylor Swift knew what she was talking about! If you want change in the country, one of the most powerful things young people can do is vote. Keeping this in mind, in January 2021 a group of Solve Ninjas launched a campaign to create awareness about online Voter ID registration and help citizens register for their Voter IDs. Lavanya, Nisha and Surbhi write why this was important and how they went about running this awareness campaign.
The What
India is a country brimming with youth. As of 2020, the average age in our country was 29 years and by 2027, India is projected to have the world’s largest workforce. Truly, it is the era of the youth.
In the 1.4 billion population of India, there are 45 million eligible voters, below the age of 25. Further, around 20 million youth become eligible to vote every year in our country.
From 2014 to 2019, 45 million new eligible voters were added to the electoral roll as they turned 18. Of these, 15 million were from the age group of 18–19 years. For the general Lok Sabha elections in 2019, out of 909.9 million eligible voters, only 610 million voted.
You know the ‘change you want to bring about in your communities? It can start with the simple step of researching and voting for the right candidate. We can vote for the ideas and policies that we believe will help the community blossom. We can even choose NOTA (None Of The Above), if none of the listed candidates seem up for the task. NOTA votes are counted, and let the parties know that we do not find them suitable for the post.
The Why
The Election Commission of India has made it easy for the citizens of the country to get their voter IDs by taking the process online. Forms to obtain a new Voter ID and to change details such as constituency (for migrants) have been added in voterportal.gov.in. All required documents can also be uploaded while filling the form in jpeg or jpg format, within limited size range. Once registered, the process of checking and approving goes to the Booth Level Officer (BLO) and is updated on the portal. On approval, the Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number is generated and the card in hardcopy form reaches the voter’s home in a month’s time. But, on National Voters’ Day this year, January 25, 2021, ECI announced that all new registrations will be given a PDF version of their EPIC, once approved. The attraction of registering online for the Voter ID has never been more.
Our Voter ID Campaign was aimed towards creating awareness and bridging the gap between eligible voters and the turnout. The goal of the campaign was to collectively approach 1000 people, within our circles and our communities for voter ID registration.
The How
We did this campaign not only to create awareness, but also to increase the enthusiasm among the citizens, especially the youth, to participate in voting and more importantly, in our democracy. We as citizens must recognize the responsibility that comes with being people of the largest democracy in the world.
We started by spreading the word about the online process of registering for voter IDs among our first circle of friends and family. We argued with our friends and neighbours about why it was essential to hold a Voter ID card and cast our votes. Other than exercising our right as citizens of a democracy, voting allows us to raise our voice. We can express dissent or appreciation for the actions of the government and keep them in check. Voting is the first, most easy and most powerful way to voice and express our opinions.
We knew the process for registration and had the necessary data, but how were we going to make this reach the desired audience? We started our campaign online using various social media platforms.
The Online Campaign
We started by registering ourselves as voters. With the help of our mentors from Reap Benefit, we were able to become familiar with the process of registering online. After successfully creating accounts for each of us, we started working on our plan of action. Our main aim was to reach out to new voters and migrated voters, and help them register to vote. We brainstormed unique ways to reach out.
There were a few images to help with the process of registering and some to motivate people to vote. We prepared a demo (short clip) of the registration process and shared it on social media.
We reached out to 300+ people, out of which 100+ citizens registered. The campaign was spread over 3 weeks and the link for the main Voter Portal by the Election Commission of India was given through the SN chatbot.
Since we weren’t satisfied with the response on social media, we decided to take our campaign offline, keeping social distancing practices in mind.
The Offline Campaign
We decided to set kiosks and reach out to people in locations in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Hosur. Since all of us couldn’t go out and do the offline campaigns, we divided ourselves into two groups — an on field group and a back end. Solve Ninjas on the field approached people, explained the process verbally or with a demonstration. We also captured short video clips where they answered questions like,
- How was the process? Their experience (easy/difficult/confusing)
- Do they think voting is important? (Why yes?/Why no?)
- Will they spread the message of the registration process in their circles?
Solve Ninjas at the back end co-ordinated for social media and ensured that videos were posted. Though the offline campaign didn’t go as well as we had hoped, it was still a good learning experience for us. The Online campaign was a better success, given the Covid Pandemic.
Reflection and Next Steps
The main challenge we faced was the question from people, “But why should we register for it RIGHT NOW?”, which was a valid question but we weren’t able to convince them. So our next step is going to be to conduct a second round of campaigns in the states or cities that have elections in the near future and to bring in a sense of responsibility and urgency. With better planning and this experience, we believe we can reach 1000+ new voters during the second round!
Challenges and Learnings
We were naive to think that everything would go smoothly. We hoped that people would understand where we are coming from and why we are encouraging them to register for Voter IDs. Our bubble burst as soon as we went into the field. During our campaign we were met with a wide array of opinions. We had to connect our ideas with people from different mindsets to successfully carry out the campaign. Some people would readily accept the idea and jump into it, ask for help and complete the process within a day or two. However, most would argue against the need and urgency of a Voter ID, and the need to vote itself. There was a shift in our campaign goal as now we had the onus upon us to explain and convince people to get registered. It seemed very bizarre to us.
Why is it that people do not want to register to vote? We understood that there were two things: there was no sense of urgency to get registered as elections were not approaching and people had lost faith in the system.
We also faced challenges in approaching the right people and finding our target audience. Since most of us are studying in college, our circles consisted of people who already have voter IDs. So, even though we were able to reach out to many, we were unable to get enough successful registrations.
We also realised that such a campaign is more suited for offline settings. While texting people and sending messages in groups is an effective way, there was a high chance that the message lost its impact. But due to COVID-19, we had to come up with the online mode of the campaign.
Challenges
1) Convincing people to register voter ID.
2) Explaining each and everything step by step while registering for voter ID.
3) Elaborating about the importance of voter ID.
4) Connecting different people with different mindset and being according to them.
5) Spreading the awareness of voter ID and how the major role it plays.
Learnings
Of all the learnings, the most important was to find a way to excite people about getting registered. We need to analyse our audience, to be able to convince them successfully. We also learnt to respect people’s opinions and be patient while justifying our cause. Although we were disheartened, we maintained our stance and noted all our shortcomings as constructive feedback.
1) Each and everyone has their own unique character and the way of understanding.
2) Connecting via virtual and understanding about their situation and moving according to that.
3) Respecting each and everyone and being very patient.
4) Being very responsible and trying to convince people.
5) Overall being with a very positive mindset.
Personal Experiences
Surbhi: I was very excited as this was my first campaign. With support and guidance from Ashish sir, I managed the campaign. Personally, I expected us to reach many more people but I am happy with what we were able to achieve. We had a lot of challenges and learned from them. We will plan for the second round of the campaign with more zeal and energy to make it impactful.
During the campaign, I was involved in getting online as well as offline registrations. I contacted many of my friends and asked them if they had a voter ID, and if not, would they be interested in getting one made. I came across a lot of concerns about privacy and doubts about why in the first place it is needed to vote. As infuriating as it was to see them act like this country is not their responsibility, I tried to explain and convince them to get registered. Out of all the people I contacted personally, I could get only 5 registered. For the offline campaign, I did it in my locality. I went door to door and asked the residents whether they have a voter ID. It turned out that either all residents had voter IDs but were newly shifted, so did not have an address proof to get the constituency changes, or they were not eligible to vote yet. I spoke to 50 people, but was unable to get even a single registration.
It was disheartening. On one side I could not think of better ways to counter my friends’ arguments and on the other people did not have the documents.
My learnings were that I need to be able to support my opinion with well-defined arguments that could persuade people to register and vote and I was able to record the demographic of the people living in my locality (it is a new place that I will be shifting to, in a month’s time).
Lavanya M: Firstly got to know about the importance of voter ID registration and also about the step by step process and evidence of voter ID with rules and regulations, however connecting with different people and understanding about their mindset which had a very good learning and also keeping a very positive mindset. Overall I had a very great experience.
Through this campaign we were able to activate Solve Ninja skills : citizenship, communication skills, critical thinking, problem solving, community collaboration, grit and applied empathy.
Follow @ReapBenefit on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for updates about the next phase of the Voter Id Registration campaign!
