Taylor Swift helped drive more than 400,000 people to voter registration resources after endorsing Kamala Harris earlier this week.
Along with her endorsement, Swift shared an important reminder, especially for first-time voters: “Remember, in order to vote, you must be registered! I also find it much easier to vote early. I’ll link to where to register and find early voting dates and information in my story.” She also included a link to Vote.gov, a website run by two federal agencies — the General Services Administration and the Election Assistance Commission — that helps people register and check their registration status.
In the three hours after Swift shared the link, between 9 p.m. and midnight EST on Tuesday, September 10, there was a 585 percent increase in voters using the site’s registration and verification tools (compared to the same time frame over the previous eight days). Over the next 24 hours, about 406,000 people clicked on Swift’s link, accounting for more than half of the roughly 727,000 people who visited Vote.gov. By comparison, Vote.gov received an average of 30,000 visitors per day between September 3 and September 9 (via The New York Times).
“Swift’s impact on voter registration is undeniable,” said Andrea Haley, CEO of Vote.org, in a statement. “The important thing to remember is that Taylor’s work serves as a model that anyone with a platform can use to encourage Americans to engage in civic engagement. At the heart of it all is every American who has influence and can help people around them register, vote, and protect access to the ballot box.”
Swift announced she would vote for Harris and Tim Walz on Tuesday, after Harris’s debate with Donald Trump. “I am voting for Kamala Harris because she is fighting for rights and issues that I think need a warrior to fight for,” Swift said. “I think she is a talented and steady leader and I think we can accomplish so much more in this country if we have calm leadership and not chaos. I am encouraged and impressed by her choice of Tim Walz as her running mate, who has been an advocate for LGBT rights, IVF, and women’s rights to their own bodies for decades.”
In addition to inspiring a slew of people to visit Vote.gov, Swift’s post prompted Stevie Nicks to endorse Harris and Elon Musk to write one of the scariest posts ever. The Democratic National Committee has since put up two billboards featuring Swift, while Trump has tried to insist that Swift will “pay a price in the marketplace” for endorsing Harris.
