Voting
At Fandom Forward, we believe that voting is a powerful way to fight for justice and freedom. Here’s some of our campaigns:
one vote protects
Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, Fandom Forward’s initiative One Vote Protects included a series of events encouraging fan activists to use their one vote to protect queer rights, reproductive justice, and the climate.
We partnered with Kentucky Access and the Star Wars fandom to phone bank Kentuckians, encouraging them to vote NO on a proposed amendment to radically alter the state's constitution to permanently outlaw abortion. Guests for this event included The Amidala Initiative, What Choice 22, and A Larger View of the Force. Fans also wrote over 5,000 letters to climate-conscious voters in Pennsylvania, working with Vote Forward to craft messages around how voting helps protect our planet. The event mobilized Lord of the Rings and Percy Jackson fans by featuring guests from Seaweed Brain Pod, That’s What I’m Tolkien About, and Black Nerds Create.
In support of queer rights, we also teamed up with Nevada NOW and members of the Heartstopper fandom, including guest comic creator Emily Thomas, songwriter Marisa Loren, and friends from the Heartstopper Pride & Heartstopper Party groups. Fan activists made calls to voters in NV, asking them to vote YES to pass the state's equal rights amendment. Later in the week, we were also joined by Schuyler Bailar on Instagram Live to discuss the power of community and voting in support for trans rights.
When election day came, fans saw victories from each of our initiatives, proving that every one vote matters and every one vote protects.
Granger 2020
In the wake of COVID-19, Hermione Granger’s fake presidential campaign created real world change by providing fans with ways to take action and find joy and community from home. By the end of March 2020, we raised over $20k for Team Granger. This fundraiser allowed us to mobilize thousands of fans to take action virtually, working together to build a future grounded in compassion, equality, and love. We had our first ever Small Things Con, a 100% free, digital conference filled with weeks of livestreams, actions, and community care that we can all do together. We participated in online voter registration efforts, offered voter education resources, and hosted Camp GLA, the first virtual Granger Leadership Academy, which trained 340 wizard activists in key community organizing skills.
wizard rock the vote 2018
Wizard Rock the Vote is our ongoing GOTV campaign, and this year we saw wizard activists step up in big ways:
1) We went on tour! Our campaign got a big upgrade in 2018: Our friend Tonks and the Aurors took it on the road and brought a tour bus full of helpful voting resources with her. Events took place in key battleground states like Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, and attendees had access to state-specific voter registration guides so they can be informed and ready to go on voting day!
2) During this campaign, wizard activists also learned how to phone bank and celebrated taking action in the face of hate with Peter Zuckerman (#NoOn105), Blanca Gamez (ACLU), undocumented activist Bambajan Bamba (Black Panther, The Good Place), documentary filmmaker and director Annalise Ophelian (Looking for Leia), comic creator Edgardo Miranda Rodriguez (La Borinqueña), Alexis Sanchez (Latinx Geeks), Robyn Jordan (Black Girls Create), and Anna Dardick (#VOTEPROCHOICE). Over the course of just 2 hours, we made over 7,000 calls to protect immigrants and encouraged Oregon voters to vote no on ballot measure 105.
3) We created a nifty resource called Marauder’s Map to the Polls and dozens of wizard activists downloaded and completed it for election day!
wizard rock the vote 2016
Wizard Rock the Vote is our ongoing GOTV campaign, and this year we explored some of the issues on the ballot and the systemic problems that keep people from going to the polls — issues such as the media, disability, student debt, and more! We also raised over $50,000 so we could register 700+ new voters, inspire 3,000 to commit to voting, and provide resources and support to at least 300 people organizing GOTV efforts in their own communities.
Vote 2012
The 2012 election season brought on a whole lot of social change, and (as usual) Fandom Forward was at the center of the action! In keeping with the goals and message of our Equality FTW fundraiser, we teamed up with our members to phone bank 3,000 calls in support of marriage equality in Maine and 900 calls in support the DREAM Act in Maryland.
Spoiler Alert: WE WON ON BOTH COUNTS! And while we can’t take FULL credit for all the equality victories achieved in 2012, we certainly feel proud of our contributions to the process.
Our effort received a huge boost from our DFTVA House Cup. This friendly competition put wizards and nerds to the task of phone banking 900 calls in support of Maine marriage equality and earning points for their chosen house with every call made. We also encouraged people to share Hogwarts house-themed banners on Facebook, in order to spread this simple message: Don’t Forget To Vote, America! Ravenclaw ran away with the title, amassing 5,939 points and lording their superiority over everyone else in the name of equality!
Wizard Rock the Vote (2008)
In the summer of 2008, MTV launched a campaign called “Rock the Vote” in an effort to encourage young viewers to be more politically active. In conjunction with this, Fandom Forward volunteers set out to assist fellow wizards in navigating the voter registration process in a similar campaign called “Wizards Rock the Vote”. Much of this campaign was on-the-ground voter registration that took place at wizard rock concerts all over the country. With the help of two volunteers assigned to each of the 92 wizard rock concerts, over 900 new voters were registered.