GROUND WORK COLLECTIVE LAUNCHES SA-FIRST #X_CHANGE VOTER REGISTRATION PORTAL TO ATTRACT UNREGISTERED VOTERS
Ground Work Collective (GWC) is proud to launch the first of its kind #X_Change voter registration digital portal. This portal is designed to amplify voter registration ahead of the upcoming registration weekend, and beyond, through incentivizing South Africans, particularly young people, to register to vote.
The digital portal is the second stage of the #X_Change voter registration and civic education campaign that was first rolled out by GWC in KwaZulu-Natal earlier this year. During #X_Change KZN pilot in June this year, GWC and its partners rolled out 21 physical activations across several municipalities where youth voter registration was low (on average less than 18% voter registration rate amongst the 18 to 35 year old cohort, according to IEC data). The registration campaign saw thousands of young people engaged through our vibrant and exciting activations where they not only registered to vote, but also won spot prizes and stood a chance to win double tickets to our #X_Change Concert Xperience. The successful pilot campaign was a clear sign of the need for a smart nationwide expansion, using a digital portal, in the hopes of reaching many more people and optimizing the impact of the campaign.
How does the #X_Change Portal work?
Our #X_Change voter registration digital portal is designed to replicate the on the ground experience from our #X_Change activations, and puts the incentive-based user experience right in the palm of your hands via your phone.
An unregistered voter goes onto the #X_Change registration portal (https://gwcvoterregistration.co.za/),
Registers their information securely on the portal and on the IEC portal (where they can also check the status of their registration),
And in a first-of-its-kind in South Africa, once they are registered and their registration confirmed, they will win an instant prize as a reward for this important civic action.
Once registered, GWC will then be able to share informative, digestible, and fun civic education materials with newly registered voters that will empower them to be the active and civically minded citizens that know how to hold elected officials accountable and to make their government work for them.
The #X_Change movement was inspired by voter statistics from the last election cycle that showed an alarming decline in youth voter participation in South Africa, necessitating an urgent intervention to arrest this downward trend. The #X_Change campaign was established as a bold and ambitious call-to-action, seeking to urge young South Africans to opt back into civic participation and to have their voices heard by registering to vote for the upcoming 2024 national elections. South Africa has a declining voter participation record and is currently the 5th lowest country in voting patterns in the world.
In South Africa, a nation that has undergone significant political transformations over our three decades of democracy, the act of voting, by deliberate design, holds immense power in shaping the future. Voting is not merely a civic duty; it is the cornerstone of a vibrant and participatory democracy. The importance of this seemingly simple act can never be overstated. At the core of our work at GWC is using civic education as a tool for real civic participation that truly empower citizens and has the power to uplift communities.
Through the #X_Change campaign, we will be taking newly registered voters on an exciting journey where you are not only just registered to vote in the upcoming elections, but you are also equipped with essential civic education that will be the catalyst for active civic participation. This journey will also have the potential of seeing you, a newly registered person, taking your civic participation one step further by becoming a trained GWC independent election observer, and helping to protect your democracy at the upcoming 2024 General Elections.
We are also very excited to be working with amazing young South Africans who not only care about the state of our democracy, but are ready to partner with us in being a part of our bespoke youth-focussed solution. We are pleased to announce Nandi Madida, Moshe Ndiki, Mablerh and Alphi as our #X_Change Ambassadors for this iteration of our campaign.
We are excited to be expanding #X_Change to the rest of South Africa and would like to encourage businesses, civil society, and all patriotic South Africans to partner with us in expanding this campaign, and to share our QR code and links and encourage all South African, especially young South Africans, to get involved. We are calling on institutions of higher learning, corporates and every person to get this code into the hands of every young person in the country. Start at home and register those around you!
Register using this link https://gwcvoterregistration.co.za/ or scanning our QR code.
You can also follow the #X_Change campaign on Ground Work Collective’s social media:
Twitter: @GWC_ZA
Facebook: Ground Work Collective NPC
Instagram: @GroundWorkCollectiveOrg
YouTube: @groundworkcollectiveorg
LinkedIn: Ground Work Collective