Vot-ER, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit that integrates civic engagement into healthcare, has been a TurboVote user since 2020, and their 2024 results show that the model is only getting stronger. By meeting patients where they are and leveraging the trusted voices of health care professionals, Vot-ER’s work resulted in a 79% turnout rate for their registered voters, surpassing the 71% national turnout rate among registered voters, as calculated through a voter file match.
Moreover, Vot-ER’s users hit a 78% registration rate, exceeding the 75% median among TurboVote partners. These numbers are impressive on their own. But the real story is who Vot-ER is reaching.
Turning Out First-Time Voters
More than a quarter of Vot-ER's registered TurboVote users were first-time voters or would-be first-time voters heading into 2024. Of that group, 86.8% turned out to vote, compared to just 57.2% of first-time voters nationally. That's a nearly 30 percentage point gap, suggesting that Vot-ER's approach doesn't just get people registered. It gets them to the ballot box.
Reaching Young Voters
Vot-ER's TurboVote users skewed younger than the general electorate, and those young voters showed up. Among users aged 18 to 24, turnout reached 69.7%, more than 13 percentage points above the 56.2% national rate for that age group. Users aged 25 to 34 turned out at 74.2%, outpacing their national counterpart of 56.1% by 18 points. In a year when youth engagement was top of mind for civic organizations across the country, Vot-ER demonstrated that the right messenger in the right moment can make a meaningful difference.
Activating Infrequent Voters
Perhaps the most striking finding in the 2024 data is what happened among infrequent voters, people in the bottom two quintiles of voting frequency. Nearly half of Vot-ER's registered users (48.2%) fell into this category, and they turned out at 85.3%, more than 20 percentage points higher than the 64.8% turnout rate for infrequent voters nationally. This echoes what TurboVote's 2020 report found: that Vot-ER's low-propensity voters turned out at rates 20 percentage points above similar voters in the general electorate. Four years later, the pattern holds.
A Growing National Footprint
Vot-ER's reach in 2024 spanned all 50 states and D.C., with the largest user bases in Florida, California, Illinois, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. Across most states, Vot-ER users turned out at rates well above statewide averages. For example, users in North Carolina voted at 86.3% compared to the state's overall 78.7%, users in New York turned out at 76.3% versus 67.2% statewide, and in South Carolina, users turned out at 80% versus 66% statewide.
Building on a Proven Model
These results build on years of partnership between Vot-ER and TurboVote. In 2020, Vot-ER's users registered and voted at high rates during one of the most volatile election cycles in recent memory. In 2022, Vot-ER expanded its approach through initiatives like the Healthy Democracy Campaign, a competition among schools to support voter registration among classmates and clients. Now, the 2024 data confirms that Vot-ER's core insight continues to deliver results: health care professionals are uniquely positioned as trusted, nonpartisan messengers who can help eligible patients become participants in our democracy.
Combined with TurboVote's timely election reminders and accessible registration tools, Vot-ER is proving that civic engagement can be woven into everyday interactions, one patient, one clinic, one vote at a time.
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