​AARP Voter Engagement Campaign Underway​​

Our Voices Decide is the theme for AARP’s voter education campaign for the all-important 2022 midterm elections. This multipronged effort is designed to ensure that America’s older voters can continue to maximize their influence this year as they have for decades.

“As they do in every election cycle, voters 50-plus will decide who will hold power in state capitals and Washington, D.C., in this year’s midterms,” says Khelan Bhatia, AARP’s director of voter engagement. “Our role is to provide AARP members and 50-plus voters information on how, where and when to vote and to be the defender of their interests.”

As voters begin to go to the polls for primaries across the county to select who will be on the Nov. 8 general election ballots, millions will be faced with new voting rules and may have to cast their ballots in a different polling place than they have before. That’s because many states have enacted laws changing voting regulations, and because the results of the 2020 census have led to redistricting for both state legislative and congressional districts.

Through its campaign, AARP will also “remind candidates from both sides of the aisle that the voters 50-plus are the most important and reliable voting bloc,” Bhatia says. And AARP will highlight the issues the organization has been fighting for, including protecting hard-earned Social Security and Medicare benefits, lowering the price of prescription drugs and supporting the millions of unpaid family caregivers.

The campaign website will serve as a one-stop portal for voters to get information and news about the election, the issues at stake, state-specific voting assistance and ways voters can get involved in this year’s elections. Elements of Our Voices Decide will include:

• Individualized state election guides with key dates, methods and rules for voting at polling places and at home for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Voting information provided through the aarp.org website, direct mail, e-mail, social media, and digital and radio advertising.
• Polls of 50-plus voters in key states.  
• Making sure that AARP communicates with communities of color across the country with issue information, advertising and social media in multiple languages.
• Delivering information on issues and election news, and alerting AARP members to local events, tele-town halls and candidate forums.