Every voice needs to be heard for our democracy to thrive and for civil rights and civil liberties to be protected and expanded. However, in Colorado, we have a serious problem: some voices are being heard much louder than others. ACLU of Colorado’s We Are the Vote campaign aims to make sure every voice is heard.
2023 is a huge year for municipal elections — electing your next mayor, city council representatives, and deciding important local ballot questions.
Issues on the ballot directly impact and matter deeply to historically disenfranchised voters: access to housing, racial justice, criminal justice reform, and LGBTQ+ rights. Life-altering decisions on these issues are most often made by local city representatives. Yet these local issues, local offices, and local initiatives are often what many young people and historically disenfranchised voters hear the least about.
Local elections for city government have little fanfare but big impact on daily life and huge opportunity to fight for change in housing and public safety.
Despite Colorado’s well-known high overall rates of voter participation, historically disenfranchised voters continue to be underrepresented at the ballot box. That includes an estimated 500,000 young people in Colorado who are eligible to vote but are not exercising the right that many communities before us fought hard to secure.
ACLU of Colorado’s We Are the Vote campaign, launched in 2022, is a multi-year effort to close this participation gap by educating, mobilizing and empowering historically disenfranchised voters across Colorado – including in local elections for city government.
There will be no justice without us.
There will be no democracy without us.
There will be no change without us.
We Are the Vote resources and information
Resources for Voters and Advocates
Help Fuel We Are the Vote
- Reaching voters takes resources, and every donation to the ACLU of Colorado, big or small, helps us talk directly to voters who otherwise may not learn about the issues at stake in the upcoming election. Donate to the ACLU right now and help us reach as many voters as possible.