Civil society, business, and culture encourage citizens to vote in European elections

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

Youth volunteers, pan-European civil society groups, and global businesses have joined in with the #UseYourVote campaign for the 6-9 June European elections.

Leading lights from across Europe’s business, cultural and non-profit communities have joined in the campaign to raise awareness about the importance of the elections, and to encourage citizens across the Union to vote.

More than 500 pan-European umbrella organisations and many others at national level have promoted the #UseYourVote campaign through their networks, with their own campaigns or on their social media channels. Save The Children’s “I Count, I Vote” campaign includes a LinkedIn video and visual assets to encourage voting. The European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA) launched their “TALE – TAke the Lead in the EU Elections” campaign, to encourage electoral participation.

The European Council on Refugees and Exiles launched the #EUisU + Vote EP 24 campaign, featuring a song and motivational videos of citizens encouraging people to vote. Democracy International’s “eurVote eurFuture” project in ten countries is an effort to increase awareness about the European Parliament elections through events, informative leaflets, “I’m voting” stickers, and how-to-vote videos aimed at first-time voters. Inclusion Europe put forward a campaign for the voting rights of people with intellectual disabilities, sharing content on Instagram encouraging participation.

In the context of the European Parliament’s together.eu community, a diverse host of election-related activities have been organised by young volunteers across the EU, like dancing gatherings, tree planting, spring cleaning, pub quizzes, seminars, lectures, music festivals and other kind of events.

In Germany a basketball tournament was organised for more than 100 participants. In Spain, youth activist Pol Villaverde created Palumba, a pan-European mobile app to help people find out which party or candidate to vote for. In Portugal, community activists organised surfing events for people with disabilities and creative partnerships with local sports clubs. In Ireland, Daniel Long, a young farmer, joined other volunteers to run a number of election events in rural Ireland and at universities.

European success stories like music streaming platform Spotify and Swedish food manufacturer Oatly are encouraging their customers to vote and informing them about the elections on their platforms. As part of their #AllHandsForDemocracy campaign, Universal Music Group is giving concert-goers an election-related stamp on their hand to remind them to vote.

A total of 898 cinemas across the Union have pledged to show the EU’s #UseYourVote campaign video before screenings, and film festivals in France, Bulgaria, Germany, and The Netherlands encouraged festivalgoers and film industry professionals to use their vote by displaying banners and e-posters, sending newsletters, and posting on their social media channels.