Better Questions, Better Decisions Voter Education Initiative (2004 Pilot Initiative)

The Problem: 100 million eligible citizens do not vote. And in one of the most tragic ironies of our democracy, low-income Americans, who are so directly affected by decisions made by elected officials, participate the least in elections.

A Potential Solution: The Better Questions, Better Decisions Voter Education Initiative offers an innovative approach for engaging traditional non-voters. Through our workshop, “In the Land of Decisions,” participants discover the value of voting and make their own connection between decisions made on higher levels and their own lives. Participants also acquire immediate self-advocacy skills that they can use in their own lives before as well as after elections.

Many voter participation efforts focus on getting information out to a target audience, getting people registered and getting them to the voting booth. RQP’s voter education initiative starts at an earlier point by investing in people's ability to make their own connection to the value of voting. Through a series of simple exercises that build sophisticated critical thinking skills, low-income citizens discover new links between their lives and the value of voting. This is an essential, but often overlooked, first step that makes it far more likely that a non-voter will make it to the voting booth.

Participants in Arizona and New Hampshire produced their own powerful stories about the value they now see in voting. See the some of their BQBD stories.