In the snap General Election 2019, it is crucial that the experiences of migrant communities are part of the national debate. More than 9 million people eligible to vote in the UK are at risk of not being able to vote in the election. This disproportionately impacts people from migrant and BAME backgrounds.
Many people do not know that Commonwealth Citizens are eligible to vote. Many in our communities struggle to participate due to language barriers and a lack of familiarity with democratic processes. Others find elections an alienating and disempowering experience as the issues migrants face don’t appear in public debates.
In the General Election 2019, we can end the marginalisation of our communities, grow our power and express our demands for justice, fairness and democracy. We can help our communities to register, vote and use the election to amplify the demands of migrants.
With your help, during this general election, we can be more ambitious and aim to run a nationwide migrant voter registration drive. The money raised by this Crowdfunder will go directly to printing materials, venue hire and other costs incurred by local groups.
With your generous support, we can:
- Achieve a significant increase in migrant and BAME voter registration, engagement with and knowledge of the election process.
- Ensure there is a clear, public demonstration of the power of migrant and BAME communities and the importance of their vote in order to encourage political parties to create policies that reflects their interests.
- Train and support migrant and BAME leaders who have basic knowledge of voter registration drives and how to engage their communities, thereby creating a nationwide network of organisations, able to take action around future elections.
Our Plan for #PromoteMigrantVote
We need to raise funds, so that we can …
- Provide an online action kit for migrant communities to participate in the #GE2019
- Produce and distribute stickers, flyers, posters and leaflets in many different languages
- Support migrant groups to register to vote and vote on election day
- Promote and amplify migrant voices in the media, and encourage migrants to speak out about why they are voting, and what issues and causes they care about
- Create a coalition of migrant and anti-racist organisations who can mobilise their membership around the country around the #PromoteMigrantVote initiative
Check out all of our online resources, including the action kit, on our website: www.promotemigrantvote.org.uk.