Working together to get more people to vote

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OPINION – Local election officials across the U.S. are facing a range of challenges as they look ahead to this year’s elections – and 2028 as well. Among the biggest: how to serve a rapidly diversifying electorate, and how to combat distrust fueled by an avalanche of misinformation.

Fortunately, a program piloted in the past two years by charitable foundations in two California counties delivered some answers. As representatives of the foundations that supported this work, we’re sharing what we learned in the hope that more counties and foundations will launch similar efforts in 2026 and beyond.

Over the past decade, voting in California has undergone a sea change. Today, nearly eight in 10 of the state’s eligible voters live in counties that adopted the provisions of the California Voter’s Choice Act (VCA), which passed in 2016. As a result, these counties are providing vote-by-mail ballots to all voters and replacing traditional neighborhood polling places open only on Election Day with a considerably smaller number of vote centers where voters can cast a ballot well beforehand.

Making sure all eligible voters understand these changes and know how, when, and where to vote can be a tall order, especially when it comes to reaching communities that traditionally have faced barriers to voting and civic participation. Our foundations’ collaboration with election officials and nonprofits in the two counties assured that large numbers of local voters got the information they needed to vote in 2024.

The top priority for each of the counties—Yolo County in the Sacramento Valley and San Mateo County in the Silicon Valley—was increasing education and engagement among communities with historically lower turnout rates. This kind of targeted outreach is critical because infrequent voters typically are not prioritized by political campaigns and therefore receive less information about how to take part in elections. “We try to focus on folks who are on the margins, that are struggling,” said Jesse Salinas, the chief elections official in Yolo County. “It’s a hard group to engage because they don’t see how their everyday existence can be changed by voting.”

Yolo County’s program placed particular emphasis on Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, youth, and voters in precincts with low turnout rates. San Mateo County targeted outreach to voters who primarily speak languages other than English, people with disabilities, and voters who were incarcerated or lacked stable housing.

The two counties gave funds to their local community foundations, and those funds were matched by funds from Silicon Valley Community Foundation and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. The community foundations then provided grants to community-based groups and helped them coordinate strategies for reaching voters with election information. This was a new way for the counties to make the most of their very limited election outreach budgets. It was also a chance for them to put their trust and resources in community groups, rather than spending county funds on their own outreach.

As experts in the communities they serve and organizations that are trusted by potential voters, local nonprofits can play critical roles in educating voters. But nonprofits can also face myriad barriers to participating in voter education efforts. Many lack the funding and staff to conduct intensive outreach, are not experts in election administration, and may not have a history of working with local government.

The collaborations in Yolo and San Mateo counties sought to overcome these barriers by awarding more than $500,000 in grants and supporting nonprofits as they worked to engage large volumes of hard-to-reach voters. The counties and their funding partners supported a range of activities, including coordinated canvassing, phone banking, and social media outreach.

In both counties, election officials affirmed that the grantees’ work added enormous value and broad reach to the counties’ voter outreach and contributed to higher-than-expected turnout in targeted communities.

In a new report on the work in the two counties, the project partners share the story of their collaborative efforts. A companion funder brief shares lessons for grantmakers about how to advance similar efforts in other communities in California and nationwide.

The innovative funding programs in San Mateo and Yolo counties demonstrate that partnerships among counties, philanthropy, and community-based organizations can boost voter participation while efficiently using public resources. We strongly urge more private and family foundations, community foundations, county governments, and the state to consider supporting similar efforts—because democracy is stronger when all eligible voters can have a voice and a vote.

Jessica Hubbard is the previous Executive Director of the Yolo Community Foundation. Raúl Macías leads the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund’s Democracy Program. Jack Mahoney is the Senior Director of Community Action at Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF).