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Thursday, June 1, 2023 | 
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Could Snapchat’s massive voter registration swing 2020’s youth vote?

Snapchat has already registered 750,000 voters for the 2020 election, and many of those voters are first-timers

By Court Mann Court Mann
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This file photo dated March 3, 2017, shows the Snapchat app on a mobile phone. Snapchat has been accused of being “wholly irresponsible” for allowing accounts allegedly promoting explicit images of teenagers to be searchable on its app.

This file photo dated March 3, 2017, shows the Snapchat app on a mobile phone. Snapchat has registered more than 750,000 of its users to vote in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the company recently announced.

Kirsty O’Connor, Press Association via Associated Press

Today is National Voter Registration Day, and surprise, it turns out Snapchat isn’t a total time-waster after all. 

The social media app has helped more than 750,000 users register to vote in the 2020 U.S. presidential election via its “Register to Vote” portal, Variety reported. That number seems to be skyrocketing, as Snapchat’s voter registration numbers eclipsed 400,000 a week ago.

In the 2018 midterms, by contrast, Snapchat registered 418,000 users to vote.

“This is the first election that Gen Z will be casting votes for president,” Sean Mills, Snapchat’s head of content, told Variety. “We believe the young voters will the difference makers.”

Fast Company noted that Snapchat reaches more American 13-24 year olds than Facebook, Instagram and Messenger combined, making it a potential game changer for whichever presidential candidate captures the youth vote.

Snapchat has enlisted a voter registration feature in partnership with TurboVote. Other social media apps, such as Twitter, have also partnered with TurboVote in its voter registration campaigns. According to The Hill, Snapchat’s voter registration portal also includes tools for finding poling places, among other features.

Additionally, Snapchat has partnered with Democrat and Republican celebrities and politicians to encourage voter registration this year. Snoop Dogg and Arnold Schwarzenegger are among the celebrities, and former U.S. President Barack Obama (Democrat) and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (Republican) are among the politicians taking part.

“You can’t just ask somebody to register to vote one time,” Snapchat Public Policy Manager Sofia Gross, who has coordinated Snapchat’s voting initiative, told Fast Company. “You have to really make sure you’re following up and chasing people to have them follow through.”

Facebook, which drew ire for its part in the spread of misinformation during the 2016 presidential election, has also been directing users to voter registration resources this year. The company recently announced it has registered 2.5 million voters through its Facebook, Messenger and Instagram apps — an approximation based on conversion rates Facebook calculated from some U.S. states it partnered with, USA Today reported.