Starting on September 22, all Foot Locker-owned stores in the U.S will become temporary voter registration sites in an effort to increase youth voter turnout at the election this November.
What We Know:
- The registration sites will include all Foot Locker stores, including Kids Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Champs Sports, and Footaction locations. With more than 2,000 locations, each of the company’s stores will house a kiosk with a special website where visitors can register to vote, check their voter status, or sign up for election reminders. The company has also launched a voter registration portal on its website.
- Foot Locker said the new initiative is geared toward the more than 4 million young Americans who will become eligible to vote for the first time in this November election. The company said its effort will target 18 to 24-year-old customers, which is 4.3 million of the retailer’s Instagram followers.
- Civic group leaders recently shared with CBS News that the coronavirus pandemic has forced them to come up with new ways to reach young voters. In years past, volunteers would typically target college campuses, concerts, and festivals, but with those activities suspended due to the pandemic, groups are forced to now use digital platforms.
- CEO Richard Johnson said the project, run in partnership with the nonprofit Rock the Vote, is an effort to “educate and amplify the voices of today’s youth.”
“In a year marked with such uncertainty, amid a pandemic and social unrest, our country’s future — and our collective role in shaping it — has never been more important,” Johnson said in a statement. “At Foot Locker, our mission is to inspire and empower youth culture, so partnering with Rock the Vote was a natural fit to help educate and amplify the voices of today’s youth.”
- Other venues across the country that are not typically used as polling places or for voter registration are also opening their doors to help increase voter turnout on Election Day. The NBA’s Houston Rockets will use their arena, the Toyota Center, for a registration drive this month and Arrowhead Stadium, home field for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, will become a polling place November 3.
Foot Locker has also pledged to make it easy for their employees to vote on Election Day by giving them a flexible work schedule that will allow them the time to vote.
