ONVR seeks to reach and register new and first time voters:
ONVR meets voters where they are. We go to college campuses, big-box retail power centers and places where we know that there will be a lot of people. We have a team of trained volunteers, professional signage, brochures and handouts explaining the voter registration process in Georgia.
For college students, we explain the choice of registering to vote in their home state, or in the community where they attend college. Georgia was a pioneer expanding ballot access back in 1990. This choice for out-of-state college students now exists in all 50 states.
We are also expanding efforts to make high school seniors aware, approaching the age of majority (18) of their ability to register for upcoming elections. We hope that by using technology we can automate this process, much like the existing Motor Voter Law, which automatically registers every Georgian with an active Driver’s License unless they choose to opt out.
Operation New Voter Registration (“ONVR”) is a grass-roots, independent, non-partisan volunteer organization, not affiliated with any campaign, candidate or advocacy organization. ONVR is funded by its founder, Paul Heller, which includes modest costs for professional signage, handout copying, website, etc. ONVR has not received any donations to date, other than time and resources in-kind, and is not planning to seek such funding donations in the future.
Many “traditional” voter registration drives and events involve setting up a table, chairs and then “sitting”. The volunteers wait for people to come by, inquire and then register those who may be interested.
ONVR takes a very different approach in that we MEET THE VOTERS where they are. We go to them and outwardly engage them. Our ONVR volunteers have “stood” for hours, since early November 2020, engaging people outdoors exclusively; therefore, enabling us to follow all COVID-19 CDC guidelines for social distancing, hygiene and mask-wearing.
Our volunteers spoke to most everyone they could, asking one simple question. “Are you registered to vote in the upcoming January 5th runoff elections?”
We were actually amazed by the high percentage of prospective voters not even aware that there were runoffs ahead, or how they could register to vote if they wanted to do so.
ONVR also developed a QR code which can be posted or texted to prospective voters with all the necessary instructions and appropriate links to complete voter registration, most often via a mobile phone. Many already registered voters enthusiastically took this handout with the QR Code to reach out to others who might not be registered.
Visit the Georgia Secretary of State’s Election Section of their website to register to vote assuming that your are eligible, or better understand the voting process in general including eligibility, absentee voting, contacting your respective county registration office for various reasons and voting locations and calendars.