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Organizers expected about 3,000 attendees at an event Sunday that took a notable approach to registering people to vote, by offering free boxes of food and supplies at the same time. 

Cars lined up Sunday morning in the Phoenix College parking lot near Thomas Road and SeventhAvenue to register to vote and pick up groceries, diapers, children’s books and clothing. 

Drivers flowed through a loop, with volunteers handing out boxes asking if people in the vehicle would like to register to vote on the other side of the loop and vice versa. People stayed in their cars to fill out voter registration forms on clipboards. 

The event, called “Fuel the Vote,” was hosted by When We All Vote, a national non-profit aimed at increasing voter turnout, and One Arizona, a local community organization made up of 28 partners.

When We All Vote was launched in 2018 by Michelle Obama and other high-profile figures including singers Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and Janelle Monáe; actors Tom Hanks and Lin-Manuel Miranda; and NBA player Chris Paul. Corazón Arizona, Arizona Center for Empowerment and Arizona Coalition for Change were also at the event.

Araceli Villezcas, program director for One Arizona, said attendees did not need to register to vote in order to pick up groceries and vice versa. 

“We could just have a voter registration drive, but here it’s coupled with making sure that our families have enough to eat,” said Villezcas. “We’re taking care of each other.” 

‘Pay it forward’

Jordan Brooks, a senior advisor at When We All Vote, said the Phoenix event was equipped with 2,000 food boxes and about 1,000 sets with sippy cups; baby bottles and diapers; and women’s, men’s and kid’s clothing. She said the pandemic has been hard on families while also making it difficult to register to vote, so the organization decided to combine helping communities in need and voter registration.

“I just want to make sure I’m there and it counts,” Alonzo González said, referring to his vote. He said there is a lot riding on the comingelection and thinks it could be one of the largest voter turnouts in history. 

Kaylah Gladstone attended the event with González. She registered to vote and said she was going to donate any groceries she picked up and wasn’t going to use. 

“Pay it forward,” she said. 

A woman who did not want to share her name because of her immigration status, said she has not been able to work during the pandemic. She said shefound out about the event from her children’s school and was thankful for the opportunity to pick up food and supplies for them because the pandemic has hit her family hard. 

Villezcas said her favorite part of these kinds of events is connecting with her community and having conversations about voting with people who haven’t voted or don’t always get targeted for voting, often communities of color and young people.

“It makes me excited because so many people are just really excited to make their voices heard,” she said. 

Fuel the Vote events taking place across the country 

Osman Erives is the regional field director for Voteria AZ, a voter registration campaign by ACE. He said registering people to vote is important to him because, as a DACA recipient, he can’t vote.

“We want to make sure that everyone in our communities that is eligible (to vote) is absolutely registered, because a lot of folks are eligible,” Erives said. He added that many people may not be educated about the voting process or have internet access necessary to register online, so these drive-thru events are a great opportunity for eligible voters who may not have voted otherwise.

“The main idea is making sure that accessibility is there and making sure that their voice is heard and really representing the community,” he said.

Fuel the Vote is taking place across the country, with an event in Miami on Sundayas well. Previous events took place in Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia and Charlotte, North Carolina. Three more events are planned in Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Minneapolis to try to register as many voters as possible before the deadline for the November election.

The deadline to register to vote in Arizona is midnight on Oct. 5. Prospective voters can register at servicearizona.com.

Get in touch with Chloe Jones at [email protected] and find her on Twitter at @chloeleejones

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