Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Hannah Walker

@hlw.bsky.social

890 followers 760 following 88 posts

mobilizedbyinjustice.com Political Scientist UT Austin

Videos

Political science 48%

Sociology 17%

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Hannah Walker @hlw.bsky.social · 3d

📢 WORKING PAPER ALERT 📢

"Bridges to the Ballot: How Loved Ones Can Mobilize Voters with Criminal Records" w/ @arielrwhite.bsky.social @allipatter.bsky.social & #TylerLudwig

expandingengagement.org/projects/reg... 1/9

Registering Returning Citizens Via Social Ties — ExpandingEngagement

expandingengagement.org

1 2 5

Hannah Walker @hlw.bsky.social · 3d

Made possible by support from @arnoldventures.bsky.social @publicagenda.bsky.social & @ispsyale.bsky.social

The #ExpandingEngagementLab is stoked to build on this to learn how engage other chronic non-voters!

expandingengagement.org 9/9

ExpandingEngagement

expandingengagement.org

1 2

Hannah Walker @hlw.bsky.social · 3d

This work was completed in partnership with #GrassrootsLeadership who were integral to making the project happen and who carry on the work -- to that end, the public facing report sets out lessons learned for both academics and organizers 8/9

www.grassrootsleadership.org/vote

Have questions about voter registration deadlines, requesting absentee or mail-in ballots, or how to vote in-person during early voting or on Election Day?

www.grassrootsleadership.org

Hannah Walker @hlw.bsky.social · 3d

But mailers are expensive & impractical & are we even reaching the pop of interest? Does this strategy work if we go straight to justice impacted people themselves?

YES: An on-the-ground relational organizing experiment is encouraging (but v challenging to study, see the paper for details) 7/9

Hannah Walker @hlw.bsky.social · 3d

Can we find the active social ties, send them a mailer asking them to register their loved one, and would they do it?

YES! Even people who are not already active organizers can be prompted to get their loved ones to register: 6/9

Hannah Walker @hlw.bsky.social · 3d

Would mobilization by loved ones even work if the person in question doesn't value voting?

YES! Qualitative evidence suggests that social ties have lots of tools available to them to engage even skeptical voters 5/9

Hannah Walker @hlw.bsky.social · 3d

Are there even any such ties?

YES! Mapping relationships across admin records suggests many system impacted people are connected to others who are active voters... 4/9

Hannah Walker @hlw.bsky.social · 3d

So we thought, let's see if we can find them, contact them, enlist their help in mobilizing their people, and test how well it works! (we're ambitious like that 😉)

But would it even work? System impacted people are often surrounded by other non-voters who have high skepticism of the state... 3/9

Hannah Walker @hlw.bsky.social · 3d

The working paper & public report synthesize lessons learned from a suite of 2024 projects.

We ask: How can system impacted people be (re)incorporated into electoral politics?

We argue: The politically active loved ones of system impacted people are powerful mobilizers in their communities! 2/9

1 1