Georgia Muslim Voter Project

Voter Registration: Despite navigating increased voter fatigue and saturation in outreach in 2022 due to national attention in Georgia (GA) elections, GAMVP exceeded our voter registration goals. We registered 871 voters in 2022, surpassing our goal of 800 registrations. This success is attributed to our innovative registration methods and intentional training for our field organizer team, who achieved a rate of 1 Voter Registration (VR) per hour, one of the highest on the ProGeorgia state table (the coalition of 501c3 voter registration organizations in Georgia). In order to reach our goal, we forged new partnerships in rural and coastal Muslim communities in Georgia. Our expansion work centered on building non-transactional, sustainable relationships with our communities outside of metro-Atlanta and its surrounding counties. We continued to be a regular presence at masjids, cultural festivals and events, and local-owned Muslim businesses where we could interact.

Youth Ambassadors: GAMVP introduced its 6-month Youth Ambassador Program in 2022, commencing with an inaugural cohort comprising 15 Muslim youth aged 16 to 22. The program aimed to build long-term political infrastructure by inspiring future generations of Georgia Muslims to confidently engage in the civic process and pursue leadership, increase civic engagement amongst the Muslim communities in Georgia through direct youth engagement, and encourage the next generation of Muslims to advocate for themselves and participate in electoral, state and federal politics. Through monthly sessions, Youth Ambassadors were given the opportunity to practice various organizing skills both in the field and during trainings on topics such as: campaign strategy, base building, relational organizing, community outreach for events and programming, digital organizing, policy advocacy, testimony training, voter registration, and Get Out the Vote field work.

Voter Engagement: Our 2022 approach emphasized deep canvassing, aimed towards building sustainable, non-transactional connections with our communities. Supported by Dr. Tom Wongs Likely Muslim Voter list, we reached 84,914 Likely Muslim Registered Voters. Due to limitations in the demographic name match that excludes those without traditional Arabic names, this list might not capture the entire spectrum of our communities; to account for this we also conducted outreach to GA POC voters using lists provided by the ProGeorgia state table. Throughout 2022, we dispatched over 1.1 million texts, had 10,686 phone conversations, and knocked on over 1,000 doors to encourage voters to head to the polls. Additional outreach included 150,000 mailers and 2 digital ad campaign videos. Our grassroots programs, including Prayers to the Polls and Party to the Polls, coupled with non-partisan candidate forums, fostered direct voter-politician interaction, strengthened community