Penguin Random House | New York, 09/11/2018

Penguin Random House U.S. Announces Fall “Book the Vote” Initiative

On September 25, Penguin Random House U.S. will launch a new campaign to encourage voter registration in the country. With the “Book The Vote” initiative, the publishing group aims to encourage voter turnout in the US and the use of the right to vote. Numerous events with authors are planned.

Whenever there is an election in the United States, everybody who is at least 18 years old, lives in one of the US states or Washington D.C., and is not currently in prison is eligible to vote. However, since the US does not have residents’ registration offices like Germany, for example, voters have to register – and it is their own responsibility to do it.

Penguin Random House U.S. will launch a new company- and country-wide initiative to encourage more US citizens to take this first step to participate in elections: “Book The Vote”. The idea was born out of the excitement about the forthcoming publication of “Glimmer Of Hope: How Tragedy Sparked A Movement”, which will be published jointly by Razorbill and Dutton Adult on October 16 and was written by the founders of the “March for Our Lives” movement. They recently concluded their “Road To Change” tour, registering voters in 50 events across the country. Penguin Random House now continues this initiative with authors and bookstores across the country. 

“Essential to our democracy and free expression”

“At Penguin Random House, we believe in the power of diverse and individual voices. We established Book the Vote to encourage every citizen to vote and to highlight how essential this civic duty is to our democracy and, of course, to free expression, which is the foundation for book publishing,” said Madeline McIntosh, CEO, Penguin Random House U.S. “We are hopeful that, together with our authors, employees, and retailers, we can help create a more democratic future for our readers.”

Official launch on National Voter Registration Day

For implementing the campaign, the publishing group is partnering with the Head Count organization, which has registered Americans to vote at concerts, music festivals, and cultural events since 2004, and helped create a national holiday for voter registration. Penguin Random House uses this holiday, which is always the fourth Tuesday in September, to kick off its “Book The Vote” campaign. From September 25, various authors and employees will be getting the word out via social media and other digital channels of the publishing group. 

In addition, voter registration drives are scheduled at numerous events throughout the fall, including with authors such as Hank Green and John Green, Jodi Picoult, Deborah Harkness, Marie Lu, DeRay Mckesson, Brad Meltzer, and Chip Conley.