Ballots, Boba and Boosting Voter Awareness

The Yankelovich Center joined forces this fall with San Diego State University and the San Diego County Registrar, along with community groups like Engage San Diego and Mid-City CAN, to boost voter education and outreach — part of a broader local effort by the group to combat political disinformation and misinformation on social media and other outlets.

To help kick off the initiative, the groups organized “Boba and Ballot,” a nonpartisan event held ahead of the November election at Cafe X in Sherman Heights. Young voters and would-be voters, ages 16 to 24, were invited to learn about issues and candidates on the upcoming ballot.

The Yankelovich Center also worked with the SDSU political science department, the county Registrar and others to fund and produce door hangers in multiple languages, including Vietnamese, Somali and Arabic. The hangers are used to boost voter awareness. Center Co-Director Thad Kousser and SDSU political scientist Brian Adams have identified other goals for the initiative as well, including monitoring and reporting misinformation on social media.