Expect a Facebook reminder to vote if you’re 18 or about to be hit it soon

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is partnering with Facebook to encourage 18 year old users to register to vote. Along with birthday wishes, all users who turned 18 between 28th November and 31st December will receive a News Feed reminder encouraging them to register with the Election Commission. Users who already turned 18 this year will also be receiving a reminder on 30th November.

The reminder will be sent in 13 languages including English, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Bengali, Urdu, Assamese, Marathi and Oriya. Clicking on the ‘Register Now’ button will direct them to the National Voters Services Portal which will guide users through the entire process. This is the first time such an initiative has been undertaken keeping first time voters in mind.

“I am happy to announce that the Election Commission of India has launched a Special Drive to enroll all prospective and eligible young citizens of India as voters who are turning 18 years or more than 18 years on 1st January, 2018. This partnership of Election Commission with Facebook for the dissemination of Information will help usreach out the young digital Community of India in fulfilling our mission ‘No Voter to be Left Behind’ and ‘every Vote Counts'” was stated by Achal Kumar Jyoti, Chief Election Commissioner, Election Commission of India.

Nitin Saluja, Politics and Government Outreach Manager for India, South & Central Asia had the following to say: “People use Facebook to learn about, talk about, and get involved with the issues that matter to them. We want to build products that support this type of civic engagement – on Election Day and every day. Since the beginning of this year, millions of people in India have used Facebook to engage on elections, whether it’s asking the candidates questions, sharing the latest news, or having a conversation about the issues with their friends and followers. Though our partnership with the Election Commission of India we hope to connect more people with the issues that matter to them, and build a more civically-engaged community.”