More than three decades ago, President Bill Clinton signed into law the National Voter Registration Act (“NVRA,” aka the “Motor Voter Law”). A historic law aiming to increase opportunities for eligible citizens to register to vote in elections for Federal office, the NVRA states that “the right of citizens to vote is a fundamental right and that it is the duty of the Federal, State, and local governments to promote the exercise of that right…” And one key provision is that it permits local authorities to designate libraries to serve as voter registration agencies, offering onsite paper and online voter registration forms, to eligible people who want to register to vote.

Libraries are often located in areas of our communities where nonpartisan access to new voter registration opportunities can make a huge difference. And libraries can play a powerful role in increasing public awareness about current threats to our democracy, especially in the midst of an unprecedented election cycle. They can serve as a helpful place to provide nonpartisan, unfiltered information for voters – especially newly registered voters –  who may be targeted for an onslaught of misinformation and disinformation schemes conducted for partisan gain. (For all questions about voting, including how your library can become a designated voter registration site, call 1-888-OUR-VOTE.)

And we can’t overlook the role libraries can play in preparing young people to learn more about the importance of a strong democracy in which every eligible citizen has an absolute right to participate in fair, free, and accessible elections.

Calling All Future Voters is our effort to bring the littlest members of our communities into this excitement, and help them understand the basics about this fall’s elections and all elections.

First: Important decisions that have consequences for real people are made through elections. As the children in Calling All Future Voters learn, voting is a superpower.

Second: Children have a role to play in the democratic process even though they cannot vote. Children (and their grownups) can engage in a number of civic engagement and organizing activities around voting, such as talking with and helping fellow neighbors with voting, like the characters in our book. These activities give life to our democracy at grassroots and local levels. Organizing matters, and many impactful activities take place in libraries!

Third: Voting is almost sacred. The blood of too many Americans was shed to secure the right to vote. We cannot take the right to vote for granted. Not for one second.

And finally: There is plenty more to be done to protect and expand access to the ballot, including enshrining our fundamental right to vote in the Constitution.

We are calling on all future voters to join us in protecting and advancing democracy. And libraries and librarians can play a huge role in helping them learn more about this important mission—and how a vote echoes into our community and beyond. Because as Vice President Kamala Harris has said, “voting is a fundamental freedom that unlocks all the other freedoms.”