Mark Zuckerberg: Historic Facebook campaign will boost voter registration, turnout and voices

I believe Facebook can strengthen democracy by maintaining as open a platform as possible, accompanied by ambitious efforts to lift voter participation.

The 2020 election is going to be unlike any other. It was already going to be a heated campaign, and that was before the pandemic — and before the killing of George Floyd and so many others forced us yet again to confront the painful reality of systemic racism in America. People want accountability, and in a democracy the ultimate way we do that is through voting.

With so much of our discourse taking place online, I believe platforms like Facebook can play a positive role in this election by helping Americans use their voice where it matters most — by voting. We're announcing on Wednesday the largest voting information campaign in American history. Our goal is to help 4 million people register to vote. As we take on this effort, I want to outline our civic responsibilities:

First, we're encouraging people to vote. Voting is voice. It's the single most powerful expression of democracy, the best way to hold our leaders accountable and how we address many of the issues our country is grappling with. I believe Facebook has a responsibility not just to prevent voter suppression — which disproportionately targets people of color — but also to actively support well-informed voter engagement, registration and turnout.

To achieve this, we're creating a new Voting Information Center with authoritative information, including how and when to vote, as well as details about voter registration, voting by mail and information about early voting. We'll also include posts from state election officials and verified local election authorities. We'll show this center at the top of the Facebook News Feed and on Instagram to make sure everyone gets a chance to see it.

Overall, we expect more than 160 million people in the United States will see authoritative information on Facebook about how to vote in the general election from July through November. This is in addition to reminders to register, information about voting by mail, and Election Day reminders that we've run through the primaries and will run for the general election as well.