In the days following last Tuesday’s presidential debate and Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, the number of new daily voter registrations in Wisconsin surged, according to data from the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
Between Aug. 27 and Sept. 10 — the day of the debate — the average number of new daily voter registrations in Wisconsin was 2,176. For Sept. 11-12, the average was 7,881.
On those two days, there were 15,763 total new registrations, more than double the total registrations submitted during the same two-day period the week prior.
Daily registrations reached a peak two days after the debate and endorsement on Sept. 12, with 10,537 new Wisconsin voters registering on that day alone.
The number of new daily registrations does not just count first-time voters, it also includes voters who have re-registered after moving. And there is no way to know why people registered or if the debate or Swift’s endorsements were factors, according to Riley Vetterkind, a Public Information Officer at the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
People are also reading…
- Missing Beaver Dam girl found when woman at truck stop grew suspicious, police say
- Once common, now unusual: Conservative candidate publicly quashes shouts that the other side cheated
- There are 72,000 boxes of unsold Girl Scout cookies around Madison. You know you want one
- Our endorsement for Wisconsin Supreme Court
Immediately following Tuesday night’s debate, in a post shared with her 284 million Instagram followers, Swift declared her support for the Harris-Walz campaign and encouraged her audience to register to vote.
“I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them,” Swift captioned the post, which has garnered more than 11 million likes. “I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”
Swift also shared a link on her Instagram story directing followers to vote.gov, a voting information site run by the U.S. General Services Administration.
In the 24 hours that the story was active, a total of 405,999 users were referred to the vote.gov site from the link shared on Swift’s story, according to a GSA spokesperson. That’s more than 13 times the average of 30,000 users who visited the site each day the week prior.
Taylor Swift performs at Wembley Stadium as part of her Eras Tour on June 21 in London.
