Spain, summer of 2023. It was hot, and there was fatigue. The unexpected advance of the general elections caught us with little energy at the end of a long year and a strong desire to go on vacation. These widespread feelings, along with the results of the previous elections, made us fear very low voter turnout.
This was the situation when we launched a last-minute campaign with little time for preparation, which we called «Urna y toalla» («Ballot and Towel»). We shared this initiative with other voter mobilization projects, met many creative people who joined the cause, and witnessed the growth of communities dedicated to mobilizing abstainers and undecided voters.
The journey ended with a historic increase in mail-in voting—not only in the number of people who requested it but, more importantly, in those who completed the process—and an overall rise in voter turnout. Seventy percent of eligible voters participated in these elections, four points higher than in the previous general elections.
We like to think that we helped make this happen with «Ballot and Towel.» In this short video, we’ve summarized how we did it.