TREK THE VOTE
FOR FAIR ELECTIONS
We are a grassroots movement of Star Trek fans volunteering with non-partisan, pro-democracy groups nationwide.
Our team of thousands of "Starfleet officers" volunteer with our partner organizations to support voting rights, improve election transparency, and help elections administrators meet their staffing needs.
Starting in 2024, when you click "Join Starfleet", you'll be using Activote's engine to get matched with our partner opportunities. Activote inspires people to get engaged and *stay* engaged in our democracy at the national, state, and local level, and we're excited to have them on the team.
Let's work together to strengthen democracy and build the future we're all dreaming of!
Possible Missions
Professional Poll Worker
Professional poll workers serve inside of a polling place; checking voters in, handing them their ballots, and answering questions related to the process of voting.
Voter Morale Officer
Voter morale officers work from home to coordinate logistics for delivery of food, water, and other supplies to voters waiting in long lines across the country.
Voter Outreach Specialist
Voter outreach specialists place phone calls and send text messages and postcards to underrepresented and underserved voters to encourage them to vote and inform them about their rights.
Election Transparency Specialist
Election Transparency Specialists work in teams to observe and document election processes on the ground at locations where ballots are cast and counted. Officers in this role take an oath to respect the comfort, safety, and rights of voters and elections professionals as they carry out their duties.
Information Accuracy Specialist
Information Accuracy Specialists monitor social media and report content that contains inaccurate information about how, when, and where to vote. They also conduct proactive outreach to help voters who post on social media to say they are having trouble and help them understand their rights.
Advanced Training Opportunities
Depending on how you answer the questions on the enrollment form, you may receive outreach from Trek the Vote or our partners about advanced training or special opportunities to contribute. If you have a skill or resource you think would be useful, set hailing frequencies to starfleetcommand @ trekthe . vote (minus spaces).
Special Events
Trek the Vote Info Session
Thursday, October 10th, 2024
8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT
with Heather Rae Barker and special guest Christina Estes-Werther
Join Heather Rae Barker, Trek the Vote's Interim Executive Director, and Christina Estes-Werther, Trek the Vote volunteer, for an opportunity to learn about Trek the Vote, our opportunities for this election cycle, and why they're so important. You must be a member of our Discord to attend this party. Please join via the link and RSVP to the event.
Postcard Writing Discord Party to benefit Center for Common Ground
Saturday, October 12th, 2024
7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT
Join Heather Rae Barker and other Trek the Vote volunteers for a Postcard Writing Discord Party to benefit our partner Center for Common Ground. The postcards you write will be sent to Black women voters in Florida and Texas, where abortion rights are on the ballot. This event does require you to obtain postcards, stamps, and labels.
Poll Monitor Training with the Texas Civil Rights Project
Thursday, October 17th, 2024
7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT / 4
p.m. PT
Join the Texas Civil Rights Project and Trek the Vote for a Texas Poll Monitor Training featuring special guest Chase Masterson! In the training, you will learn how you can help protect Texas voters by volunteering as a nonpartisan poll monitor. As a Poll Monitor, you will observe polling sites, answer voters' questions, and report any problems that may arise. During the training, we will provide you with all the information you will need to volunteer with us and stick around 'til the end for a Q&A with Chase Masterson!
Phone Bank with Center for Common Ground
Thursday, October 24th, 2024
6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT
We are calling Black voters with Trek the Vote, encouraging them to vote and providing resources that make it easier to check where they are registered and find the voting information they need. This is a two hour phone bank commitment with training provided.
Election Day Phone Banking Event with Fair Count
Tuesday, November 5th, 2024
11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT
Beam us up, Scotty! We're gathering Star Trek fans from near and far to conduct outreach to voters. YOU are the best person to make sure voters in Georgia and Mississippi are prepared and ready to vote in the Presidential Election. This is your opportunity to make a meaningful difference!
Some of our beloved Star Trek performers will join us to make calls, and take questions after the phone bank from some lucky fans.
We will provide all the training and support that you need to help build a more equitable democracy for the future! You will need access to a laptop and phone.
With a handful of organizers and a budget of less than $2,000 per cycle, we've recruited several thousand registered volunteers in all 50 states and developed deep engagement with name-brand Trek actors and senior people at Paramount, who can help us reach more volunteers.
Here are some specific achievements illustrated in quotes from our partners and volunteers.
2024 Cast
Tom Paris
Voyager
Dr. Phlox
Enterprise
Leeta
Deep Space Nine
The EMH
Voyager
Tuvok
Voyager
Partners
Fair Count
Fair Count works to ensure that historically undercounted communities are counted in the census, vote, and are fairly represented in redistricting. Learn about their community partnerships, faith connections, and technology solutions.
Scrutineers
Scrutineers is a community of volunteers, activists, and experts who train and mobilize to protect voting rights and election transparency in the US. Learn how to observe the vote count, join events, and access training resources.
Pizza to the Polls
Pizza to the Polls is a nonprofit organization that delivers free pizza to people waiting in long lines to vote. Learn how to donate, join the Crust Club, and see the impact of their work across the country.
Center for Common Ground
The Center for Common Ground is non-partisan, Black and women-led voting rights organization that works in voter suppression states.
Texas Civil Rights Project
TCRP believes that legal advocacy and litigation are critical tools to protect and advance the civil rights of everyone in Texas, particularly our State's most vulnerable populations, and to effect positive and lasting change to law and policy.
Power the Polls
Power the Polls is a campaign to help staff local polling places for safe, fair, and efficient elections. Sign up to get training, pay, and help your community vote.
Voter Tool Kit
Your dashboard to create and manage your own voting plan.
Check Voter Registration
Run a level 3 diagnostic of your voter registration and make sure you're ready to engage on Election Day.
Register to Vote
It takes less than two minutes to get all your information into the main computer.
Request to Vote by Mail
Want to skip the lines, stay safe from COVID, or spend Election Day volunteering? Sign up to vote by mail.
Who is on My Ballot?
A Starfleet officer is always prepared. Read all the reports and technical manuals beforehand so you know exactly how you want to vote when you have your ballot.
Social Media Press Kit
Janeway art by Dylan Meconis. Feel free to save these images to your device and share, but please don't alter them, and do give credit to the artist. Thanks!
Talking about elections on social media these days tends to bring a lot of bad-faith arguments out of the woodwork. Here are a couple of tips to help navigate that dangerous sector of space.
If at any time, you need support in managing an interaction that has gotten out of hand, please reach out to Tae directly at ensignphoenix@trekthe.vote.
General Language
Do:
Say, "election security," "election transparency" and "voting rights."
Don't:
Say, "election integrity," or "voter fraud."
Why?
Conspiracy theorists have hijacked the term "election integrity," so we've moved into using terms that are very straightforward and value neutral, and therefore harder to twist.
"Voter fraud" is vanishingly rare, but impossible to disprove for people who are intent upon believing in it. Keep steering the conversation back to things that are measurable and based in reality.
"Stop the Steal"
Do:
Say, "there is no factual basis on which to dispute the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election. We will work with anyone who is operating in good faith based on that commonly accepted truth."
Don't:
Engage with election deniers at all. Even if they say that by rejecting the big lie, we are being partisan.
Why?
Trek the Vote is a non-partisan movement. We will work with everyone from any point on the political spectrum as long as they are operating in good faith. "Stop the steal," is not a good faith conversation and it is not worth giving oxygen to.
Shop
Trek the Vote Tee Shirt
$25 (4 strips of latinum)
Make sure everyone knows that your first duty is to the truth.
Trek the Vote Cloth Mask Cover
$10 (2 strips of latinum)
Keep your fellow humanoids safe from infectious diseases.
Crew
Interim Executive Director
Heather is a cohost of The Trektivism Podcast with a 15 year history of community building and activism within fandom spaces. Heather credits the Star Trek community with saving their life and works diligently to pay it forward one LLAP at a time.
Founder (Not That Kind)
In 2020, Tae Phoenix said to a friend in passing, "I wish the U.N. would show up to monitor this election. Or better yet, Starfleet!" And so Trek the Vote was born. Tae is on a health sabbatical this election cycle and is currently working towards a Masters in Songwriting from Berklee College of Music.
Technical Co-Founder
Ethan is the technical co-founder of Trek the Vote. In 2020, he built our matching engine to pair Star Trek fans with volunteer opportunities. He loves a well-structured database and would like the ship to go... now.
Admiral
Dag hails from California where he hosts an assortment of Trek-related podcasts and participates in even more trivia nights. When he's not doing that, he is involved in his local community, stressing the importance of citizen vigilance in local, state, and national affairs. He and his husband have two adorable cats that prefer Feline Supplement 25.
Web designer
Charlynn Schmiedt has been active in the Trek podcasting community for several years. When she isn't playing with code or behind a mic, she makes Trek-inspired cold process soap. She legit hopes the Trek future will be real someday, and enjoys working with good humans who are doing the work of building that future today.
FAQ
You guys look like a pretty leftist bunch. Are conservatives welcome here?
Absolutely. Star Trek fans run the political gamut. We won't deny that most of our leadership are pretty lefty, but we're happy to work with anyone who believes in voting rights and transparent elections, regardless of party affiliation.
Are you an official Star Trek project?
Star Trek is the intellectual property of Paramount.
We are a deep grassroots network of Trek fans, actors, and behind-the-scenes professionals. We are not affiliated with Paramount.
(What little money we make from the sale of masks and tee shirts goes towards the cost of hosting our website.)
The majority of the actors in your videos are white. What is your plan to make the cast more racially diverse going forward?
When it comes to racial diversity, the sad reality is that Star Trek has historically been a very white show. Prior to Discovery, there were only seven Black series regulars and five other series regulars of color in the first five series to air combined.
We're thrilled with the talented and beloved roster of actors who volunteered with us in 2020. We're also pleased and grateful to say that our 2022 cast is more diverse. We will continue to conduct outreach specifically to actors of color and look forward to doing even better in 2024.
Are you for or against any candidates or issues? Are you affiliated with any Trek the Vote fundraiser?
We are not affiliated with any candidates or any partisan initiatives which may happen to have the same name.
Each individual Trek the Vote participant is free to express their own opinions about everyone and everything on the ballot, but Trek the Vote for Fair Elections is a non-partisan initiative.
That means our only interest is to have an election in which every eligible American gets to vote easily and safely and each vote is scrupulously counted.
What is your stance towards claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent? Can "stop the steal" participants take part in Trek the Vote?
We reject the big lie about systemic fraud in the 2020 election and affirm that there is no factual basis on which to dispute the outcome. We will work with anyone, from any political party, who is acting in good faith based on that commonly accepted fact.
Contact Us
starfleetcommand@trekthe.vote
