Kylie Jenner's bikini photo on Instagram leads to 48,000 new voter registrations

1 October 2020, 11:39

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By Katie Louise Smith

Kylie Jenner's bikini photo caption caused a 1500% increase in Instagram traffic to Vote.org.

The US election is coming, and Kylie Jenner is doing her part in urging people to vote by posting thirst traps on Twitter.

23-year-old businesswoman and social media queen Kylie posted two bikini photos on her Instagram grid alongside the caption: "but are you registered to vote? click the link in my bio.. let’s make a plan to vote together". The post currently has over 9 million likes.

After signposting a Vote.org link to her whopping 196 million Instagram followers, reports say that she managed to help drive thousands and thousands of new voter registrations.

View this post on Instagram

but are you registered to vote? click the link in my bio.. let’s make a plan to vote together 🤍🤍

A post shared by Kylie 🤍 (@kyliejenner) on Sep 28, 2020 at 1:58pm PDT

According to TMZ, nearly 50,000 people registered to vote after Kylie included the link in her bio, causing a huge 1500% boost from traffic driven via Instagram. The Hill also reports that Vote.org saw an 80% total increase in users compared to the day before. Her impact!

The site takes her followers through to a sign up page that takes all of 30 seconds to fill out, and then lets the person know whether or not they are registered to vote.

CEO Andrea Hailey said in a statement: “Following Kylie Jenner's Instagram post, the surge in interactions with Vote.org's registration verification tool speaks to an energy among young Americans who want to make sure their voices are heard this election.”

Who is Kylie Jenner voting for?

Back in 2016, Kylie appeared to confirm that she voted for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, via a post on her Snapchat story. Wearing a 'Vote' filter, she wrote 'HER' in capital letters on the video, presumably in reference to the I'm With Her slogan.

She has not yet publicly endorsed any of the 2020 candidates.

Back in 2018, Taylor Swift inspired a similar surge in voter registrations after she shared a passionate message of support for two Democratic candidates ahead of the US midterm elections.

BuzzFeed News reported that there were 65,000 registrations in the 24-hour period after Taylor posted to her then 112 million followers.

Adding context to the numbers, BuzzFeed News wrote: "190,178 new voters were registered nationwide in the entire month of September, while 56,669 were registered in August."

View this post on Instagram

I’m writing this post about the upcoming midterm elections on November 6th, in which I’ll be voting in the state of Tennessee. In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now. I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent. I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love. Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values. I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives. Please, please educate yourself on the candidates running in your state and vote based on who most closely represents your values. For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway. So many intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and now have the right and privilege to make their vote count. But first you need to register, which is quick and easy to do. October 9th is the LAST DAY to register to vote in the state of TN. Go to vote.org and you can find all the info. Happy Voting! 🗳😃🌈

A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Oct 7, 2018 at 4:33pm PDT