Vote Recovery is an initiative created by the Recovery Advocacy Project (RAP). RAP is working to build a visible and effective constituency to demand community and public policy based solutions in response to America’s long-standing addiction crisis.
Vote Recovery is a hub to learn about voting, your rights, and the issues that recovery voters like yourself are passionate about. It's also a space to explore tools for engagement to get others involved.
We can either imagine a world in which our elected officials court and value the votes, suggestions, and voices of us in the recovery community, OR we can make it a reality.
Vote Recovery is an intentional effort to build the grassroots voting power of the recovery community to force the changes necessary to save lives in each and every state.
What being a recovery voter means will vary depending on the individual. The Vote Recovery initiative is not about telling anyone who to vote for or what party, if any, to affiliate with. It is about empowering each voter to educate themselves around the recovery issues they care about, research where candidates stand on those issues, and make a decision with recovery in mind on Election Day.
According to a recent poll (*source Clark County NV), 1172 registered likely voters were asked if they would consider a candidate of a different party if they had an attractive stance on recovery. A plurality of voters (42%) answered yes, 34% were unsure, and 23 % answered no.
The results of this survey tell us that many likely voters would consider recovery as an issue vote as opposed to political party or stance of candidates on other issues.
Each one of us has a choice to consider how important the issue of recovery is while making a decision in casting a ballot on Election Day. Visit the Organized Issue Voting page of the Vote Recovery site to view the data and take the survey yourself.
An educated voter is a powerful voter. It is up to every one of us to look at the issues that impact those struggling with addiction, people in recovery, as well as family members and allies. There are so many issues that affect us as a recovery community to consider before voting including but not limited to:
There are many local and national non-profit groups, public policy specialists, and experts that work specifically on these issues. Many authors have also written extensively on these issues. Vote Recovery has provided some links to first steps if you would like to further explore where you stand on any of these issues in the Recovery Issue Education section of the site. We encourage you to dive deeper on these issues so that you are confident and informed with your vote on Election Day.
We encourage all of you to identify as a recover voter and commit to vote while keeping the recovery issues that are most important to you in mind in each and every election. It is our hope that Vote Recovery will be able to answer any questions you may have about how to vote as well as understanding your rights as a voter.
You should be able to find everything you need in the menu under the ‘Vote’ and ‘Your rights as a Voter’ tabs.
Please take a moment to be counted as a recovery voter by taking the Vote Recovery Pledge.
The Voices Project is a grassroots recovery advocacy organization that is changing the way America thinks about recovery, one voice at a time.
End the silence, end addiction. Learn more and get involved.
A not-for-profit 501(c)3 public charity, as recognized by the Internal Revenue Service. Copyright 2023, The Voices Project.