Declare Yourself

Declare Yourself was an American campaign that aimed to encourage young people to register to vote. The campaign was founded by philanthropist, Norman Lear in 2004 and was led by former American presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. The 2004 campaign consisted of a road trip to towns across the country to educate people about the United States Declaration of Independence and voting rights. The 2006 campaign involved public service announcements that compared not voting to people silencing themselves and not standing up for their beliefs. The 2008 campaign consisted of videos posted on YouTube and MySpace to promote voting and the 2011 campaign featured a bondage-themed photo series comparing not voting to restricting yourself. In 2011, Declare Yourself merged with another campaign to form the nonprofit, Our Time.

The DOI Road Trip's stated mission was to engage and energize all Americans, particularly young people, by bringing the Declaration to them. According to a press release, "This non-profit nonpartisan project hopes to inspire Americans to participate in civic activism, to exercise their rights and to vote. The Declaration of Independence Road Trip will travel to cities and towns across the United States, creatively combining elements of education, entertainment, and community outreach."

Founded by TV producer and philanthropist Norman Lear, and led by Honorary Co-Chairs and former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, "Declare Yourself" is described in their literature as a "national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign initiated in 2004 to energize and empower a new movement of young voters to participate in the 2004 presidential election." From January through Election Day 2004, over one million young and first-time voters registered to vote through events at Declare Yourself's spoken word and music tour of college campuses.

Declare Yourself revved up its campaign again in 2007 for the 2008 presidential primaries and general election. This campaign is focusing on viral videos on video sharing sites like YouTube, MySpace, Break.com, and Daily Motion. The videos feature actors from the popular TV shows Reno 911! and The Office, and the movie Superbad.

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