Build The Vote
- Brand
- Rock The Vote
- Year
- 2020
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Other
- Mechanic
- Simulation & Strategy
- Platform
- In-Game
- Agency
- Sid Lee
Objective
Rock the Vote's research pointed to low turnout among young Americans as a problem of unfamiliarity with the voting process, not apathy — especially among first-time voters and teens too young to cast a ballot in 2020. The nonprofit wanted to demystify registration and voting before election day arrived for real, while giving the next generation of voters a visible platform for the issues they cared about. Rather than bring politics to young people, Rock the Vote met them where they already were: Minecraft, with its 131 million monthly players.
Solution
Players added mc.buildthevote.com to their Minecraft multiplayer list and spawned into a custom world built around a blocky replica of the Capitol, nicknamed the "voting house." Signs and prompts along the path walked them through each stage of real US voting — registration, then the ballot — before they pressed a button to register, their avatar's face dropping into a growing mosaic of everyone who'd registered so far. From there, players teleported into a private booth and cast one vote each, not for a candidate, but on one of the ten issues most debated in the 2020 campaign. Finishing didn't earn an "I Voted" sticker — it unlocked a custom character skin, and players could also use built-in tools to set a real voter-registration reminder or look up their actual polling place. The same voting house was mirrored onto several other Minecraft servers popular with teens, so players could complete the whole process without leaving the server they normally played on.
Results
85% of players who entered the world completed the full voting procedure, the campaign reached 362 million impressions, and it was covered by more than 110 news outlets worldwide.
- 1
Players discover the experience on buildthevote.com, which frames it as a way to learn how the US electoral process works and cast a vote on the most-debated campaign topics, and lists where the Minecraft world can be accessed.
- 2
Players connect to the dedicated Build the Vote server (mc.buildthevote.com) through Minecraft's multiplayer menu, or reach the same voting house on other popular Minecraft servers aimed at teens without leaving their usual server.
- 3
Players arrive at a custom-built world centered on a 'voting house' modeled on the US Capitol, reaching it by walking a path lined with informational stops that explain pieces of the real voting and election process.
- 4
Inside, players register as a voter with a button press, adding their avatar's face to a wall mosaic made up of every other registered player's face, then get teleported alone into a private voting booth.
- 5
In the booth, players cast one vote on a ballot of 10 real 2020 campaign issues (gun laws, criminal justice reform, healthcare access, climate change, racial equality, the education system, immigration, job stability, student debt, and anti-corruption), with no candidates listed; each player may vote only once.
- 6
Instead of a real-world 'I Voted' sticker, players are rewarded with the ability to change their in-game character skin, and are also given real voter tools: a voter-registration reminder, a polling-place finder, and a link to Rock the Vote's voting information.
- 7
The world ran for a limited five-day window; afterward Rock the Vote published the aggregated results on its social media, revealing which issues the next generation of voters prioritized ahead of the real election.
