Need childcare to go vote? This new statewide initiative is reimbursing parents so they can hit the ballot box.

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On Sept. 6, when asked about what he would do to make child care more affordable, former President Trump responded with, “Child care is child care…. You have to have it.” His running mate, JD Vance, suggested that grandparents pitch in more to help. During rallies in August, Vice President Kamala Harris outlined her vision for child care by noting tax credits and paid leave.

The numbers show that Americans are increasingly struggling to pay for child care. According to data collected by the US Department of Labor, the costs range anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 per year depending on the type of center and locale of the businesses. The prices were equivalent to 8-19 percent of median family incomes. “Child care expenses are untenable for families throughout the country,” the department noted.

According to Emily Texeira, the executive director of Politisit, having or not having child care can impact whether a parent goes to vote, too.

“The top two reasons that people say they can’t go vote are usually family responsibilities or getting time off work,” said Texeira, who is based in Greensboro.

And the data bears out.

According to a study conducted by Angela Cools of Davidson College, US women with an infant during an election year were found to be 3.5 percentage points less likely to vote than women without children. Men with an infant were 2.2 percentage points less likely to vote.

“These results indicate that the act of physically going to the polls may pose a barrier to political participation for those with infants, especially mothers,” the study writes. Cools also notes that the effects of having young children affect young, unmarried, parents of color at higher rates as well.

To alleviate the problem, Politisit is launching a North Carolina Childcare for Voters Pilot Program, an industry-first initiative aimed at “removing financial barriers to voting by reimbursing childcare expenses for parents and caregivers while they vote.”

“We just want to make it as easy as possible for folks,” Texeira explained.

The way it works is simple. Voters sign up for up to two hours of childcare so they can make it to their polling station and cast their ballot. They fill out a Google form online explaining how many kids they have, where they’re going to vote and the amount it will cost them to have their children cared for while they’re away. Afterwards, the organization will reach back out and reimburse parents with a check in the mail or through an online transfer of funds.

The idea for the initiative was born in 2016 when Politisit’s founder, Rachel Sowray, saw people waiting in line to vote for hours. At the time, Sowray had a toddler of her own and understood that it wouldn’t be feasible for her to vote if she had to wait in line.

“That was the catalyst that drove the organization,” Texeira explained.

Since then, the organization has operated in multiple states to help offer childcare during election seasons. In 2022, they partnered with Tee and Co Playhouse, a daycare in Philadelphia, where parents could drop off their kids for free while they went to vote.

“I remember the convenience for the parents,” said Tee Sandlin, the director at the center. “It was really easy; they couldn’t believe how easy it was.”

Texeira said that through that partnership, they had about 45 children who were dropped off at the center;  at least three parents said it was their first time voting in a midterm election.

“I just remember them saying how glad they were to stand in line and not have to worry about their kids crying or having to go to the bathroom,” said Sandlin, who noted that most of the parents who use the center are young — under the age of 30 — and are predominantly Black or Hispanic.

Katie Sonnen-Lee, a mother of two in Winston-Salem, remembers taking her kids to the polls when they were younger. 

“I remember having a newborn and he cried nonstop for six to eight months,” said Sonnen-Lee, who lived in Texas at the time. “It was so hard to keep him somewhat quiet and not disturb any voters.”

A few years later after her family moved to Winston-Salem, she said that she and her spouse would go vote together so that one of them could take their kids to a county office building nearby to ride the escalators.

“If we were trying to vote on Election Day and we didn’t have two people, I don’t know what we would have done,” Sonnen-Lee said. 

Even now, she said that she sees parents who have to request extra ballots because they were distracted by their kids in the voting booth.

That’s the kind of thing that Politisit is trying to prevent, Texeira said. 

“There’s a lot of barriers to voting,” she said. “This is our lane that we’ve chosen to focus on.”

Bringing the program to North Carolina, Texeira said, is important because the state is currently what’s known as a “childcare desert.”

According to the NC Early Education Coalition, an average of more than five families with babies compete for child care space in the state. 

Three years ago, the New York Times did a deep dive into rising childcare costs, focusing on Greensboro as an example. In the reporting, families noted that they paid twice as much for child care as they paid for their mortgage. Another news report by ABC11 found that the cost of childcare in the state was more expensive than tuition at some of the top state universities.

“We know that while North Carolina has good voter turnout, it could be great,” Texeira said. “We also know that about a million people who were registered did not turn out to vote [in the last election].”

That’s why for them, the solution is simple. Provide funding for childcare so anyone can access the ballot box.

“We find that the more voices at the table, the conversation gets better,” Texeira said. “Every time more people cast their ballot, representation gets better.”

To request reimbursement for childcare, fill out the form here. Learn more about Politisit at their website at politisit.org.

This article is part of U.S. Democracy Day, a nationwide collaborative on Sept. 15, the International Day of Democracy, in which news organizations cover how democracy works and the threats it faces. To learn more, visit usdemocracyday.org.