This week, the DNC kicked off its historic When We Count voter-registration fellowship in Arizona, the largest on-the-ground voter registration initiative in the DNC’s history and the first time the DNC has done on-the-ground voter registration in a midterm year. 

In response, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement: 

“The DNC is excited to officially kick off our largest-ever partisan voter registration program in Arizona. Voter registration is a top priority for the DNC, and we’re thrilled to be deploying dozens of fellows to the state to register voters, train organizers, empower young voters, and help Democrats win up and down the ballot across Arizona.”

The first 20 fellows in Arizona will be onboarded this week, with 50 fellows trained and on the ground by mid-May. The fellows, who come from a diverse range of geographic and educational backgrounds, will be working in rural and urban communities across the state. The When We Count fellowship is also the DNC’s first bilingual voter registration initiative. 

Arizona Republic: Democrats, lagging in Arizona voter registration, try to close the gap 
[Stephanie Murray, 04/23/2026] 

• The Democratic National Committee is staffing up in an effort to close its voter registration gap in Arizona.
• This weekend, the DNC will onboard 20 part-time fellows who will register voters across the state. Leaders say they will have 50 fellows trained and working in Arizona by mid-May.
• The party is building a bilingual program aimed at getting young people signed up to vote before the high-stakes midterm election in November.
• “We need to close voter registration gaps and build margins in districts all across the state,” Lorenza Ramirez, the DNC’s national organizing director, said in a telephone interview. “This is going to help not just the statewide candidates but Democrats running up and down the ballot.”
• To bridge the gap, the DNC announced it was making a “seven-figure” investment to register new voters in Arizona in January. 
• Now, the DNC is making its first part-time staff hires as part of the “When We Count” national youth fellowship, which is aimed at young people and voters of color, especially those who have never voted before.
• The DNC’s new part-time fellows are under the age of 30 and come from different parts of Arizona and walks of life, said Ramirez, who was the director for Arizona Democrats’ coordinated campaign during the 2022 midterms.
• Martin and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, will participate in onboarding events with the fellows.
• According to the DNC, fellows will work to reach the more than 700,000 Arizona Latinos it says are not registered to vote. 
• Many of the new fellows are fluent in Spanish, and their talking points and organizing scripts will be available in both English and Spanish, the DNC said. 
• “They’re going to be on the ground, in person, registering voters, like at community events, and getting just super creative,” Ramirez said.
• Fellows will register voters at a wide range of venues including anime festivals, community colleges and cultural festivals. The fellows will also work on digital outreach and relational outreach to people in their personal networks.
• A third of the fellows are four-year college students, while two-thirds are not in college, did not attend college or are in their late 20s, Ramirez said. 
• “That was really intentional, because we want to make sure that we are reaching folks,” Ramirez said. “We really see a big gap in non-college youth outreach, so that’s something we’re seeking to fill through this program. And that starts with the fellows that we’re hiring.” 
• In May, the party will grow the program by hiring more voter registration fellows. It also plans to host a political boot camp in Phoenix for more than 150 aspiring and current political staffers from across the West.