Buzzfeed kicked off a get-out-the-vote initiative with the help of President Barack Obama on Monday, demonstrating five things “harder than registering to vote.”
In a short video, Obama attempts to name dead “Game of Thrones” characters, plays the classic board game “Operation,” makes a friendship bracelet for Vice President Joe Biden, untangles headphones and stacks Cheerios on top of a stuffed animal representation of his dog, Bo.
“That stuff’s hard. But you know what isn’t? Registering to vote. I hope you all understand that you have the power to shape our country’s course. Don’t take that for granted,” Obama said.
With this video, Buzzfeed launched a week-long series that will include quizzes, articles and videos encouraging its audiences to register to vote. The media organization is partnering with the nonprofit, nonpartisan application TurboVote to make the registration process more accessible on its site.
In an introductory post, Buzzfeed’s editor-in-chief Ben Smith pointed to last week’s Brexit referendum as an example of permanent change resulting from voting.
“Here in the U.S., if you want to vote in November, you have to think ahead,” Smith wrote. “Many young people forget to register the first time out, and lose their voices.”
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting with my vice president,” Obama said in the video’s closing, with the camera panning down to the the name “Joe” spelled out with beads on a friendship bracelet.
