Yara Shahidi is back at it with her efforts to get 18-year-olds to vote, but this time she collaborated with The Tonight Show host, Jimmy Fallon, to spread awareness through a cartoon all about voting.
This animated video, which is reminiscent of the decades-old School House Rock cartoons (which you might’ve seen in like a middle school history class once or twice), is out to educate a whole new generation of teens.
In a message of informing and educating the young audience, Shahidi, Fallon and a talking voting ballot work together ~in song~ to show the importance of voting during elections. Shahidi’s cartoon character stresses the importance of not just voting during the presidential election years.
The Grown-ish actresses cartoon version tells a character version of Fallon, “There’s an election every year Jimmy. And state and local elections can be just as important, if not more.”
In her fight to get 18-year-olds and young millennials to vote, Shahidi worked with NowThis to create Eighteenx18. Through social media and their online website, the organization aims to educate young voters on how to vote and how registration works on a more in-depth level.
Hey! Did you know many states will let you “pre-register” to vote? It means that as soon as the clock strikes midnight on your 18th birthday, you will be a registered voter. https://t.co/9PkhaxFtYl
— Eighteenx18 (@EighteenX18) September 14, 2018
The actress who previously starred in Black-ish, has been praised consistently for her work for inclusivity in Hollywood and as a voice for younger generations.
It’s easy! If you’re 18 go to https://t.co/fB4MJoml50. Once you are registered find out when and where you can vote by clicking “voting and election resources”. #VOTE https://t.co/keB4q7VEzc
— jimmy fallon (@jimmyfallon) September 17, 2018
This is the first time in a while that Fallon has been openly public with politics. In a 2017 interview with Sunday Today, Fallon said that he doesn’t get involved in anti-trump speech and subsequently trying to stay away from politics, adding that “It’s just not what I do.” However, when it comes to the importance of voting, seems like the old “SNL” is all about getting people to the polls.