An Irvine-based unit of Sprint Corp. hopes to transform retail stores across the nation into polling places on Election Day in an effort to turn out the vote in underserved, urban communities.
The “Boost Your Voice” initiative marks the first foray into civic engagement for Boost Mobile LLC, a prepaid, no-contract brand operated by the Overland, Kan.-based telecom giant.
Boost Mobile aims to address a trend that shows African-Americans, Latino-Americans, and lower-income and less-educated people of all races are less likely to vote, according to various studies.
“We saw a problem—Boost customers, traditionally low-income and minority Americans, not being represented in the American election process,” Peiti Feng, director of brand strategy and marketing communications, told the Business Journal in an email. “After a little digging, we realized barriers to voting were a systemic issue, in part caused by lack of polling locations and resources in these communities.”
Most of the stores in Boost Mobile’s network of 12,000 locations—all independently owned—are in racially diverse areas or poorer urban areas, often with lower income levels.
“Turning stores into polling places makes a lot of sense” for retailers “when underserved voters are the customers they serve,” Feng said.
Boost stores at 422 W. La Habra Blvd. in La Habra and 3710 Westminster Ave. in Santa Ana are among the first five in the U.S. to be turned into polling places. The others are in San Diego, Riverside and Chicago.
All are in cities where Latino-Americans comprise 30% to 60% of the population.
Rollout
The “Boost Your Voice” concept was created nearly a year ago, but it took months for Boost Mobile and Santa Monica-based creative agency 180LA to develop an awareness campaign in 817 counties across the U.S.
Outreach efforts began in earnest in late June, when Boost Mobile and 180LA started gauging needs of various counties, cross-referencing store locations with demand for polling places in specific precincts.
Matches were inspected by county officials, who checked the stores for adequate size, electrical outlets and Wi-Fi connectivity. Passing muster opened the door for more stores to be designated as polling locations for Nov. 8, when Americans will select their 45th president.
All of the designated stores will open early and close late to meet the demands of Election Day.
The development comes with this year’s electorate expected to be the most racially and ethnically diverse in history. Nearly a third, 31%, of eligible voters in the U.S. will be people of color or some ethnic identity besides white, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C.
The findings underscore a larger trend that likely will play out for decades in which the non-Latino white share of the electorate is falling. This year it’s projected to come to 69%, down from 71% in 2012.
Competitive Market
Boost Mobile operates in one of the most competitive telecom segments. No-contract customers are free to leave carriers and choose other providers at any point without penalty.
Sprint doesn’t break down revenue per brand. The company in August reported its prepaid brands—which also include Virgin Mobile USA and Assurance Wireless—topped $1.1 billion in revenue in the June quarter, down 10.3% compared to a year earlier.
That amounted to about 13.7% of Sprint’s $8 billion in sales in the June quarter, when no-contract customers paid a monthly average of $27.34 for service.
Boost Mobile was founded by Peter Adderton in Australia and New Zealand in 1999. He won over Nextel executives in the U.S. with his idea to market no-contract mobile phone subscriptions to younger users in urban areas with a $1-a-day plan for unlimited push-to-talk services.
The joint venture brought the brand to the U.S and Irvine in 2001.
Boost Mobile was a key element in Sprint’s $36 billion takeover of Nextel in 2005, creating the third largest wireless carrier in the U.S. at the time behind Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless.
Boost Mobile was the only Nextel brand to survive as the industry underwent massive consolidation and failures over the next decade.
Sprint, which posted a net loss of $302 million in the June quarter, is in the midst of a turnaround plan and on track to cut at least $2 billion in operating expenses this fiscal year, which ends in March.
