Digital Voter Mobilization Strategies of a Black Woman-Led Organization in Brazil

Abstract This article examines the Rio-based nonpartisan organization, the Marielle Franco Institute’s digital strategies to appeal to Afro-Brazilian voters. The literature reveals that most Afro-Brazilian voters do not vote along racial lines. However, scholarship also reveals that politicians make racial appeals to Afro-Brazilian voters. I argue that the MFI uses digital media to mobilize Afro-Brazilian voters to support progressive political candidates. I find that it seeks to mobilize them in four ways. The first is the Marielle Franco Agenda, an interactive platform that features progressive political candidates with similar agenda issues as Franco. Second, they highlight political candidates that are practitioners of African-derived religions. The third is that it promotes coalition politics through its collaboration with another nonpartisan organization to promote progressive candidates, and lastly, the MFI highlights candidates with a pro-Black woman aesthetic that challenges the notion that political spaces are nonblack spaces.