Tarana Burke, founder of the anti-sexual harassment movement #MeToo, announced Tuesday would be using the popularity to launch a new hashtag. Her announcement coincides with the same day as the fourth Democratic debate. 

The new hashtag, #MeTooVoter, was set up to reflect frustration felt by activists that issues of sexual violence and harassment had largely been absent from the debate stage and campaign trail.

“You can’t have 12 million people respond to a hashtag in this country and they not be constituents, taxpayers, and voters,” Burke said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We need these candidates to see us as a power base. So many people engage with survivors from a place of pity.”

Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance — a partner with #MeToo on voter mobilization and turnout efforts over the next year — shared Burke's frustration in the same Associated Press piece. Poo said women were too often treated like a special interest group rather than the majority of the American electorate.

“The whole point of #MeTooVoter is to say survivors are a huge political force and incredibly motivated in this moment,” Poo said. “We’re going to be calling on anyone who’s serious about governing and leading this country forward to actually answer for how they’re going to make this country more safe.”

For her part, Burke hopes the increased attention garnered by the new hashtag will be enough of a spark to have the issue addressed on the debate stage. Whether or not Burke is successful, which she told the Associated Press that she does not expect the candidates to be questioned, she says she also is considering a town hall around the issue to hear more fully from candidates about their stances.

“Any candidate who wants the support of women, I hope understands the importance of speaking to the issues that are on the minds of millions of voters in this country,” said Cecile Richards, co-founder of Supermajority — a #MeTooVoter partner who identified as an election-year priority among women according to the Associated Press. “Women don’t feel safe in America. There’s been very little conversation about this, and that’s unacceptable.”

The fourth Democratic debate will take place on Tuesday, October 15 on CNN, and will feature the top-12 Democratic candidates.