I don't think that's necessarily the case.I love all of the people telling us to go vote. Most of them, what they really mean is go vote for the person I want you to vote for.
It's true that Democrats do better when more people vote and Republicans do better when fewer people vote, so you could definitely argue that Trump's "police will be watching polls" tweet and Obama's "go vote and be heard" message are purely political. And to some extent they are. But for most normal people on my social media feed, I think it's simply a campaign against apathy.