Youth Vote on the Rise!

Something big is happening in our democracy – young people are voting. Already, young people turned out in record numbers at the nation’s first caucus and primary contests of 2008.  The youth vote almost doubled in New Hampshire, tripled in Iowa and quadrupled in Tennessee. 

Right here in Colorado, the young voter energy this primary season was palpable.

For 25 years, CoPIRG and other Student PIRGs across the country have worked to mobilize young voters to the polls to reinvigorate our country’s democracy.

Since 2004, we’ve helped register more than 103,000 young (18-30 yrs) Coloradoans to vote and made 135,000 personalized, peer to peer contacts to turn young people out to the polls.

An analysis of our work found that young people contacted by CoPIRG’s New Voters Project turned out at a rate 13 percentage points higher than a group of demographically similar individuals who also registered to vote within six months of the election.

2008 is no different.

In partnership with our sister chapters across the country, the CoPIRG Student Chapters played a key role this primary season in convincing the candidates to pay attention to young people and wiring campuses to turn out the youth vote.  

Working with a coalition of student groups on campus, CoPIRG student leaders organized a drive at Colorado campuses that helped register more than 3,000 students to vote.  Students also organized ‘how to caucus’ trainings and reached thousands of students by invading classrooms with last minute pitches to turn out to vote.

 
Interest Builds in Colorado Caucus - January 10, 2008 

Read more about our work in Colorado and across the country to turn out the youth vote in the election so far and our plans for the coming months here.

Politicians hardly ever talk about issues that matter to people our age. So many campaign ads are about issues like prescription drugs and Social Security. But there are a lot of important things going on right now that affect our lives-getting a good job, paying for college, protecting the environment, deciding what happens with the war in Iraq. Not all of us have the same opinion on these issues, but right now politicians aren't listening to our opinions at all. And why should they? The fact is that less than half of 18-to-24-year-olds vote, compared to 70 percent of older people. Our New Voters Project is working to make politicians pay attention. The best way to do that is to turn out and vote - that's the only thing they listen to, and we know that if we turn out in a big way, we could end the cycle of neglect that exists between politicians and young people.

Youth Civic Participation Has Been Declining
The strength of a democracy is measured by the participation of its citizens, particularly the participation of its younger citizens. Throughout history, students have been at the forefront of change, because we have the idealism, the resources and the time to commit to reshaping our society. But now, youth civic engagement has been on the decline, and this trend points to a troubling future for our democracy. Over the past two decades young people have been turning out to vote in declining numbers. Only 36 percent of the eligible youth population between the ages of 18 and 24 voted in 2000, compared to 70 percent of older people.

Election 2004: Mobilizing Half A Million Young Voters
In fall 2004, CoPIRG Student Chapters and the state PIRGs sponsored the largest youth voter mobilization campaign in history. The New Voters Project helped to register and turned out young people with peer-to-peer contact-young people asking other young people to vote. Our techniques included door-to-door canvassing, phone banks, outreach at public events, high school and college campus-based outreach, partnerships with local organizations and businesses, and precinct-based turnout operations in 2,500 precincts on Election Day. Nationwide, the New Voters Project helped register and collect voter registration forms of over half a million voters, including over 400,000 18-to-24-year olds. And leading up to election day, we made reminders to over 500,000 young voters. In 2004, turnout among young voters increased by 11% compared to 2000 - an increase four times greater than that for the general population.