Story
The Young People Vote
The Young People Vote
By
Alan Campbell
This afternoon, I re-entered the
Colorado Convention Center to attend the
Democratic National Convention Youth Caucus Council. Before I get into Council activities, I thought I would let you know that the Convention Center today was extremely different from when I entered
on Sunday. Today, I had to go through security guards and medal detectors before entering the Convention Center.
On Sunday, there were no security guards or metal detectors, which tells me we are truly into the DNC.
After getting through the security check point, I made my way to the Wells Fargo Theater to listen to the DNC
Youth Council, which focuses on encouraging youth to register to vote. Ideally, when youth get older, the Council encourages them to vote in the
Democratic Party. The DNC Youth Council presented a panel of experts that talked about the
youth movement and how the younger generation thinks differently than the older generation and how youth are motivated differently as well.
"We need more young faces in the media to provide a diverse perspective to our diverse population," said Jason Rae, Co-Chair, DNC Youth Council. A young voter standing at the microphone to ask a question, said that it is not just politics that needs the diverse population, but the media also needs and wants a young and fresh perspective. There are many organizations around the country to register to vote, including
www.civicyouth.org, a non-partisan data base on
young voter turnout, and
www.futuremajority.com, a blog for young voters. You may also call 1-866-myvote to get registered and learn more information about the political process.
There are three primary things that the DNC Youth Council wants the public to know. First, over six million young people voted during the primaries and caucuses this year, almost tripling the turn out from 2004. Secondly, over 80% of those who came out to vote, voted for Democrats. The 2008 primaries and caucuses proved that the increased youth turn out overwhelmingly preferred the Democratic Party. Thirdly, peer-to-peer outreach is still the best method to get youth out to vote. Regardless of how you interrupt these statistics, we must remember one thing. You will not be counted in any statistics if you do not register to vote.
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