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Archive for August, 2010
Can You Hear Us Now?: ReEnergizing the Vote
August 27th, 2010
By Jeff Mann, ReEnergize The Vote
Politicians pay attention to people who vote. In 2008 – when young people got involved like never before and a record 22 million of us showed up at the voting booth – we got their attention. Candidates from both parties talked to us about our issues on our campuses and in our communities.
The last decade has been a turning point for our generation. Every cycle we’ve stood up and turned out- showing our leaders we could be a real political force in this country.
In 2010, we can prove that this is no short term investment. We’re here for the long hall.
By turning out in record numbers again this year, we can show decision makers that we are still engaged, still powerful, and still serious about changing our country for the better.
That’s why the Sierra Student Coalition and our allies across the country launched the ReEnergize the Vote campaign. Between now and November 2, we will be registering and mobilizing young voters to make their voices heard in the 2010 elections.
If you’d like to get involved, you can start by signing our Pledge to Vote and letting us know what the issues are that matter to you.
Whatever those issues are – whether you are concerned about America’s energy policies, or quality and affordable education, or health care, or just want to get a good job when you graduate – the issues you care about are at stake November 2nd.
2010 is a critical test for our generation. While we’ve been turning out to the polls, election after election, for the last decade- the fact remains that our country is at a cross roads, and if we’re going to address the issues young people face we can’t quit now. This year we have a chance to build real political power and demand a voice in the decisions that will shape our future.
Progress is a process. Ultimately, who we elect matters and elected officials listen to people who vote. It’s time for us to vote again in 2010.
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Student and Youth Voters Face Higher Hurdles Than Others
August 26th, 2010
By Brian J. Siebel, Fair Elections Legal Network
Students and other millennials are an important and growing portion of the electorate. They will be 20% of the voting age population in 2010, up from 17% in 2008. They are much more progressive than the population as a whole, and will increasingly become the key voting block among the electorate. Yet they remain significantly underrepresented among registered voters, in part due to barriers they face that makes registration and voting more challenging than it is for older voters.
As this chart shows, the gap in registration rates of younger and older voters is far greater than the difference in turnout rates. Thus, removing barriers and getting young people registered may be the best way to increase the percentages of student and youth voting. Indeed, youths cite impediments to registration, rather than a lack of interest, as the main reason they do not vote.
What are the hurdles that students and youths face?
Problems with moving repeatedly
Millennials are by far the most mobile segment of the voting population: 34% of them will have moved since 2008. For college students, these percentages are likely higher. Mobility yields a number of challenges.
(more…)
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Why Are You Voting Again in 2010?
August 25th, 2010
By Sara Haile-Mariam, Campus Progress
Since 2000, young people have been hitting the polls in increasingly unprecedented numbers. Yes, since 2000. Despite what you may have heard, youth turnout wasn’t an unexpected consequence of one election cycle or the byproduct of one person, party or policy.
This year, before a single polling place has opened, the media has already dismissed young people as a legitimate voting cohort; we’re seen as unreliable, fickle and emotional.
Well, I think they’re wrong. I think we’re powerful.
Fundamentally, while members of Congress may have the power to vote for or against legislation — we have the power to vote for or against every one of them.
Why wouldn’t we vote again?
It’s that perspective that’s shaped the development of Vote Again 2010, a platform being orchestrated by over 30 youth organizations and media partners. Today, Vote Again 2010 announced our first major initiative, a user generated video contest that asks you why you’re voting again in 2010. Check out the promo video below explaining the contest featuring youtube celebrities Jason Pollock, Tay Zonday (of ‘Chocolate Rain’ Fame), Brittani Taylor, & Joey Anderton.
Three Vote Again partner organizations — the United States Student Association, the Bus Federation Civic Fund and HeadCount — have already submitted videos. Visit the site to check them out and submit your own.
Ultimately, this year we’re faced with a familiar choice: We can allow frustration to give way to discouragement, or worse, to silence. We can hear the shouting that masquerades as debate and decide that we want no part in it … or we can refuse allow our futures to be decided by media narratives and pundits.
We can march. We can organize. We can bring our creativity to the debate.
Most importantly, this Nov. 2, we can vote again.
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USSA is Voting Again to Build a Movement
August 25th, 2010
By The United States Student Association
Students are voting again because we’re building a movement. This movement did not begin with the 2008 vote campaign and it certainly did not end with the election of President BarackObama. It is a movement to make education a right and has been a driving force behind social progress for decades. We are fortunate enough to be organizing in a time of great opportunity and have capitalized on the leadership of President Obama and Members of Congress. The passage of student financial aid reform, the biggest investment in higher education since the GI bill, is a testament to this. However, we are simply passing through one era of this movement and have a responsibility as organizers to build upon past victories. We are voting again, not just to elect Members of Congress who will champion higher education causes, but also to construct a more perfect framework of student activism that will lead to students winning on issues directly affecting young people.
This is no lofty goal born of soaring but empty rhetoric. The 2010 election provides us with a strategic moment to make vast strides in the student movement. A strong foundation of grassroots organizing was laid during the 2008 election which was then utilized to mobilize young people around student aid reform, protesting budget cuts and tuition hikes, and making huge advancements for the Development, Relief, and Education, for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. These efforts amplified the student voice worldwide and won some key victories in college affordability. The momentum from those campaigns must now be carried forward to the 2010 election so that additional victories will be won in 112th Congress.
We are continuing our vote work for the new batch of young voters as well. There are around 9.5 million eligible voters today who were too young to vote in 2008 and during such a tight election, each new voter can make a huge difference. Additionally, it is well known that those who vote early continue to be civically engaged throughout their lives. So by engaging, educating, registering, and turning these new students out to vote, we are helping to cultivate a new generation of organizers.
We are organizing to vote again because when we don’t, candidates simply ignore young people. The 2009 New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections clearly showed that candidates don’t address youth issues if they are not forced to. There are too many important issues facing students both immediately and in the long-term health of the country’s education system to allow candidates to ignore us. Two-thirds of students are forced to take out loans to pay for college, driving the average borrower nearly $25,000 into debt. That is on top of youth, especially youth of color, suffering from an unemployment rate much higher than the national average. Undocumented students are still being denied their right to a higher education because partisan bickering. Over 30 states cut higher education budgets last year and 30 will do it again this year. These are issues we have to force candidates to address if we want to change them.
We are in the midst of a student movement to make education a right, and we are voting and organizing in 2010 to ensure that the pathway before us continues to lead us towards that ultimate vision.
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The “V” in GOTV
August 25th, 2010
By Daniel Teweles, 10 Questions
We’ve heard the maxims before, been told too many times: “Voting matters” – “Every vote counts.” And while we 20-somethins, inherently understand these presumed realities, most of us don’t act on them.
Voting is more often associated with standing in a line on a cold winter morning, seeing a few smiling elderly volunteers, and spending a minute or two and filling in the bubbles (ACT flashbacks anyone?) or punching the chads (didn’t something happen in Florida with chads?). It’s hard to see the connection between the act of voting and its effect(s) on our country, on our lives.
Rather than assume that simply casting a vote makes people feel connected to the political process, let’s take a step back for a moment. I’m as politically engaged as anyone I know in their 20’s, and yet candidate’s stances on issues rarely drive me to get out my vote. Rather, in my case, it is the meta-understanding of the system, the actors, and what’s at stake. My contention about the 99 percent of people my age who don’t work in politics is simply that hearing a candidate’s stump speech or Daily Show soundbite about the federal deficit or a coalition government in Iraq, does not impassion them enough to take action.
Most of what candidates rhapsodize about on the campaign trail feels as familiar to youth (potential) voters, as an MTV that actually plays music videos. Candidates for major elected office have never fully engaged with youth voters, because, we don’t donate huge sums of money or vote at the same rates as older adults. This year 10Questions.com is going to help you change that.
10Questions.com is a concrete opportunity for anyone to ask the candidates running to represent about them whatever they want.
If you care about how well the candidates know about the district or state they’re running to represent, you can ask them about that. If you care about the candidates’ preferences when it comes to fast food, music, or foreign policy, those topics are all fair game too. Different issues move different people, and we want to move you. We want to give you the opportunity to engage the candidates. We want to give you yet another reason to roll out of bed early on November 2nd, and pull the lever of democracy.
This not hypothetical. It’s happening right now. Go to 10Questions.com, and start asking and voting on questions. Questions can be text or video. Votes can be up or down. On September 21st, we’ll submit the top 10 questions in each of the 46 competitive races we’re covering to the candidates running in it. This is your chance to get candidates on the record talking about what you tell them is most important to you.
So get ready to vote on November 2nd, and while you won’t be able to “vote early and vote often” as Richard Daley would have prescribed, you can definitely vote knowing that the candidates are listening (and answering) to you.
Human question mark photo by doberagi on Flickr.
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Making Voting Ghoul Again in 2010
August 24th, 2010
By Richelle Devoe, Trick or Vote
“This is brilliant,” I thought to myself while staring at a crowd of zombies, vampires, witches and the undead. I had attended plenty of get out the vote efforts, but never like this. The room was packed, Monster Bash was playing loudly over the speakers, and everyone was dripping in a thick cornstarch blood. “Welcome to Trick or Vote!” a bright eyed Bride of Frankenstein said, handing me a clipboard.
Engaging, educating, and empowering our peers is incredible work, but canvassing can be intimidating for volunteers. It’s incredibly difficult to talk to strangers and ask them to vote, but it’s increasingly the one thing that works to mobilize people. I wanted to do important work side-by-side with my peers and have a good time doing it. When I heard about a Halloween themed Get Out The Vote effort, I couldn’t help but show up. Trick or Vote provided a natural and funny way for me to talk to my neighbors.
“Where did you guys come up with this?” I prodded the head zombie while trying not to stare directly into the large fake gash across his forehead (even a zombie might find it rude).
The zombie beamed,”Well, a study was done at Yale in 2001 that showed that face-to-face contact is the single best way to get someone to vote. Knocking doors is the best method of doing that. So if knocking doors is the best way to get people to vote, what single day do people expect a knock on their door from a stranger?”
“Halloween …” I responded.
“And when does Halloween happen to fall?”
“Right before elections.”
I was in awe, the brilliance behind Trick or Vote struck me like lightning (which a 16 year-old Frankenstein assured me was an accurate description).
If the fake blood and brilliant idea didn’t get me, the turn out results definitely did.
In 2008, when absolutely everyone I knew was getting involved in politics in some way or another, I didn’t think that a one-night canvass would have much of an affect. I was dead wrong. While pre-recorded calls turn people out at a rate of 0 percent to -0.2 percent, David Nickerson ran a study that showed that Trick or Vote was turning people out at 5 percent. That’s enough to change elections!
I later discovered that we weren’t alone that night. Our event of 150 boys and ghouls was just one of 35 events nationwide in 2008 that contacted over 100,000 voters. Young people showed up in the thousands painted pale and wearing fangs, went out and asked their neighbors to vote, and came back to dance the night away to live music. In 2010 we’re doing it again, but bigger.
I’m proud to be a part of Trick or Vote this year. We’re making 2010 the biggest one in history. We’re doubling our goals and not stopping there. We’re going to be in at least 50 cities nationwide from Portland, OR to Orlando, FL and we want to haunt your town.
Checkout our recent video announcing this year’s campaign and go to http://www.trickorvote.org to get involved!
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An Electoral Force
August 24th, 2010
Reporting for Campus Progress, Julissa Treviño takes an in-depth look at the challenges facing both candidates and advocacy groups in getting out the Latino vote in 2010 (read the piece here). Her reporting suggests that young latinos in particular are quickly becoming an electoral force to be reckoned with and that issues like immigration reform weigh heavily on how they cast their ballots.
“In Texas, 31 percent of Hispanic eligible voters are 18 to 29 years old. These young Latinos are on their way to becoming the majority demographic overall among Texas Latino voters, a position that is currently held by 30- to 44-year-old Latinos. “Couple these numbers with the fact that Latino voters comprise almost 40 percent of eligible Texas Democratic voters,” wrote Marisa Treviño for Spot On in 2008. “It’s an implication that deserves attention.”She describes how one issue may shape the way Democrats and Republicans campaign to Latinos throughout the country, but especially in states like Texas and California, where the Latino vote could have a huge influence this fall.”
Here at Vote Again 2010- we know this much: While members of Congress may have the power to vote for or against legislation, we have the power to vote for or against everyone of them.
Take a stance, and bring it with you to the ballot box when you vote again in 2010.
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Before The Polls Open: The Real Story of 2010
August 24th, 2010
The media’s been buzzing about the 2010 midterm elections. While voter turnout typically decreases among all age cohorts in midterm cycles, this year reporters seem particularly adamant about emphasizing the decrease among young voters, before the polls have even opened. How do we prove them wrong, aside from voting again in 2010? Well, we push back with stories based on our experiences to show that we are still enthusiastic, optimistic, and value the right to participate in our democracy.
Heather Smith, executive director of Rock the Vote, recently outlined some of the media’s negative narratives on the youth vote and responded to them with what she’s seeing – a huge voting bloc just waiting for candidates to campaign to them. As Smith put it:
“It is no coincidence that youth engagement reached record highs in 2008. The candidates recognized their power to swing an election and campaigned directly to them.” (Read the whole piece on Huffington Post here).
Here’s the thing–youth turnout has been steadily increasing for the last decade and while reporters may be writing the youth vote story before a single polling site opens, ultimately, we’ll be determining what they write once the polls close.
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So You Think You Can Vote?
August 10th, 2010
Clair Whitmer, Youth Vote Overseas
What does it mean to be a U.S. citizen? You probably would answer that it comes with a birth certificate, a passport, the right to work and the right to vote.
Yet, for some citizens, this last right isn’t always automatically granted.
Many Americans born and living outside the U.S. are legally considered to be American citizens: they carry American passports, file American taxes, and young men must register with the Selective Service. But they don’t all have the right to vote.
Why? The right to vote is based on your residency in a state, not on your citizenship. Our courts have continuously expanded the franchise and struck down exclusionary laws. The state residency requirement is maintained for logistical reasons, not to exclude anyone. But it’s still preventing many young Americans who live overseas from participating in the democratic process.
If your parents lived permanently overseas and you’ve lived overseas your whole life, only 18 states will currently allow you to register to vote (using one of your parents’ voting addresses. Your parents retain their right to vote no matter how long they live outside the U.S.)
We at Youth Vote Overseas (YVO yvo.overseasvotefoundation.org) think this flies in the face of what most Americans believe is a fundamental right and responsibility of citizenship. If it doesn’t come with the right to vote, well, what’s the point?
Young expat citizens are being taught a confusing lesson by laws in those remaining 32 states: you can have a passport and still be unable to vote until you move stateside.
Well, we believe there only should be one kind of American citizen, the voting kind.
Proposed legislation that would correct this situation is moving closer to reality: the Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act (UMOVA) includes a provision that would grant the right to vote to “non-domiciled citizens”.
The Uniform Law Commission (ULC), a volunteer body that drafts legislation on issues that affect all states “uniformly”, has just approved a final draft of this law. The ULC then proposes these laws to state legislatures, which must then individually approve them. Those states that approve a law then share a legal framework that applies to all their combined populations — even if all 50 states don’t give it a thumbs-up.
At YVO, we want young voters to take it seriously when we tell them that being an American citizen means exercising their voting rights – your state would send that message if it passed this law.
Want to know if your state grants the right to vote to all overseas citizens? Check out our Help Desk for the answer.
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Oil Spill Decimating Mermaid Population
August 10th, 2010
Comedian Lee Camp does what the media refuses to do. Cover the ramifications of the Oil Spill on our nation’s endangered mermaid population. Click for the video and to come a way to a whole crude world.
I can show you a crude world
Shining, shimmering, splendid
Tell me Gulf Coast,
Now when did you last let BP decide?
They can cover your coasts
Bend you over and plunder
Over, sideways and under
On a magic oil boat
A whole crude world
A new fantastic place to drill
No one to tell them no, or where to go
Or regulate them
A whole crude world
A dazzling place I never knew
But when I’m way out here, it’s crystal clear…
Well, not really crystal clear. It’s more of a murky brown color
Unbelievable spill
Flowing onward forever
But the birds and fish aren’t clever
They get stuck and they die
A whole crude world
They won’t stop till they’ve killed us all
Dead dolphins and dead whales
It’s such a fail, the little children covered in the crude
I’m like a diesel car
I’ve come so far
I can’t go back to where I used to be
They’ll chase oil anywhere
There’s no time to spare
Let them share this whole crude world with you
Unbelievable spill
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