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VOTING FLAWS
By Vanessa Vallon
Lara Saget, 17, does not think politics affect her, and so she doesn't care about them. "It would be nice if the government impacted my life, but the issues generally have nothing to me," she said.
Saget is emblematic of how her generation thinks about voting. This kind of student apathy is what the 2008 presidential candidates are facing.
By 2008, there will be 50 million citizens of the Millennial Generation, which includes those born roughly between 1984 and 1994, according to Skyline Public Works. (www.skylinepublicworks.com). By 2015, there will be over 82 million, which means the Millenials will make up over one-third of the electorate. But the question is, will these citizens actually become voters?
When voting first became legal for 18 year-olds in 1972, about 52 percent of 18-24-year-olds hit the polls, which was a record for that age group's turnout. Since then, for the most part, youth voting steadily decreased.
Georgetown University students recently conducted an informal survey revealing that 52 percent of teenagers do not believe their friends care about politics.
"Most teens I know do not seem to care much about their country and the rest of the world, only themselves," said Lauren Hassen, 18, of Chicago.
“The current generation is apathetic because government isn't relevant to them,” explains E. Ross Baird, a senior and Student Body President at the University of Virginia who created the civic educational program Project for Active Civic Engagement (PACE) to educate youth on the importance of government involvement. “They feel as if they cannot make a difference because they are not well-connected enough, do not have enough money, or do not have a voice. They also don't see areas where government contributes to their lives.”
Society has always had a difficult time encouraging young people to vote. "I find it hard to motivate 18-year-olds to do anything," said Sue Davis, who works for The Wall Street Journal website and previously for Roll Call. "I think it's a very small minority of 18-year-olds who without some kind of effort would go out and register to vote and get involved."
Arthur Sherman agrees. Sherman, 25, who worked for a congressional campaign in Florida, says that members of the Millennial Generation are "an apathetic generation. They are too self-involved… They are the most educated generation this country has ever seen. But educated for what? They can talk a great game but they can't back it up because they don't care. Their fallback response for everything is ‘I can't do anything. I can't affect change. I'm 17 or 18.’"
Mary McClelland from Young Voter Strategies says, "I think that young people don't vote because they feel disenchanted with the system, and the fact that their issues are not being addressed."
Groups like Rock the Vote and Young Voter Strategies are making large efforts to increase youth voter turnout in the 2008 presidential election. They urge candidates to more fervently target youth voters by paying closer attention to the issues that matter to them, such as student loans. They are also trying to reach young people through online social networking sites such as MySpace (www.myspace.com) and Facebook (www.facebook.com), as well as interactive video sharing site YouTube (www.youtube.com).
The YouTube/CNN Democratic Debate last month was a fresh attempt to liven up the debate format by allowing typical citizens to make videos with questions for candidates. Both original and innovative, the debate was an example of another attempt at urging the youth to care.
"Those are efforts to try to connect with people on a younger level," said McClelland. "Bill Clinton was probably the first president to really make a conscious effort."
Clinton appeared on MTV in 1992, answering questions from people under 30. "I think we're probably going to see a lot more of that," says McClelland. "And I think that the fact that they have taken YouTube and Facebook and so seriously means that they've realized that that's a demographic that's actually still politically undefined. Both parties have tried really hard, not on the high school level, but on the college level to get people engaged."
Although there have been efforts in the past to attract the youth, some doubt their effectiveness. "Despite the coordinated efforts of youth vote groups, turnout rates among young people have been consistently low," reported Jennifer Parker of ABCNews.com, on June 5, 2007. "Many people blame young people for being politically apathetic. Others say the transient nature of being a student makes it difficult for young people to reliably show up at the polls.”
This year, voting advocates are predicting a much stronger turnout because current events such as the war have attracted the attention of teens. "Spurred into action by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the war in Iraq, youths 18-to-24 years of age have dramatically accelerated their participation in politics, both at the ballot box and on college campuses,” The Boston Globe recently reported.
The Georgetown survey also revealed that most teenagers are concerned about the war in Iraq and it is propelling them to vote. Steven Rizo, from Paris, Texas, explains, "The war has caused tons of problems for the country, taking too many lives and leaving us in a bunch of debt. Teenagers notice this, and want a change."
But besides the pressing issues, what is really going to make teenagers go out and vote?
"Have the candidates speak openly and honestly with them," said Kelly Lindle, 19, "Make voting fun."
Delaney Simon, 17, adds, "They need to feel like their government represents them."
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