Editorial: Youth effort to “˜rock the vote’ encouraging

A flurry of reports have detailed how an
“unimpressive” youth population “didn’t
rock” the vote last Tuesday. All cited a statistic claiming
the proportion of 18- to 29-year-olds voting this year was about
the same percentage as in 2000.

Sadly, these stories missed the point entirely ““ and may
have even done some harm.

The important number, which has been dramatically
under-reported, is 51.6 percent. It is the percentage of people
(not just eligible voters) aged 18 to 19 who cast their vote. The
study, released by the Center for Information and Research on Civic
Learning and Engagement, is an enlightening look at the present
impact of our age.

Turnout among the youngest demographic of voters has been
consecutively depressing.

In 1972, the first year people aged 18 to 20 could vote, turnout
of 18- to 29-year-olds was 58 percent. Since then, there has been a
steady decline, except for a peak in 1992 when Bill Clinton
defeated incumbent George H. Bush. Just four years later, when
Clinton faced Bob Dole, less than 35 percent of youth voters went
to the polls. In the two elections since, turnout has remained
under 50 percent.

On Tuesday, for the first time in 20 years, more than half of
the population younger than 30 voted in a presidential
election.

It’s easy to get lost while floating in a sea of
percentages ““ but our generation cannot forget
Tuesday’s turnout was historical. Not since the Vietnam War
have so many young voters cared enough to stand in line and mark a
ballot.

Those who braved harsh electoral conditions on Nov. 2 should be
commended. At UCLA, some students waited in line for several hours
and voted on sample ballots when some polling locations ran out of
inventory.

The poster child, as Florida’s Sun-Sentinel reported, was
Northwestern University junior Daniel Hess. After never receiving
his absentee ballot, he took a red-eye flight to Fort Lauderdale.
After arriving at 3 a.m. Tuesday, Hess waited until his hometown
precinct opened, voted, and got back on a plane.

Most analysis of Tuesday’s turnout statistics concluded
the substantial amount of money and celebrities used in courting
the youth vote was in vain. Targeting a specific age group, they
say, was ineffectual because more voters of every age showed up at
the polls.

It is impossible to speculate that 4.5 million 18- to
29-year-olds would emerge on Nov. 2 without these efforts.
Critiquing the effectiveness of organizations targeting the youth
vote misses the point: young people care about who is directing
their lives almost more than ever before.

Young voters were the only age bracket to support Sen. John
Kerry. Sadly, it is easy to guess many will stay away from the
polls in 2008 while feeling emotionally distraught at the outcome
and hearing that the youth vote failed him.

This Nov. 2 cannot be viewed as a defeat for youth voting. It
should be the catalyst for a record-breaking turnout in four
years.