Something big is happening in our democracy – young people are voting.

It’s happened four years in a row.  And we're going to make it five. 

Young voter turnout surged by at least 2.2 million votes over 2004 levels in the 2008 election, according to new data released by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

For the first time, young voter share of the electorate also surpassed that of voters over 65, with young people making up 18 percent of the electorate and those over 65 making up 16 percent.

We've been a huge part in making that happen.  Starting in 2000, OSA and OSPIRG ran the largest voter registration drive in Oregon history.   Since then, we've seen every election cycle register and turn out more and more young people till 2008 where young voters turned out more than older people.  We've also seen a direct correlation between more students turning out and more politicians paying attention.  Other politicians began running voter registration drives on campuses just like the ones we’ve been doing for years, using the same tactics like phonebanks, get out the vote texting, and Facebook groups to reach out to young voters.

But we can't quit now.

January 2010 Election

January 26 is a special election in Oregon.  We want to make sure that students turn out in record numbers, so that politicians know that no matter what the issue, what the election, they need to pay attention to young people.

So this semester, we're again joining forces with the Oregon Student Association (OSA), Building Votes, and our individual student government associations to form the Oregon Student Vote Coalition.  Together, our goal is to help register 10,000 students to vote across the state.  Once they’re registered, we will work to turn out thousands of students across the state to vote.

Why This Matters

Youth voting was on the decline for two decades. The 2000 Presidential Election marked the lowest point of the downward trend nationally, with only 36 percent of young voters making it to the polls, compared to 70 percent of older voters. In Oregon our lowest year was 1996, when only young people made up only 28 percent of the electorate.  The strength of a democracy is measured by the participation of its citizens – and for years, too many of our democracy’s younger citizens have been on the sidelines.

Politicians have not paid attention to young people. We know the myth that “young people are apathetic” is not true. Young people care about a lot of issues – and in fact, we’ll bear the brunt of many of society’s most pressing problems. We volunteer in our community, we pay attention to what’s going on in the world, and many of us even work to push for social change on important issues.

But young people and politicians have gotten caught in a “cycle of neglect”. Year after year, candidates have talked about things like property taxes, prescription drugs, and social security – and not about issues that matter to young people. They’ve campaigned in retirement homes and not on college campuses. They haven’t targeted young people, and so lots of young people haven’t voted. And because we haven’t voted, they haven’t targeted us.

All that is beginning to change, because we’ve taken matters into our own hands. Armed with clipboards and pens, we’ve knocked on dorm doors, stormed classrooms and quads, helped our peers register to vote, encouraged them to vote, and helped raise the youth vote for four years in a row. Politicians are starting to notice – between Presidential debates being hosted on You-Tube, Facebook being used by both candidates, and the media buzzing about record youth turn-out, politicians are just starting to pay attention to young people. But there’s a lot more work left to do.

What Now?

Let’s make them pay attention to us.

Register to vote: www.studentvote.org

Volunteer to help students register to vote: www.ospirgstudents.org/volunteer

Do an internship to help coordinate voter registration on your campus: www.ospirgstudents.org/internships

For any additional information, visit www.NewVotersProject.org.