2006 Press Releases

August 30, 2006

Back to School, Voter Groups Mobilize to Register Hundreds of Thousands of College Students Nationwide

Washington, D.C. – Beginning this week, dozens of voter mobilization groups are blanketing college campuses with volunteers as students return to school for the fall.  On more than 150 college campuses nationwide, volunteers are hitting the dorms, classrooms, quads, dining halls, parties, concerts, and bus stops to register young voters.  This campus effort is part of Young Voter Strategies’ (YVS) nationwide non-partisan project to register 350,000 18-30 year olds—both on campus and in communities nationwide—in 2006, a year that is seeing the largest non-partisan investment ever put into midterm election youth voter mobilization efforts.  

“Young Voter Strategies’ project registered more than 25,000 young voters this summer – now that college students are back on campus, groups are mobilizing to register hundreds of thousands more,” said Heather Smith, Director of Young Voter Strategies (YVS), a project at The George Washington University supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts.   The YVS project, a collaborative effort of 12 organizations that will register young voters of every stripe, from young African Americans and college students to Latinos and religious youth. 

Smith continued, “Young voters are large and taking charge – it’s a huge group that’s getting registered in significant numbers and a great opportunity for campaigns to reach out and ask for our votes.”   According to U.S. Census Bureau projections, “Generation Y” voters will make up nearly one-third of the U.S. electorate by 2015.

Young Voter Strategies’ project is the largest non-partisan youth-targeted effort in 2006.  Groups involved with YVS—including Black Youth Vote!, Voto Latino, the Center for Civic Participation, and National Council of La Raza—are registering voters at more than 150 college campuses and in scores of communities, and registration efforts will reach all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  Projects incorporate varying strategies—from “Dorms Storms” (dorm canvassing) and “Parties at the Polls,” to text-messaging registration and registration at rock and hip-hop concerts— and are happening at every type of two- and four- year college and university, as well as off-campus and with young working adults.

“We saw in 2004 and 2005 that ‘if you ask them, they’ll vote,’” said Ben Unger, Field Director for the Student PIRGs’ New Voters Project, which registered nearly 600,000 young voters in 2004 and is running the largest campus project part of the YVS campaign. “This year, PIRG student leaders are running registration campaigns at 70 colleges in 25 states to build on the momentum of growing young voter turnout.”  The New Voters Project uses peer-to-peer registration tactics, including “tabling,” class presentations, and canvassing, to register students.

“Registration at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, community colleges and in Black student organizations is an integral piece of our plan to increase civic participation among young Black Americans,” said Irene Schwoeffermann of Black Youth Vote!, a group involved in the YVS 2006 project.  “Young Black voters increased their turnout more than any other racial or ethnic group in 2004, and by building on that in 2006 and beyond we will ensure that our voices, our issues and our politics are heard by decision makers.” In 2006, Black Youth Vote! will register 18 to 30 year old African-Americans in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan and Texas. Venues and tactics include working with Hip Hop radio stations, text messaging, back to school events, and MySpace.com.

Additional examples of non-partisan campus voter registration projects include:

• Allegheny College’s Center for Political Participation will recruit and train student leaders at 15 community colleges in Ohio and Pennsylvania to register new voters on campus and in their communities.
  
• The American Association of State Colleges and Universities American Democracy Project will register 40,000 students at 80 public universities in 32 states.
  
• The National Council of La Raza will register young Latino college students in several states.
  

Groups are using innovative new techniques as well, particularly to reach young voters not on college campuses.  Voto Latino, co-founded by actor Rosario Dawson, is using text-messaging, online social networks, and celebrity power to register Latinos under 30.  “Young Latinos are the fastest growing voting bloc in America—every month, 50,000 Latinos turn 18 years old, nearly 90 percent of whom are eligible to vote,” said Maria Teresa Petersen, Director of Voto Latino. “By using TxtVoter, we’re putting democracy at the fingertips of the young Latino electorate.”  TxtVoter, a service created by Mobile Voter, allows people to request a voter registration form via text message, an increasingly popular form of communication among 18-30 year olds, particularly young Latinos.

Young adults are an increasingly active and in-demand voting bloc, drawing interest from political campaigns this year due to a recent increase in voter turnout and civic engagement.  While historically less likely to vote than older Americans, turnout among young voters jumped significantly in 2004 and continued to increase in 2005.  “We know that young voters are more likely to register and vote when contacted by a friend, family member, or a campaign,” said Smith. “Our polling shows that both Republicans and Democrats have a stake in turning out young voters in 2006 – young voters a huge, getting registered, and can help make or break close races. The million dollar question is whether or not the parties will turn out their young voters on November 7th.” 

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For the full list of groups part of Young Voter Strategies campaign to register 350,000 young voters, see www.youngvoterstrategies.org or contact Kathleen Barr at katbarr@gwu.edu or 202-994-9528.

Young Voter Strategies, a project of the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University, with support from The Pew Charitable Trusts, provides the public, parties, candidates, consultants, and nonprofits with data on the youth vote and tools to effectively mobilize this electorate for upcoming elections.  We are committed to making the targeting of young voters a more permanent part of electoral strategies. www.youngvoterstrategies.org 

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