Not Just For Seniors Anymore

It looks like the youth vote will get larger this election cycle. And all it took was a terrorist attack and an American war in the Middle East.

Newly released voter registration figures from Michigan—one of the few states that categorizes voter registration by age group—show that almost 100,000 18- to 24-year olds have registered to vote. Harvard’s Institute of Politics (IOP) further reports that political activity is flourishing on college campuses, with political speakers and voter registration drives occurring at nearly every school nationwide. Considering the lackluster voter turnout by youth in 1996 and 2000, the signs that burgeoning numbers of young Americans plan to hit the polls comes not a moment too soon.

The spike in young people’s voter registrations comes in no small part from the efforts of numerous civic-minded organizations. From the hip (Rock the Vote) to the provocative (Vote or Die) to the partisan (America Coming Together), groups of all sizes and flavors have been urging young people to sign up to vote for months. Their novel use of the Internet to assist youth in voter registration is an especially welcome technique, as it allows young people to employ a convenient and familiar medium to register. We hope that these organizations continue their mission past the voter registration deadlines to Election Day by urging and assisting registered voters to actually get to the ballot box.

The IOP has prepared and posted on its web site several useful guides to help students vote, and the IOP’s National Campaign has developed procedures, now used by 17 other schools, to inform students about voting regulations and candidates. But college administrations must make a better effort to educate their students about such issues. A study published last week by the IOP and the Chronicle of Higher Education found that more than a third of schools and universities fail to provide voter registration materials to its students, which is required by law. School administrations must work with student groups to ensure that every student who wants to vote can.

Now that youth are showing their desire to vote and take a larger role in the political process, an increased responsibility also falls to our nation’s politicians. In return for young Americans’ demonstration of commitment to the political process, the candidates need to publicly and directly address issues that appeal to younger voters, including college tuition support and the military draft. But politicians also need to spell out in plainer terms how today’s complex decisions about taxes and social security funding will ultimately affect the up-and-coming generation’s tax burden in the future.

The lack of youth involvement in politics has sometimes been described by the following paradox: Politicians don’t talk about issues that affect youth because youth don’t vote, and youth don’t vote because politicians don’t talk about issues that affect them. But by all indications, the youth turnout in the upcoming election will be one of the highest in recent memory, and in return we expect our next president to address the issues important to young Americans.