Election Energized by Youth Vote

To anyone standing in Harvard Yard around 11 p.m. on election night, the passion of the youth vote could not be doubted. Screams, cheers, and chants of “Yes We Can” echoed around the freshmen dorms for more than two hours after CNN announced the results of the presidential election.

The number of voters under the age of 30 grew both nationally and on campus, and students and faculty cited various reasons why youth will maintain their increased interest in politics.

Although concrete numbers are not yet available, exit polls indicate a significant jump in youth turnout. Between 22 and 24 million ballots were cast by young voters, amounting to at least a 2.2 million increase from 2004, according to Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

H-VOTE, an Institute of Politics program that helped students register in their home states and obtain absentee ballots, reported a four-fold increase in the number of voters it registered compared to 2004. Two thousand and seventeen students registered or pledged to vote this year through H-VOTE, up from about 500 during the last presidential race.

Alice J. Gissinger ’11, a student leader of H-VOTE, said she considered registration and voting an indication of people’s plans to stay involved in government.

“As far as college students are concerned, they seem especially interested in political activity,” she said. “For people for whom it’s their first voting experience, this is the necessary first step.”

Samuel B. Novey ’11, spokesman for the Harvard College Democrats, said that people will continue to remain involved because Obama did not so much inspire political interest as fill a void in leadership that had existed since Sept. 11, 2001.

“We had an event that really, at a young age, kind of made us feel the unity and connection to our country,” he said. “That feeling of commitment as an American was latent and under the surface, and Obama really gave voice to that feeling.”

Novey added, “The candidates that do well are the ones who figure out what the movements are in society and tap into what people are already feeling.”

Harvard Kennedy School professor Thomas E. Patterson also said that student interest in politics was not fleeting.

“I do think this moment has created a lot of interest,” he said, “and I don’t mean simply the Obama moment. Interest has been on the rise. The real driver [in 2004, when youth turnout also increased] was the Iraq war, and when that turned sour, there was a real sense that things were really going wrong here.”

Student voters themselves said they planned to remain committed.

“Obama said that change won’t be accomplished in one term,” said Sarah E. Wick ’10. She added that she planned to stay involved “until change we can believe in takes place,” displaying a full-color, temporary tattoo of Obama’s visage on the back of her hand as proof of her commitment.