Energizing the ‘New Millennium’ generation
Washington D.C. – the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) met with youth leaders from across the U.S. on Feb.17 for the 2004 NASS New Millennium Young Voters Summit.
With a rousing presidential election quickly approaching, state and local election officials are working hard to bring the most underestimated age demographic, 18 to 24-year-olds, into the voting scene. Thus, the purpose of this forum was to give U.S. public officials, particularly Secretaries of State, the chance to have an open dialogue with youth leaders in an effort to gain insights that might help them increase civic participation among young people.
NASS President, Minnesota Secretary of State, Mary Kiffmeyer, presided over the event. Minnesota sent four youth leaders to the Summit. University of Minnesota undergrads and student workers in Hon. Kiffmeyer’s office, Terri Ramiah and Michael Breen, were sponsored by the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office. St. Olaf College sophomore, Brittany Larson, and I attended the event through the Secretary’s invitation and the sponsorship of Minnesota’s conservative think tank, The Center of the American Experiment.
The NASS refers to the population of voters between the age of 18 and 24 as the “New Millennium Generation.” As various dignitaries and researchers presented their findings and programs regarding New Millennium voters, I was not surprised to hear surprised to hear that this age demographic is significantly less likely to vote than older generations.
In fact, Hon. Susan Bysiewicz, CT Secretary of State, said that she decided to run for public office when she heard that only 20% of 20-year-olds and 80% of 40-year-olds were voting. However, I did not know why this trend existed or what was being done to reverse it—both of which I would soon learn as the forum proceeded.
Apparently there is currently a great deal of research being done on New Millennium voters like me. Researchers at Harvard recently found that students of this generation are much more likely to participate in community service than they are to vote or perform other civic duties. One of the main reasons for this phenomenon seems to be that society promotes and requires students to serve their communities, but does not require them to be educated and active members of the American political system.
Students applying to colleges, for example, are consistently required to provide evidence of community service but are not evaluated on whether or not they vote or have knowledge of their civic rights and responsibilities—the SAT could care less whether students were familiar with the U.S. Constitution.
Even more interesting is researchers’ discovery that most young people continue to perform community service even after they are accepted into their college of choice. Thus, it seems that although community service may initially be performed because it is required, many students develop a habit of serving their communities that sticks with them throughout life.
So, the obvious question is, if we were to require our youth to be more educated in their civic rights and duties, such as voting, wouldn’t they be more likely to develop the habits characteristic of strong citizens? Researchers and public voting officials seem to think it would.
Studies show that many young people don’t vote because they either feel overwhelmed and confused by the voting system, or find that it is difficult and inconvenient for them to locate a polling place or get an absentee ballot while in school.
Whereas young people see volunteerism as a way to make a positive difference in the world because of it tangible results, they shun the political system because they do not see how their individual vote can make a difference.
Contrary to popular stereotypes, young people do not avoid voting because they are apathetic or uninterested in the issues. In fact, young people consistently agree with adults on which social and political issues they deem most important. Thus, many stat Secretaries of State are developing grassroots programs to educate young voters and make the voting and political system easier for them to use and understand.
Hon. Kiffmeyer began by sharing several projects that she has successfully implemented in Minnesota including making the Legislative Voting Manual more student-friendly. She’s established “Vote in Honor of a Veteran,” which encourages students to vote by seeing what others have done to preserve this right and spearheaded the “College Student Election Judge Program,” which lets students earn money and enhance their resumes while learning more about the political system. She’s also created humorous videos using student volunteers as actors to teach young people the importance of voting.
Evidently, tactics such as these have had a significant positive impact because Minnesota has consistently boasted the highest number of young voters in the nation overall.
At the national level, a new federal law, the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), has implemented unprecedented reforms in the voting process that facilitate youth voting.
Among other things, HAVA protects students against disenfranchisement, provides for the standardization of voting procedures and requires that voting procedures and voting information (such as voting rights and absentee voting procedures) be posted in every polling place. In addition, HAVA’s provisional ballot requirement ensures that no young voter regardless of registration status, will leave a polling center on Election Day without at least casting a provisional ballot requirement ensures that no young voter, regardless of registration status, will leave a polling center on Election day without at least casting a provisional ballot.
Although we were only in D.C. for two days, Brittany and I had a chance to tour the prestigious conservative think-tank, the Heritage Foundation. After our tour of the Heritage Foundation, we were able to discuss politics and public policy with representatives from Heritage and the Independent Women’s Forum over dinner.
We learned about the vast number of internship opportunities in D.C. throughout the year, including internships at Heritage and IWF. Although many students interested in politics, law or public policy may not be able to spend a semester in D.C., there is a wide range of summer internship opportunities available to students.
Although most internships are unpaid, students can take courses for college credit while interning. Furthermore, nearly everyone I spoke to while in D.C.—from elected officials and think-tank representatives to current interns attested to the enormous value of an internship on Capital Hill. In fact, many said that for students hoping to work on Capital Hill someday, a D.C. internship is an absolute necessity. Students interested in interning at the Heritage Foundation can search their site online at www.heritage.org/internships.
From start to finish, the trip was very informative and rewarding, allowing me to better understand the issues and obstacles associated with poor youth voting records. However, the grassroots programs that the U.S. public officials are implementing as well as the high numbers of students participating in government internships in D.C. year-round offer hope for a future of informed and involved American citizens.
Here at St. Thomas, there are already signs of hope emerging: Last month, the St. Thomas College Republicans registered 700 student voters and the challenge now is to ensure that these and other students at St. Thomas actually do vote on Election Day. Students need to know that they can vote right here at St. Thomas, even if they are from out of state. Minnesota residents can learn what district they are from and who their representatives are by logging on to the MN Secretary of Sate’s website, www.sos.state.mn, and typing in their permanent address. Finally, a student from out of state can learn more about youth voting programs in his or her state and obtain the contact information for his or her Secretary of State at www.stateofthevote.org.
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