Laura Tate
A voting revolution
Listening to the live radio interviews on Tuesday with poll workers and voters, there seems to be an excitement in the air that is different than other elections. And the outcome of the presidential primary might not yet be known by the time this paper is online Wednesday, so many people will be holding their breaths until the results are in.
Part of the excitement, I believe, comes from the possibility of change for the better-much better some might say-in the White House. Another part is the fact that we have a black man and a woman running for president-138 years after the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, prohibiting the denial of the right to vote based “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” and 88 years after the 19th Amendment was passed allowing women to vote. And then there’s the 26th Amendment, which 37 years ago allowed those as young as 18 years old to vote (the argument being that if you can send an 18-year-old off to war, they should be able to vote, too). As the radio reports Tuesday noted, the number of younger-aged voters coming to the polls was quite noticeable, lending to the good energy. Not only are they voting, but young people are also helping out with the election by volunteering for campaigns in getting the word out for whichever candidate they’re rooting for.
It’s quite a change from the 2000 election, when stories and columns such as one published by PBS entitled “Is the System Broken” noted that “Not only are young people not voting, they’re not getting involved in politics either. They don’t volunteer for campaigns and very few run for elected office.”
Delving into why voter apathy across all age ranges seemed to be increasing, the column by PBS stated that, in addition to “a sense that politics is dirty business … There’s also a perception that unless you’re a wealthy, white male from a politically connected family, you might as well forget it.”
Well, here we are eight years later, with voter apathy possibly a bit on the decline because of senators Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s run for office.
In a Feb. 17, 2007 Washington Post story entitled “Younger Voters Find Voice on Facebook,” reporter Jose Antonio Vargas wrote about the Facebook.com campaign phenomenon driven by younger people. One year since 26-year old Farouk Olu Aregbe created the Facebook group called “One Million Strong for Barack,” 445, 335 members have joined. Meredith Segal, last year a junior at Bowdoin College, started one of the first Facebook groups, “Students for Barack Obama,” the summer of 2006. The group’s mission statement: “We’re a national organization of high school, college, graduate, and law students united by a common mission-to change American politics by helping to elect Barack Obama President of the United States.” The group is now a grassroots political action committee with its own dedicated Web site and chapters at high school, college and university campuses across the States, including 40 alone in California, one at Pepperdine University.
There are other Facebook and Web site groups created by younger aged people as well, campaigning for Barack or candidates from other political parties, and while the Internet seems to be the main medium for younger voters, they’re hitting the streets too, as television reports showed Monday night before the election.
It’s refreshing and heartening to see their enthusiasm and their energy.
Perhaps the younger voters can encourage their elders disenchanted by the “dirty politics” to join in a voting revolution. Revolution, one might ask? Well, maybe not quite yet, but here in California, a record turnout of 8.9 million voters going to the polls during a primary election was predicted for Tuesday, the highest since 2000.
If we can just keep the momentum going …