by Rebecca Grites
It’s 11 p.m. on Tuesday, November 4, and Barack Obama has been projected by CNN as the next American president.
This election brought out the nation’s youth, and they showed an overwhelming support for Obama by doing the best thing they could do – showing up to vote! If it wasn’t enough that this year alone brought in 1.3 million new voter registrations, but Project Vote reports that the largest percentage of those new registrations belonged to Americans between the ages of 18 and 30.
Michael Slater, Executive Director for ACORN, a community organization that works with Project Vote, believes that “the face of the electorate has dramatically changed this year.” For Slater, this election was historic in nature, but also in overall voter turnout. “Americans from all walks of life have become impassioned and empowered to take their place in the democratic process; it’s truly a powerful story,” Slater says.
Loryn Simonsen, 24, a current Stockton College student, volunteered along with dozens of other young people at the Obama Campaign Headquarters in Egg Harbor Township. In terms of the ratio of adult-to-youth volunteers, Simonson was impressed and excited that so many young people were on board for Obama.
“Being a part of a generation that has been constantly berated for their apathy, I was glad to see so many of my peers involved in this election,” Simonsen says. “I felt very proud, because I am able to say that I did my part to help Obama in his campaign by going beyond what I have done in the past.”
Simonesen believes the youth voters really did give Obama the upper hand, because not only were they finally motivated to vote, but they were also motivated to motivate. “I think that young people who mobilized across the country were able to inspire older generations to vote for Obama, as well,” Simsonsen says. “As young people increase their involvement, they increase their importance to candidates.”
Youth Internet outlets, such as Facebook and MySpace, were also pushing the youth’s buttons to go out and vote. When opening your Facebook account, the first thing the site asks of you is if you voted, and then keeps a running count of every Facebook member who has clicked the “I Voted” link. With more than five million Facebook members openly admitting to voting, and more than 90 percent of Facebook members falling within the age range of 18 to 30, there’s no uncertainty that the youth have finally spoken up and out for their future.
(Oh yeah, and it didn’t hurt that Ben and Jerry’s, Starbucks and Krispy Kreme offered free food incentives for casting a vote.)
To check out Rebecca Grites’ election preview story click on this link here.
1 Comment
November 10, 2008 at 1:56 am
It was great that Facebook was really encouraging everyone to vote. Seeing that tally first thing at the top made users feel the pride and power that comes with voting.