ByGeorge!

Jan. 20, 2004

Planting the Seeds of Democracy

GSPM Voter Registration Drive Seeks to Boost Participation in Six States

By Greg Licamele

Becoming a young registered voter will be an easier task in six states this year as a result of a non-partisan project sponsored in part by the Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM).

The New Voters Project will utilize state-of-the-art professional campaign strategies to mobilize 18-to-24-year-old voters in Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Wisconsin; these states contain a combined population of two million in that age bracket who are eligible to vote. The project aims to register 265,000 people.

“We are hoping to start a voting habit with young voters,” said Carol Darr, director of GW’s Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet. “Our project only goes into six states and if we’re successful, other people can pick it up and do the same following our model.”

The New Voters Project will run significant voter registration drives targeting both college and non-college 18-to-24-year-olds, build a professional-grade voter file and use multiple methods of peer-to-peer contact to drive turnout, such as door-to-door canvassing, phone banking and precinct-based mobilization. In addition, the New Voters Project will work with partners MTV, World Wrestling Entertainment, and various music, movie and event promoters to conduct registration at large youth-oriented events.

“We are combining the leading research in grassroots mobilization with the best practices of the campaign world to bring a critical group of new voters to the polls,” said Christopher Arterton, GSPM dean.

Darr said one challenge with young voters is their mobility.

“It is a lot harder to keep them properly registered when they are moving from state to state,” she said.

These new voters to the polls will mean that young people can play a significant role in the 2004 elections. Recent polling by numerous academic and media organizations suggests that young voters are up for grabs in the upcoming election, with 23.9 million citizens aged 18-to-24 across the nation.

But Darr said another challenge with young voters is the lack of attention candidates give to them.

“Candidates talk more about Social Security than Pell Grants or aid for education,” Darr said. “The reason is that older voters vote in greater numbers than anybody, so young voters get short-changed. Candidates don’t talk to young voters, so young voters don’t vote and young voters don’t vote, so candidates don’t talk to them.”

GSPM, in partnership with the State Public Interest Research Groups, will work in a non-partisan manner, unlike most voter registration drives.

“When the Christian Coalition does voter registration, the Democrats don’t think it’s non-partisan,” Darr said. “On this particular project, we’ve gone out of our way for it to be non-partisan.”

Darr notes the project’s advisory board consists of a bi-partisan group, including former Republican President Gerald Ford and former Democratic Vice President Walter Mondale. A “neutral” group, the League of Women Voters, also has joined this project, choosing the six states and it will continue with much of the project oversight.

Darr said a second grant is possible for get-out-the-vote activities later this year in the six states. If that grant comes through, Darr expects GW students to possibly visit these states and conduct research.


Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu

 

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