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 GWs Institute for Politics, Democracy and
the Internet. Our project only goes into six states and if were
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 dont talk to young voters, so young voters dont
vote and young voters dont vote, so candidates dont 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
dont think its non-partisan, Darr said. On this
particular project, weve gone out of our way for it to be non-partisan.
Darr notes the projects 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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Related Link
New
Voters Project
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