April 6, 2006

Program with a Plan

GW’s Young Voter Strategies Announces Winners of Voter Registration Competition

BY WENDY CAREY

Marking National Young Voter Month, the 35th anniversary of 18-to-20-year-olds winning the right to vote, The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM) announced the winners of the first-ever national competition to support nonpartisan strategies to register young voters ages 18 to 29.

The nine winning groups from this year’s competition hope to register 350,000 young voters nationwide in 2006 through the $3 million project, coordinated by GSPM’s Young Voter Strategies and funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. "

“The 2004 elections proved that if you ask them, they will vote,” said Heather Smith, director of Young Voter Strategies at GSPM. “Massive outreach efforts resulted in the highest young voter turnout increase since 18-year-olds won the right to vote 35 years ago. Young Voter Strategies’ competition will build on that momentum and help refine methods for candidates and campaigns to reach out to young voters.”"

Competition winners will target different groups of young adults using strategic and innovative tactics:

- Mobile Voter and Music for America will register 18-to-29-year-olds nationwide using creative text-messaging and Internet technology in conjunction with concerts and celebrity outreach.

- Redeem the Vote and the Center for Civic Participation will register religious youth in Alabama and Michigan using both peer-to-peer outreach and innovative e-mail and Internet strategies.

- The Close Up Foundation will partner with high school teachers to register seniors in class.

- The American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the state Public Interest Research Groups, and Allegheny College’s Center for Political Participation will register college students through peer-to-peer outreach at state colleges, private universities, and community colleges.

- The National Council of La Raza will register young Latinos through its network of community-based organizations and service centers in 10 states.

- Black Youth Vote will register young African Americans, focusing on those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Registration will occur in six southern states and at historically black colleges and universities.

- The League of Young Voters will register young voters in four states, including two with Election Day registration, where the league will hold “parties at the polls” to register youth on Election Day.

- Women’s Voices, Wo men’s Vote will register single women through a direct marketing campaign.

- Building Blocks, Building Votes will register young renters by recruiting apartment and block captains to register their neighbors in Oregon’s densest, youngest neighborhoods.

After the 2006 elections, Young Voter Strategies and a team of University researchers will analyze each project to create a Young Voter Toolkit of best practices for mobilizing young voters. GSPM will unveil the toolkit in a series of briefings in key cities for political consultants, campaign managers, and party officials, and make it available to key decision-makers and opinion leaders as they build their strategies for the 2008 election.

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu