Youth04 works to get young voters out

With the S.C. Democratic primary only 10 days away, a new project is in motion to make sure the state's young people are paying attention.

Youth04, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, is trying to get voters in the 18 to 25 demographic to participate in the 2004 presidential election.

Youth04 is trying to inspire college students to vote not only on a national level, but also on a state and local level. Youth04 concentrates on colleges. As of Jan. 15, there were 15 Youth04 college chapters in 10 states and the District of Columbia. The initial effort of the campaign is concentrated in South Carolina, with chapters at Claflin University, Clemson University and USC. The S.C. primary is proving to be a crucial step in reaching out to the 18- to 25-year-old voters.

In 1972, Generation X won the right to vote at 18. After attaining this long-desired green light, young voters immediately became involved in politics and community issues.

In the past two decades, however, voting by young adults ages 18 to 25 has dramatically decreased. Many attempts have been made to improve the numbers of young people registering and voting.

A news conference was held at USC Jan. 15 to announce the nationwide launch of Youth04, beginning in S.C. This news conference came one day after a booklet, "Youth04: Young Voters, the Internet, and Political Power," was released online on the W. W. Norton Web site. The booklet, written by David M. Anderson, Youth04 executive director, will also be published as a hard copy and marketed with the most widely used college political science textbook, "We the People," in the fall 2004 semester.

So far, Youth04 has received promising evidence that it will be a major player in getting college students to vote.

"I regard it as some evidence that Youth04 will succeed that the lead author of the most widely published political science textbook in America wanted his book to be hooked up to our project. He thinks that Youth04 has the potential to energize and organize millions of 18- to 25-year-olds," Anderson said. "Elections should be fun as well as meaningful."

In turn, the Youth04 campaign has become involved in the classic Carolina/Clemson rivalry. Damian Wingate, USC Chapter Leader, and Kathryn Bull, Clemson Chapter Leader, conceived the idea of a contest between the two schools. The Youth04 Web site is set up to receive signatures from students at each school, and the school receiving the most signatures wins. Youth04 coordinators hope this contest will attract media coverage and encourage candidates to reach out to the younger voters. So far, Gen. Wesley Clark and Sen. Joe Lieberman have expressed support for Youth04 and its mission and have reached out to the younger generation of voters.

Anderson stressed the importance of young voters and the impact they have on our nation. As he says in Chapter 2 of his booklet, "A society which does not pay attention to its young people is deaf to its future."