9/21/2008 6:00:00 AM Student Vote Coalition wants to buck trend Organization hopes to get young Arizonans involved in elections
Alex Nelson of the Arizona Public Interest Research Group holds a Student Vote Coalition banner Tuesday. The nonpartisan coalition’s get-out-the-vote efforts have been endorsed by more than 40 Arizona state legislators, including District 3 Senator Ron Gould and Representative Nancy McLain. JC AMBERLYN/Miner
KINGMAN - With mere weeks until the 2008 election, Alex Nelson knows that now, more than ever, is the time to get young people involved in politics.
Nelson, 23, is a member of the Arizona Public Interest Research Group's Student Vote Coalition, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to registering 18- to 30-year-olds to vote throughout the state. On a whirlwind tour through rural Arizona Tuesday, Nelson stopped by the Miner's offices to discuss his efforts.
"The public universities are the core, but we want to reach out to young people all over the state," he said. "We're looking to get media coverage all over the state to make sure people are getting engaged everywhere."
Since the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the Constitution lowered the voting age to 18 in 1971, Nelson said, youth participation in politics has been lackluster, to say the least.
"Between 1972 and 2004, you've seen this trend of decreasing youth participation," he said. "According to surveys, young people feel like voting doesn't make a difference; they're not registered, and they don't have enough information."
According to analyses done by the national Student PIRG, youth turnout was previously weak due to a "cycle of mutual neglect." It's the theory that, because politicians generally advertise to people who already have a voting record - older people, in other words - young people, in turn, are led to believe politics doesn't concern itself with issues important to them, and they remain apathetic.
"Young people make up a quarter of the electorate, nationally, in 2008," Nelson said. "It's really critical we get them involved in this political process. We're not concerned with the outcome, we just want the process to be as inclusive as possible."
Nelson said there are three primary incentives for young people to get involved in politics. The first, as mentioned above, is that the youth makes up a full quarter of eligible voters, and can command a great deal of political sway when fully expressed.
"We know that young people are interested in issues," Nelson said. "Young people will turn out to vote if we're engaged in gas prices, financial security, health care and other issues that impact our lives."
Secondly, Nelson said, young voters have the most to gain - or lose - from the political decisions now being made, as they're the ones most likely to still be alive to experience the fallout 30 or 50 years from now.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, Nelson said, getting involved in politics at a young age is more likely to foster a respect and understanding of the institution, and keep a voter engaged in the process as they get older.
"(Registering to vote) will set them down a lifelong path of staying involved in their communities," he said. "We want to make sure they get involved and continue to be involved the rest of their lives."
Such efforts already have paid some dividends: Arizona experienced a larger spike in young voter registration than other states did in 2004, a year that saw millions of new voters pick up a ballot for the first time.
Arizona's youth turnout that year was up 17 percent from the 2000 election, compared to an 11 percent average increase nationwide.
Since 2004, the Student Vote Coalition has registered an additional 10,000 voters across the state. This year, Nelson said, the group hopes to get at least that many new registrations by the Oct. 6 registration deadline.
"Obviously, we're hoping to exceed that and get as many young people as possible," he said. "Up until the 6th, we'll be working to get as many people registered as we can."
Of course, all the registered voters in the world do no good if no one remembers to show up. That's why the Student Vote Coalition also enlists college students to remind their peers to get out and vote on Election Day.
By orchestrating these "dorm storms," Nelson said, students are up to 13 percent more likely to make it to the polls, and in an election year this close, that's capable of making all the difference.
"Right now we're working to reach out to the community campuses," he said. "I have begun outreach to the Mohave Community College campuses via the Student Life advisers. Hopefully, they will be able to put me in touch with student leaders on those campuses, including the campus in Kingman."
In the meantime, however, Nelson is continuing his odyssey across the state, hoping to reach as many towns and cities as he can before time runs out.
For more information on the Arizona Student Vote Coalition, or to get involved, visit www.studentvote.org or call (602) 252-4052.
