IOP launches online effort to boost youth voter turnout

Harvard’s Institute of Politics (IOP) has announced the launch of a new Web-based initiative, “No Vote, No Voice,” aimed at increasing youth turnout at the polls, particularly during the 2008 presidential primaries. The project’s homepage, http://www.novotenovoice.com, will offer ways for young people to register to vote and get news and information about the candidates and campaigns of the primary process.  

A key component of the “No Vote, No Voice” project is a Facebook.com application young people can download to their profiles. Using the application, youth who “pledge” to vote in an upcoming presidential primary or caucus will be sent important state-specific voting deadline reminders to their Facebook.com page, including those for registering to vote and sending in an absentee ballot.  

Intended to be an educational, easy-to-navigate Web portal, the new site aims to help first-time voters by offering a single location for links to voter information and registration Web sites. For example, a visitor to the “No Vote, No Voice” homepage can quickly learn more about presidential candidates and their positions on various issues via http://www.votegopher.com, find youth-oriented news and perspective on the 2008 race, and get links to candidate Web sites if interested in volunteering on a presidential campaign. Additionally, the site will offer a selection of video clips from speeches given by political leaders over the past several decades.  

“The most glaring weakness of American democracy is the primary process where candidates are chosen and platforms established,” said IOP Director James A. Leach. “Americans like choice and the chance to participate in decision making, but the irony is that the vast majority of citizens have left to a narrow few the responsibility of choosing who will represent the political parties in general elections. College is about preparing for the future, but citizenship can’t be put off.”

Although younger voter turnout has — like the rest of the electorate — traditionally been much lower in primaries and caucuses than in general elections, in 2000 and 2004 youth turnout in general elections increased markedly and the “No Vote, No Voice” project is part of the institute’s effort to expand youth participation at the beginning as well as the end of the electoral process.  

While older voters have a history of voting in higher percentages than young voters, exit polls indicate that during the 2004 presidential election the 18- to 29-year-old demographic group cast in total slightly more votes than seniors aged 65 and older.

Young people who forward the Facebook.com application and encourage their friends to vote will be automatically entered to win weekly prizes including gift cards and an iPod. All eligible participants will also be entered to win the “No Vote, No Voice” grand prize, an all-expenses paid trip for two to watch a taping of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” this spring in New York City.  

The IOP invites young people to create their own video showing ‘Why Voting Matters,’ and upload the video to the ‘No Vote, No Voice’ YouTube.com channel (http://www.youtube.com/group/novotenovoice). Submitted videos will be played on the channel until the conclusion of the contest period (Feb. 15).