For decades, students played a marginal role in election turnouts, leaving politicians and pundits alike discouraged. But young voters are starting to stand up, and they're doing it in big numbers.
According to a 2006 poll by the Pew Research Center, turnout among voters ages 18 to 24 increased dramatically from 42 to 54 percent in the 2004 presidential election, the largest increase in any single age group in history.
In accordance with this surge in young voters and the upcoming Oct. 14 deadline for voter registration in New Jersey, the University's Eagleton Institute of Politics and the department of journalism and media studies helped Harvard University Institute of Politics to launch "Campus Voices: My Vote, My Voice," an interactive Web site featuring political videos, blogs, and articles submitted by students across the country.
"It is a way for college students to engage in a virtual discussion about this election, about what issues are important in their state [and] to the students on their campuses," said Elizabeth Matto, research associate at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. "It involves colleges and universities, large and small, public and private, with the purpose of exchanging ideas and communicating about best practices for registering, educating, and mobilizing each colleges student body."
Run by the National Campaign for Political and Civic Engagement, a coalition of schools across the country organized to promote civic engagement, the Web site is a way for students to interact with other students on the same political issues, according to a press release from the Institute.
"The latest survey indicated that 18 to 29-year-olds care about the same issues that everyone else cares about - the war in Iraq, the economy, health care - and they want to hear about these issues in ways that pertain to them, in ways that make it real in their lives," Matto said.
But because contributors to the Web site are not necessarily political scientists, the videos and blogs are expressed at levels that students can understand, said Douglass College senior and project member Monique Robinson.
The Web site gives students who may not have been interested in the election an opportunity to educate themselves informally before election day, Robinson said.
Providing the feel of a politically based YouTube geared towards students, the website is just one of the many resources now available for students to educate and familiarize themselves with political issues through the Internet.
"So much is happening and people will have something to say about it, and in this day and age, the place to go is the Internet," said Caryn Miller, School of Arts and Sciences sophomore and a Campus Voices intern.
Journalism and media studies professor Steven Miller said the new advent of technology and the rapidity through which it changes is altering the way students absorb information.
"The computer you used a couple years ago is obsolete," he said. "It's created a revolution in so many areas from politics to the stock market to the way we communicate to social Web sites to the way we interact, and it's never happened in such a rate in the history of mankind."
With political information at the fingertips of students, Miller said more young voters should learn about this year's election.
"College students need to register to vote and learn to recognize that they can swing this entire election and it's their future that's in their hands," Miller said. "There are so many avenues that young people have to express themselves, [such as] blogs and journals, but that doesn't really change things."
The way to change things is to pull the ballot every four years, Miller said.
"You know what they say the three most important words about real estate are, right?" Miller said. "Location, location, location. Well, The three most important words of 2008 are vote, vote, vote."
A Harvard University student and Campus Voices organizer Eric Hysen said the young delegates at both Republican and Democratic National Conventions emphasized the significance of young voters in this election.
"The common theme is that young people this year have a bigger role than ever," Hysen said. "Democrats were eager to point out that if young people turn out in record numbers, then [Sen. Barack] Obama will win. Republicans were a little less enthusiastic, but many believe they have a shot at the youth vote as well, and were quick to challenge the traditional view that young voters will go for the Democratic candidate."
If you would like to submit a video or blog entry to CampusVoices.org, please contact Elizabeth Matto at ematto@rci.rutgers.edu or Steve Miller at stmiller@rci.rutgers.edu.
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