September 5th, 2008 Julia
With only 2 months to go until Election Day, Rock the Vote is excited to welcome our new fall interns.
Here's a word from Sarah Dallon, a student at Roger Williams University:
I’m Sarah and I am interning for Rock the Vote this fall. I’m so excited to be here in D.C. during such an exciting election year! Seeing this is my first time voting in a Presidential Election and I’m only in D.C. for the semester I had my absentee ballot sent and I’m ready to Rock the Vote! Back at school in Rhode Island I have participated in political fund raisers, rallies, and meet and greets, but this is my first time other than voting in the primary to truly have my voice heard. As a young voter and political science major I undoubtedly have an interest in politics but with everything going on recently who couldn’t help but become interested and inspired about the upcoming election.With that said hope to see you at the polls on November 4th Rocking the Vote!
Posted in 2008 elections, Feeds, young activists, young voters | No Comments »
August 25th, 2008 Neal Lavon
I couldn’t help but get a little nervous when they started handing out staple guns tape and black t-shirts. I’ve seen heist movies before and most have a scene like this in them.
Later, when the map of downtown Denver was unfurled on the carpet, I knew I was in for an interesting night.
In the cover of night, three teams of Rock the Vote staffers hit the streets with posters and a plan. On the poster was the number 81.6 in big white font that represent the 81.6% of registered young voters that voted in ‘04. The plan, well the plan was for Denver to wake up to a chalk 81.6 colored onto every street corner and posters on every telephone pole.
On the dark streets of downtown Denver, under the stars and neon bar awnings, we postered our hearts out. We put the signs up in front of all the major hotels all the major gathering areas and as close as we could get to the convention center. Cars and people on foot stopped to ask us about these black signs with big white numbers on them. We told them to text DENVER to RTVOTE to find out more. We posted so many posters I'm gonna hear the sound of the sticky part of tape ripping from the smooth side in my sleep… if I get any sleep.
I have to say I felt like some kind of poster posting Batman. Though I'm sure Batman would not caught dead in the purple flannel I was wearing. In any case I can’t wait to do it again, another night another number…keep an eye out.
-- from Rock the Trail reporter Donny Lumpkins
Posted in 2008 elections, DNC, Feeds, rock the trail, turnout, young voters | No Comments »
July 26th, 2008 Neal Lavon
Everyone's got
something to say about young voters this year. Will young voters turnout? Do young voters care?
I wanted to see what young people thought. I figured if there are tons of articles online predicting what young people will do (or not do) in November, we have a right to input our own predictions on the actions of our peers.
I was particularly interested in interviewing young people, especially in the neighborhood where I live. There are so many young people who are dressed in perfectly pressed business suits, rushing and running to what I assume to be an internship. I think that it’s a pretty cool connection I share with thousands of strangers who live down the street from me- we have all ventured off to (in my case a completely foreign city), away from home and most of what we know, to make difference and propel our careers, futures and perhaps even the futures of others.
So, on my way to the Metro this morning, I decided to put down all those conflicting articles and hit the streets myself. I stopped several young people in my path. Some were willing to chat up a storm while others wouldn’t give me their first name. I talked to one person on our seven flight journey in the elevator in my building, two while standing on the corner waiting for the light to change and another just randomly walking on the street.
Ian, 23 thought that young voters are probably taken seriously because of the increase in focus on young voters and their impact on politics.
Tanaz, 29, disagreed however and said that young voters were not taken seriously. She said, “People try to do outreach but unfortunately, young people just don’t vote…it's our fault that we aren’t taken seriously.”
Ryan, 21, said that, “Yeah, we are taken seriously because candidates see us as a swing vote.”
On my Metro ride into work, I tried to make sense of the whole thing. In my Chemistry class, during lab, there is always a conclusions section in my notes. However, I don’t think this blog post will have any “conclusions.”
What do you think?
Posted in 2008 elections, Feeds, young voters | No Comments »
June 18th, 2008 Julia
Want some more insight into the mind of a young voter? Stephanie South offered up her perspective as a young voter in Colorado. Check back for more of her thoughts as a young voter in this election cycle:
When one creates a Facebook profile, we are allowed to tell the world whatever we want them to know about us…as long as the description is one of the options in the dropdown menu. We can update our relationship status and convey which sex we are interested in. We can advertise what we are looking for, whether it be friendship or dating, and we can keep the faith by selecting our religion from a plethora of denominations.
If you are to spend some time profiling my generation on this networking site, you will find we are a diverse group of up-and-coming adults who seem to have one thing in common—we all appear to be a bunch of fence sitters. Instead of choosing a side when it comes to politics, we are labeling ourselves as “Moderate.” To an onlooker, it may seem as though we do not want to be judged by our choice so we refuse to make one. It might also look like we simply do not know or care enough about the subject to make a decision. However, both of these are considerably untrue.
The reason so many of us are staying purple is because it, as opposed to red or blue, most accurately depicts the color we are. Many of us have just spread our wings and are learning how to fly without the help of mom and dad; therefore, our political views are a good mixture of what we were raised on and what we are beginning to figure out for ourselves. The resulting beliefs do not always fall under one or the other. It is not uncommon to find a student well in support of gay marriage but heavily opposed to abortion—two viewpoints from very conflicting sides
We are not fence sitters, but rather we are a generation no longer confined by ideologies. We are refusing to let single terms like “Liberal” and “Conservative” define our political outlook. We are not voting straight ticket. We are demanding more. We want a candidate to look at us for the voters we are and listen to what we have to say, then tell us what they can do about it.
Let us just hope that the next president does not make us promises, then leave us all waiting at the altar.
Posted in 2008 elections, Feeds, young voters | No Comments »
June 16th, 2008 Neal Lavon
John McCain hosted a town hall meeting in New York City last week, where he took a question from a young Republican on how he planned to reach out to young voters he was going to compete for the youth vote:
"I think it’s going to be a real competition for young people’s votes. One of the reason why I go on Saturday Night Live, and Jon Stewart, and MTV Town Hall, and all other kinds of venues is so that I will have a better opportunity to communicate with young people.”
Indeed, John McCain has made more guest appearances on the Daily Show—12 in total—than any other guest of the show ever.
According to IMDB, McCain has also made 10 appearances on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” and 8 appearances on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” By comparison, he has appeared on the famed Sunday political talk show “Meet the Press” only 6 times.
But while John McCain trumps Barack Obama on late-night television appearances, he’s losing ground fast on the internet.
A recent Washington Post article compared the online presence of the two candidates:
“On MySpace, Obama leads McCain more than seven-fold; Obama lists 390,279 friends to McCain's 53,259. The gap is almost similar on Facebook. Obama supporters number at 928,905 while McCain's clock in at 139,749. And on YouTube, it's almost as if Obama and McCain operate in two separate layers of the atmosphere. McCain's channel, which has posted 219 videos, has been viewed a little over 4 million times. Obama's channel, which has posted 1,102 videos, has been viewed 51.1 million times.”
It’ll be interesting to see if McCain can close the cyber-chasm before November.
Most experts are predicting that his campaign will have less cash to spend than Obama (due largely to Obama's online donations), in which case the internet could offer a great opportunity for McCain to spread his message to millions of young people without spending millions of dollars.
Another appearance on the Daily Show couldn’t hurt either.
Posted in 2008 elections, Feeds, John McCain, youth vote | No Comments »
June 12th, 2008 Julia
As we get close to the end of Week 2 of the General Election, I'd like to introduce two fabulous new interns who are going to help us register two million voters between now and November.
My name is Alexis Irvin and I am one of the new communications interns this summer at Rock the Vote. I go to University of Maryland and am a senior journalism major with a minor in government and politics. Talking about the election in journalism classes got a little boring this past semester, I decided I wanted to be a part of it. 2008 will be the first presidential election I get to vote in and I am so so SO excited! We are in the midst of making history with this election, which is why I am at Rock the Vote. This presidential election has the possibility for change- and the youth vote could swing it either way. Rock the Vote wants to register 2 million young voters before the election this November and I think we can do it. I'm super excited to be doing something cool this summer and to make a difference!
And from our field intern, Hannah Fishman:
Two days ago, as I wondered around DC (lost, as usual) I came across a simple ad in a bus stop that made me pause in my frantic attempts to figure out which direction was home. "Vote," it said. Naturally, as an intern at Rock the Vote, voting is something that excites me always, and especially now in such an undeniably important election year. So when I saw the sign that said "Vote," I perked up. What is perhaps most exciting about this story is not the simple existence of the ad in a city ripe with politically active Americans, but instead that the sign was posted by McDonalds instead of a political organization. Even McDonalds wants to promote voter registration!
I graduated from the University of Michigan in the end of April, having dedicated most of my time there to building an organization that would ensure that everyone on that campus would be registered to vote. At the end of my senior year, I knew that I wanted to continue doing that work in the real world. Getting people interested in and excited about politics is absolutely one of my biggest passions. The fact that the rest of the country (including McDonalds) now is apparently just as passionate and willing to dedicate energy to getting out the vote is beyond exciting to me. And so, as we move head on into the general election, I am thrilled to get involved in Rock the Vote's amazing national campaign to increase young voter participation. Voting is awesome, and this year our generation is going to prove that they know it.
Posted in 2008 elections, Feeds, young activists | No Comments »
