Will Rock the Vote Rock the Vote in 2008?

Rock the Vote made a name for itself in 1992. First by protecting the voting rights of students during the New Hampshire primary, and then by running a coordinated field and media campaign that helped elect President Clinton and substantially raised youth turnout for the first time since 1972. One year later, they helped pass the Motor Voter law. That was the peak of Rock the Vote as an organization.

Over the course of the next decade, two things happened. First, Rock the Vote's field apparatus atrophied to nothing during the mid 90's as the organization morphed into a media vehicle. Concurrently, that media vehicle became the biggest brand in youth politics, rivaled only briefly by P. Diddy's "Vote or Die" initiative in 2004.

Despite holding the biggest name brand in youth politics, youth turnout declined in 1996 and 2000, and a lot of political minded folks didn't think Rock the Vote was getting the job done. As described in my book, Youth to Power, the vacuum left in youth organizing by the failures of Rock the Vote in part inspired the boom in youth organizing that occurred between 2003 and 2007.

Since then, Rock the Vote has struggled to revitalize itself and live up to its brand, and there's been some hype that this year we would finally see a new, more effective Rock the Vote. What that would look like, exactly, was always been pretty vague, but it's now starting to come into focus. Here's the latest on what Rock the vote is up to in 2008:

• So far, their online voter registration widget (which we use here at Future Majority) has helped 637,859 young people download voter registration materials. If their completion rate from 2004 applies (68%), that would mean Rock the Vote has registered 433,744 new voters under the age of 30. They're goal for the year is 2 million.
• Like other organizations this cycle (MTV, Huffington Post), Rock the Vote is experimenting with citizen journalism. Just this week the organization announced that they had selected 5 young journalists to participate in their "Rock the Trail" program. Congratulations are in order for my friend, Sarah Burris, who was selected as one of Rock the Vote's citizen journalists. The program promises to give its participants some exposure via major media partners like the Washington Post. Citizen journalism - particularly as a way to build a youth community - is still an unproven concept, but it's encouraging knowing that folks like Sarah will be out on the trail covering the election and telling the real story of the youth vote, which the mainstream media often confuses with the latest shiny object (P. Diddy! Facebook!).
• The organization recently issues a "Young Voter Platform," in support of a variety of youth issues and value statements including equal opportunity, sustainability, equal representation and tolerance. It's a rather milquetoast list, vague to the point of being inconsequential. Rock the Vote is a non-partisan organization, but that just means they can't endorse candidates. They can take strong stands on particular issues, and in 2004 they did, running a hard-hitting anti-Iraq War campaign focused on the draft that ruffled more than a few GOP feathers. All the issues and values laid out in Rock the Vote's Young Voter Platform are important, but some solutions to these problems are better than others. It would be nice to see Rock the Vote come down in favor of concrete ideas supported by the majority of Millennials. That would be truly meaningful coming from an organization that speaks for young voters in the media. Instead, what they've produced is a list-building tool (sign the petition!) that can be used for GOTV purposes in the fall. That's not at all insignificant, but it's something less than it could be.
• Rock the Vote is starting to reengage field work. Sort of. After years with little more than an ad-hoc crew of volunteers, there are signs that the field program will be somewhat revitalized this year, if not yet a core component of the organizations work. Rock the Vote intends to put street teams on the ground in major battleground states, and there are rumors they will hire staff field organizers to coordinate a ground strategy. Rock the Vote also recently announced a partnership with Head Count, a nonprofit voter registration group that works at concerts. The groups will partner on this summer's Lollapalooza and Rock the Bells festivals.
• Rock the Vote's mobile program, which will issue text message reminders about when and where to vote has garnered over 40,000 participants thus far. Such reminders are proven to bump youth turnout 4 - 5%.
• As we've come to expect, the organization will also run a large PSA campaign, though such campaigns have always struck me as being more about maintaining the Rock the Vote brand than getting young people to the polls. This recently kicked off with an ad by Christina Aguilera and her son, wrapped in an American flag, echoing the original PSA by Madonna that catapulted the organization into notoriety.

So what is the verdict? Is Rock the Vote rocking the vote in 2008?

Maybe.

The online voter registration widget is kicking ass and taking names considering how early it is in the cycle, and the revitalization of at least some field work on the part of the organization is an encouraging sign, even if we don't yet know how extensive Rock the Vote's GOTV work will be in the fall. As a young voter and a partisan, I find the Young Voter Platform to be a bit of a disappointment. I think they could take stronger stands on the issues while still staying within the limits of their tax designation. The groundwork seems to be there for Rock the Vote to be a much more significant and effective presence on the trail this year than in previous cycles, but the bar is higher as well, raised by Senator Obama's campaign and a dozen or more youth organizations that picked up the ball Rock the Vote dropped in the mid and late 90s. The potential is there for Rock the Vote to surpass it's peak during the early 90s. We'll just have to wait and see if - and how - they follow through.