SAVE

This week also marks the 39th Anniversary of the 26th Amendment that reduced the voting age to 18. And last week the Overseas Vote Foundation's 2010 Summit was held in Munich, Germany. They have a subsidiary called Youth Vote Overseas and have long been advocates to helping students studying abroad, soldiers serving overseas, or connecting young people living abroad have an easier time casting a ballot back home.

The OVF Summit was designed as a forum for "collaborative innovation designed to stimulate the power of our diverse network to address the pressing challenges facing overseas and military voters today in ways that will bring real tangible outcomes." Their attention to young people very specifically is critical given the millions of young people living abroad.

Founder and ED of the Student Association for Voter Empowerment spoke on engagement to young voters overseas, the challenges, and the solutions. The videos are below:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

FM's friend Matthew Segal from the Student Association for Voter Empowerment appeared at the President's Job Summit last week, and spoke about his thoughts on youth jobs on CNN this morning.

Just reported on the Progressive States Network:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed legislation, HB 30, allowing the pre-registration of 17-year-olds in the state of California. The state joins seven others that allow pre-registration at either 17 or 16. This follows close on the heels of North Carolina, which made their pre-registration age 16 over the summer. As with campaigns in other states, students themselves were the most persuasive advocates for pre-registration. Civically-minded youth and student leaders pointed to the opportunity that would be opened for students like themselves to encourage their peers to register and prepare for voting. Students and a range of advocates including the New America Foundation, AARP, The League of Women Voters and FairVote, made the case the this is a no cost way to boost participation by allowing registration before 18, when many people are in transition.

Disclaimer: it was actually AB 30, and its important to note that this law does not take effect for a couple of years, young voters cannot do this right now.

Matthew Segal from the Student Association for Voter Empowerment said

"I think pre-registration is a major step in the right direction because it helps institutionalize voter registration, said matthew segal. If implemented at DMVs it will also be essential in reaching many young people who are not college bound." SAVE supports replicating what we've done in California federally with a bill we are currently working with FairVote and Congressman Markey's office to introduce."

California's Secretary of State Debra Bowen said in an email from her spokesperson

"Hooking young adults on democracy is one of my priorities as California's chief elections officer," she said. "This expansion of the state's pre-registration law is a good step toward increasing voter participation across the state."

This is certainly a win for civic engagement, but a small one. FM's been monitoring some important electoral reform at the federal level. The Student Voter Act, a S.A.V.E bill, was slated for mark-up earlier this week but it's been rescheduled for early next month. This piece of legislation would affect college students at every higher education institution that receives public funding, essentially Motor Voter for schools. While states are making progress in electoral reform, federal legislation like The Student Voter Act would take a tremendous burden off of voter engagement organizations, allowing them to focus just on GOTV and education. At any rate, kudos to the California youth who just made voting easier in their state.

The latest unemployment numbers and poll results have led most observers to predict a major setback for Democrats in the 2010 Congressional elections. But a year is a lifetime in politics and much can change between now and then to influence next year’s vote. As Ron Brownstein recently pointed out, the demographic makeup of the electorate is likely to be a key factor in whether or not the Democrats can maintain their current majority margins in 2010. While traditionally Democrats have focused on turning out African-American and Hispanic voters to offset Republican strength among white male voters that equation is no longer the only calculation Democratic strategists need to make.

Today the level and intensity of interest among Millennials young voters 18-28, is equally important in ensuring Democratic victories. But for that group of voters to turn out in large numbers, Congressional Democrats will have to make a much more concerted effort than they have to date to deliver on a series of policy issues of major concern to Millennials, the generation that provided Barack Obama 80% of his popular vote margin over John McCain in 2008.

As with most other Americans, the number one concern among Millennials is the state of the economy and the need for jobs. But Millennials have a unique perspective on this issue, one that Congress must understand and address. Millennials believe there is a clear link between education and employment and are increasingly concerned that the pathway through the educational system into the world of work is becoming increasingly more difficult and expensive to navigate.

Two-thirds of Millennials who graduate from a four-year college do so with over $20,000 in debt. A job market with Depression-level youth unemployment (18.5%) and a wrenching transformation of the types of jobs America needs and produces makes the implicit bargain of education in return for future economic success harder for Millennials to believe in every day.

Recently Matt Segal, Executive Director of the Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE) and Founder and National Co-Chair of the 80 Million Strong for Young Americans Job Coalition presented some ideas to the House Education and Labor Committee on what Congress could do to address this challenge.

He advocated increased entrepreneurial resources be made available to youth; Senate action on the student debt reform bill recently passed by the House; more access to public service careers through internships and loan forgiveness programs; and the creation of “mission critical” jobs in such fields as health care, cyber-security and the environment that would tap the unique talents of this generation. Coupled with the recent passage of the Kennedy Serve America Act, enacting these initiatives would demonstrate that Democrats are serious about improving the economic situation of Millennials and, at the same time, provide organizing ammunition in the 2010 campaign.

Of course no economic program can ignore the impact of health care on this generation’s—and America’s—economic well being. Many of the entry-level jobs young people seek and obtain come from employers who simply can’t afford to provide health care coverage under today’s system. Young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 represent nearly a third of all uninsured Americans, and two-thirds of those uninsured young people reported going without necessary medical care in 2007 because they could not afford to pay for it. As a result, polling has consistently indicated that a majority of young people support President Obama’s health care proposal, especially if it contains a public option to control costs. One of the more compelling components of the president’s plan for Millennials is that it would allow parents to cover their children through the family’s health insurance up to the age of 26 instead of the current limit of 19. And Millennials expect Congress to act. Only a third of Millennials, as compared with half of older generations, are concerned that the government will become too involved in health care.

Yet many pundits continue to perceive health care reform as an “old people’s issue,” likely to increase the turnout of seniors, but not Millennials, in the 2010 elections. Some have even suggested that Millennials will object to a health care system that limits the differential in premiums insurance companies can charge relatively healthy young people vs. older, less well adults. But this theoretical inter-generational transfer of wealth is not likely to stir up much opposition among Millennials. Unlike the Baby Boomers of four decades ago, Millennials do not speak to their elders across a generation gap, but have actually formed strong and enduring bonds with their parents and come to the public arena determined to find solutions that work for people of all ages. Already, Young Americans for Health Care Reform has accumulated 1200 fans on Facebook since the group was formed less than a month ago.

If Congressional Democrats can successfully negotiate passage of a health care reform bill that provides cost-effective coverage for the 30% of Millennials who currently are not insured, Democrats will have another major arrow in their quiver going into the 2010 election.

Millennials, like their GI Generation great grandparents in the 1930s, are facing economic challenges that caught them by surprise and for which no one prepared them. But Millennials aren’t looking for a handout or sympathy. Instead, in the “can do” spirit of their generation, they are organizing to overcome the challenges created for them by their elders. It’s time for Democrats in Congress to recognize these concerns and the loyalty of a generation that identifies as Democrats over Republicans by a 2:1 margin. One way to accomplish this is by passing meaningful health care reform while helping to create new pathways to economic opportunity, especially for young people who are just entering the work force. Doing so now, as the battle for 2010 shapes up, will help energize the newest and most loyal element of the Democratic Party’s 21st Century coalition, the Millennial Generation.

Morley Winograd is one of the authors of Millennial Makeover, one of the New York Times' favorite books of 2008.

I just returned from the House Education and Labor Committee hearing on youth unemployment. This hearing is the follow-up to the 80 Million Strong National Jobs Summit, which convened 100 young leaders from 30 states to discuss problems and solutions about youth jobs. Since the Summit, youth unemployment and underemployment have risen. In fact, this past summer, typically the best time for young people to find jobs, was the worst on record. From the Bureau of Labor Statistics summer youth unemployment report:

The youth unemployment rate was 18.5 percent in July 2009, the highest July rate on record for the series, which began in 1948. As with the decline in employment, the increase in youth unemployment in the summer of 2009 reflected a weak job market. The July 2009 unemployment rates for young men (19.7 percent), women (17.3 percent), whites (16.4 percent), blacks (31.2 percent), Asians (16.3 percent), and Hispanics (21.7 percent) increased from a year earlier.

Note that unemployment was up for all young people, not just specific demographics. In his opening remarks, Chairman Miller stated that "young people are the hardest hit". Simple and right to the point.

The first witness to testify, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training, Jane Oates, said that the stimulus funds sent to states did create jobs and that a detailed report was still being prepared and actual numbers were not yet available. Anecdotally, she's received positive feedback from young people who got jobs through stimulus funds. She noted that in many of the letters she had received from young workers, there were stories of saving money for college or for helping out the family during hard times. If not for the stimulus funds, it's likely that youth unemployment would have been higher and all the negative externalities bundled with it. Representative Bobby Scott quoted a Los Angeles-based community organization's motto that the best way to stop a bullet is with a job.

Another committee member, Representative Marcia Fudge, explained that her first jobs when she was a young person were important to her, equipping her with the experiences and skills that could, and did, carry her forward. With a passion that seemed to make time stop so that we, the audience, could prepare for what she would say next, she talked about pride. The pride of working and contributing to the community in a positive way. That feeling of pride in work knows no generational boundaries. Matt Segal of 80 Million Strong, a witness at the hearing, testified to that fact when he said that the Millennial generation is enthusiastic about young people doing their part, through hard work, to get this country out of recession. He then presented some of our generation's ideas, collected from the 80MS National Jobs Summit.

Yet, one of the big questions that was not answered directly in the hearing is how to deal effectively with the transition of a fourth generation, Millennials, into the workforce. It's almost like there is an elevator so full that others are left to take the stairs, even though they contributed to the construction of said elevator. So, it sounds like we need a bigger elevator, and luckily there's the spirit to make that happen. In his testimony, Segal noted that young people are increasingly interested in public service careers and in such expanding fields as healthcare, cyber security, green jobs and social entrepreneurship.

Much of the hearing focused specifically on low-income youth and youth of color, but 80MS is talking about a broader, much more comprehensive jobs agenda that aims to incorporate our generation's varied talents and skills towards the construction of a 21st century economy. Poverty and racism are problems not unique to today's young people, but the current state of joblessness, debt and lack of opportunity for young people of all backgrounds are specific to our times; right now, we need a solution for a generational workforce problem that threatens to leave America's youth worse off than their parents.

One of the panels I attended at Netroots Nation was Repairing our Democracy: Voter Registration Modernization and other Solutions with speakers Secretary Debra Bowen California's Secretary of State, Dean Logan the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk for Los Angeles County (the nation’s largest county), Jonah Goldman a national expert on voting and elections, and Justin Levitt counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice. The panel was also moderated by Eric Marshall, campaign manager for the National Campaign for Fair Elections in the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law's Voting Rights Project.

Highly knowledgeable experts on the panel seemed to develop the consensus that the system is broken.

"We must have a system of error correction that is speedy enough so that people aren't disenfranchised and the error is corrected," Secretary Bowen said. "We need more consistent rules of residency for students. Some places are down right hostile about allowing students to vote, some are welcoming, but many are very hard on students."

"There are huge barriers to over seas voters and our military. When I visited Iraq and Afghanistan I met with the voting official who is not elected but appointed to do the job. . ."

Bowen continued to describe an over 500 page manual that the military official must be familiar with because there are so many voting laws for each state he must know.

"If we're disenfranchising people who are serving us it's time for the states to voluntarily figure out one cohesive consistent way that it works."

LA County Clerk Dean Logan told a story about a meeting he had with other election officials where it was asked if they could redesign the entire voter registration from if anyone would keep the original... none would.

Logan said they had 500,000 newly registered voters, and on the 15 day cut off for voter registration deadline California Counties had a Midnight Madness for people who had up to the last minute to register to vote.

"We had people coming in in their pajamas and it was packed! But the day after that cut off, we received 64,000 forms by people who missed the deadline. The next day 100,000 people sent in forms. We failed them administratively," he admitted.

But, Mr. Goldman said that new technologies provide a "non-partisan solution to a non-partisan problem that we can all work to fix."

Mr. Logan agreed believing

"despite this archaic system we are using technology better, allowing people to verify their information. But if you're online and realize that you need to change your address or you need to correct it, then that's where it stops, there is no way to update that."

The panel agreed the system breakdown is targeted at registration itself. Everything that happens on the back end is relatively smooth, even Logan said that when it comes to provisional ballots 80-90% of them count and can be verified, but the breakdown happened in the registration process somewhere.

Secretary Bowen said the argument against a massive reorganization and standardization effort would be the constant "states rights" argument. But Bowen believes that registration difficulties that occur in places like Florida and Ohio do affect California in a substantial way. Everything from Universal Registration to Election Day Registration are all options on the table but neither are being considered at the federal level.

The Military and Overseas Voters Empowerment Act (“MOVE Act”) authored by Senator Chuck Shumer was approved by the US Senate

"after a Rules Committee survey last May showed that as many as one in four ballots cast by military voters went uncounted in last year’s presidential election," Shumer's office said.

Among other things, "the bill would require states to provide ballots electronically. Additionally, it beefs up the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) at the Department of Defense, which is the main source of election-related information and assistance for many members of the military. The legislation, S. 1415, also addresses problems the military and overseas voters face in registering to vote from outside the U.S. It would bar states from rejecting military ballots for lack of a “Notary” signature—a feat difficult to achieve in the bases of Iraq and Afghanistan."

The Student VOTER Act was also re-introduced this session back in March. Late July will also bring the second hearing for the Student VOTER Act in the Committee on House Administration and will hopefully go into mark-up in September when it should also be in line for a floor vote.

Matthew Segal from the Student Association for Voter Empowerment told me via email that Majority Leader Steney Hoyer has been extremely supportive so he's optimistic we can get the bill on the floor this year. If you missed it, former US Senate Leader Tom Daschle has been a fantastic public advocate on the Student VOTER Act, and Zoe Lofgren, who chairs the subcommittee on elections within the Committee on House administration has also now signed onto the bill, as has Susan Davis, who is another member of both the full committee and subcommittee.

Segal says

"their leadership will assist us in getting the bill marked up this September. We [also] hope that other youth organizations will join us in making this one of their principal legislative priorities for 2009 and 2010."

As Bowen said, issues like Voting Rights aren't as sexy as issues like Health Care, but the ability to register to vote, be able to vote, and have that vote counted as its cast is the foundation of our democracy. We should be able to count on all of those things.

Crossposted to DailyKos, please recommend.

We've worked so hard to help students have equal access to voting its a rewarding day to have it reintroduced into a legislature that will see it as a priority. As we speak in Washington there is a press conference announcing its importance and emphasizing the difficulties that young people face simply in casting a ballot each election.

According to a release from the Student Association for Voter Empowerment:

"Reps. Jan Schakowsky, D-IL, and Steven LaTourette, R-OH, along with the Student Association for Voter Empowerment and distinguished guests will hold a press conference to discuss the impact this legislation will have to expand the right to vote to more Americans...

Barriers in the voter registration process are the most commonly cited reason that young people (18-29 years old) do not participate in elections. According to a study by CIRCLE, a combined 32% of 18-29 year olds did not vote because of uncertainties, confusion, or difficulties in registering. Similarly, a report from Harvard University's Institute of Politics noted that nonvoting youth are "more likely [than any other group] to cite registration mistakes or a lack of registration knowledge as a reason why they did not vote."

In response to the current problems with voter registration, The legislation will require all colleges and universities that receive federal funds to provide their students with an opportunity to register to vote as they enroll in classes. The Student VOTER Act builds off the successful model of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, and like Department of Motor Vehicles, will designate colleges as “voter registration agencies."

First the vote, now the advocacy. Student Association for Voter Empowerment (S.A.V.E.), Mobilize.org and the Roosevelt Institution have partnered together to launch 80 Million Strong, a youth-driven coalition to secure quality jobs for young Americans. Citing the growing age disparity in the American workforce, 80 Million Strong seeks to build off the momentum of high youth engagement in the 2008 elections, when the young voter turnout rate increased for a record third consecutive presidential election. The youth unemployment rate--the highest among all age groups--has climbed to 15.5 percent, fully double that of adults 25 and older. Going deeper, the 20.8 percent unemployment rate among 16 to 19 year olds hasn't been this high since 1975. What's more troubling is that young Americans are hurting in other areas, too, namely health insurance and college debt. The 80 Million Strong website goes further, noting:

Educated but unemployed, nearly 87 percent of the Millennial generation holds a high school diploma and nearly 30 percent holds a bachelor's degree or higher. It's still not enough. With tens of thousands of dollars in debt from student loans and credit cards, young people need jobs, yet in times like these the newly graduated are forced to compete with more experienced workers for even the most entry-level positions.

But it's not just the statistics driving this coalition. "Young people have been relatively excluded from the dialogue," says Matt Segal, Executive Director of S.A.V.E., in reference to news stories not covering the alarmingly high youth unemployment rate. Segal believes that young people have to be part of the solution to this economic crisis, "I felt there needed to be an advocacy side to propose solutions that tap the talents of our generation, and to embrace things like social entrepreneurship." Caitlin Howarth, National Policy Director at the Roosevelt Institution, adds that Millennials feel a great responsibility and it's not just about me, but we: "We have to give back to our families. They need our support, because they don't have the luxury that we do: time to rebuild."

With quality jobs as a goal, the coalition was created upon a foundation of citizen-centered involvement, transparency and inclusiveness. 80 Million Strong will not advocate for any one particular youth sub-demographic, whether that be by ideology, education, income or geographic location. "We do know the problem--jobs, health insurance, debt--, but we don't know the solutions and that's what we're asking from our generation--to innovate," saysMobilize.org CEO Maya Enista. In very Millennial fashion, the coalition will convene a summit to identify a diverse set of issues facing all Millennials, and then propose and advocate for legislation to solve these issues. Already, there is interest from the House and Education Labor Committee to hold a hearing on the proposal coming out of the summit.

To ensure a diversity in ideas and perspectives, the coalition is already reaching out to other youth-focused organizations around the country to get involved. The summit will be held in Washington, DC, and the coalition is hoping to have travel scholarships available for low-income youth and those that reside well outside of the beltway.

"There is no clear [policy] agenda just yet, and that's a good thing," says Segal. "It [not having a pre-planned policy agenda] means we're really keeping this process open to all voices; the summit is where that process begins."

More details are to come on the summit, but you can take the first step towards winning quality jobs for young Americans by visiting 80 Million Strong today. See you at the summit!

At 10am EDT this morning, Future Majority ally Matthew Segal of the Student Association for Voter Empowerment will be testifying for the second time in the House Judiciary. I would suggest checking out CSPAN but I'm not sure if they're covering the hearing. You can also check out the Committee website for viewing possibilities.

Below is an excerpt of the entered testimony that Segal will be submitting. Hopefully we can obtain video if it isn't readily available online and repost it for you here.

"As several journalists coined it, 2008 was the “Year of the Youth Vote.” For the third consecutive presidential election, young voter participation (among 18-29 year olds) increased considerably, with over 23 million young Americans—or 52% of all eligible young voters—casting ballots. This was also a 12% increase in young voter participation since the 2000 presidential election. Beyond just statistics, young people provided unprecedented energy, spirit and volunteer service to political campaigns, which was instrumental in shattering the conventional wisdom that “young people don’t vote” or “don’t want to vote.” Yet notwithstanding these clear successes, a closer examination of the 2008 election demonstrates that young voters succeeded in spite of numerous barriers, not necessarily because the system worked efficiently. The problems of the 2008 election begin with voter registration:

First, there were several instances of misleading statements made by elected officials regarding the potential consequences for out-of-town college students who wished to register and vote within their campus communities. At jurisdictions including Virginia Tech and Colorado College, for instance, county clerks issued statements indicating that if students chose to register at school, then their parents could no longer claim them as dependents for tax purposes. The registrars also cautioned that students could lose scholarships, grant money, and health insurance. And since these false claims originated
with election officials, disputing their accuracy was particularly difficult. It was not until civil rights attorneys sued and the IRS declared such claims inaccurate that these registrars issued corrections to their student populations.

Second, students attempting to register at Jackson State University in Mississippi,Furman University in South Carolina, and both Radford University and Mary Washington College in Virginia, were repeatedly denied registration status because they listed a dormitory room as their address. This dilemma was (and is) the result of vague definitions of domicile, which registrars may interpret subjectively to include or exclude dormitories. With such different styles of housing (whether a dorm, an apartment, a home, a public assistance agency, etc.), there is room for potential malfeasance or confusion in granting residency to eligible citizens.

Third, voter caging resulted in the removal of young people from the voter rolls. A prominent example of voter caging, which specifically targeted students, occurred in Montana. Republican Party officials intended to use “change of address” forms to remove voters from the registration rolls despite the fact that students routinely use such forms to forward mail during temporary absences. Certainly, a temporary leave of absence does not constitute a legitimate reason for removing a potential voter from the rolls; and after several groups, including SAVE, brought significant public pressure against party officials, the voter-caging plan was abandoned. Had the voter caging continued unchecked, thousands of young voters could have been removed from the registration lists without their knowledge and left with little recourse.

These examples demonstrate the symptoms of a greater problem: the voter registration process is flawed. In addition to the problems I cited previously, election officials are often overwhelmed by an influx of voter registration forms immediately prior to the deadline. As a result, officials are swamped and hard pressed to sort through hundreds, if not thousands, of forms in a matter of days, which often results in delays. Delays in the registration process decrease voter confidence, lead to uncertainty, and open the door to mistakes. . ."

To read the entire testimony please view it here - it should be posted later this afternoon or tomorrow.

In a number of state legislatures, photo-ID bills are making headway. These laws rarely, if ever, prevent voter fraud (mostly because it is pretty much non-existent), but they do prevent a lot of eligible people from voting (even good, christian people like nuns).

I haven't followed these bills closely, but fortunately youth orgs like the Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE) have. This issue deserves more attention. Here's a statement they put out on the issue earlier today:

Young Voters Condemn Restrictive Photo ID Laws

Contact: Matthew Segal, SAVE Executive Director, 847-502-5012, matthew.segal [at] savevoting.org
Contact: Representative Joe Dorman, Oklahoma District 65, 580-476-3745, joe.dorman [at] okhouse.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 12, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE) opposes the recent progress of photo identification laws in numerous state legislatures. Recent actions in Oklahoma (SB 4) and Texas (SB 362) legislatures indicate a continued push for restrictive photo ID requirements that inhibit eligible voters from casting a ballot.

Although the implications of mandating a photo ID might seem benign given their ubiquitous use in airports, government agencies, and banks, there are tens of thousands of non-driving, non-traveling and non-banking Americans—both young and old—who do not possess such documentation. Both the Oklahoma and Texas bills mandate that a voter present a photo ID at the polls prior to casting a ballot. Acceptable identification must be issued by the state or federal government and include a photo, full name, and current address.

In the case of Texas, the law does not recognize all college or university photo IDs as acceptable forms of identification. Unless students are to change or update their driver’s licenses, many young voters will be forced to vote provisionally, lowering voter efficacy and making the political participation more bureaucratic, time-consuming, and cumbersome.

At least in the case of Oklahoma, college and university IDs will be considered valid. Representative Joe Dorman (D-65), who insisted on their inclusion, said, “I worry a poll worker might not allow the driver's license of an out-of-state student enrolled and registered to vote in their college community. I commend Rep. Sue Tibbs (R-23), who introduced the bill, for recognizing the importance of allowing these voters at both public and private institutions the opportunity to use this ID should the bill become law.”

Specific instances from the November election, most notably in Indiana, demonstrate the negative impact of photo identification requirements on electoral participation. College students were unable to satisfy ID requirements at the polls because their photo ID was from a different part of the state or another state entirely. Photo ID laws can prevent out-of-state college students from casting a ballot in the district where they attend school. In addition, most allowable substitutions for a photo ID are not easily obtainable because colleges and universities generally pay utility and other bills for their students.

“I am deeply disturbed by the prospect that legislators do not recognize that photo ID laws detract from the integrity of elections,” said Matthew Segal, the Executive Director of SAVE. “I know from hundreds of conversations, congressional testimony, and evidence on the ground that photo ID laws have deterred students from voting where they attend school, which is their home nine months of the year. In light of terrific youth participation in the November election, I am skeptical of our ability to maintain high turnout as states move forward with this disproportionately discriminatory law.”