state parties

One of the great side-effects of high youth turnout this year is a comparable increase in youth participation within the state parties. Here's two such stories.

First in Hawaii:

The infusion of new blood and energy is a blessing for many party activists eager for a "second wave" of new Democrats to keep the party in the majority in Hawai'i. With the state party's leadership in generational transition, the timing of the Obama surge is fortunate. The blend of new faces with party regulars enthusiastic about grassroots activism gives the convention a richness and vibrancy that has often been missing in recent years.
...
The number of party members under 35, according to the Young Democrats of Hawai'i, has jumped from under 1,000 to about 5,100 during the membership drive that surrounded the caucuses.

And in Wyoming:

Wyoming Democrats say the selection of two 18-year-olds as delegates to the party's national convention this summer is representative of an upswing in youth interest in politics -- a trend both Democrats and Republicans hope will translate into votes.
...
Mike Bell, chairman of the Laramie County Democrats, said this year's state Democratic convention was unique because of the competition for delegate positions and the number of young people involved. The young participants were well organized, he said.

"In years past, they've had to scramble to get people to go to the convention," Bell said. "There hasn't been this kind of excitement in a while."

You also probably remember that there were literally hundreds of young voters interested in delegate positions in California earlier this year.

These are all good signs, but we shouldn't pat ourselves on the back just yet. This is all anecdotal data from just a few states at the moment. Here are my top questions about youth participation within the state and national party structures:

• How many young people were successfully elected as pledged delegates at the state conventions this year? Are those numbers reflective of the youth share of the electorate in those states? If not (probably not), how can we use that to leverage the state parties and DNC into implementing the the mandatory youth affirmative action goals in the DNC charter?
• What resources will states put forth in organizing young voters this cycle? Which states will hire staff and actually have those staff work on youth identification and GOTV?
• How many young people are DNC committee members? Is that representative of young people's share of the Democratic electorate? If not, (probably not), how can we get more young people elected to the DNC?

I know that the DNC Youth Council is collecting data on the first issue. Many states have not yet selected their delegates and others are having problems collecting reliable data on delegates who qualify as "youth" (under 35). Hopefully we'll have a clearer picture of that soon. As for the other two questions - so far I don't know if anyone is working on that. The matter of how states dole out organizing resources is a tough one that will require a lot of local youth advocates making the case within their state party. The third issue seems to be a matter of data collection and self-organizing: find out how the election process works in each state and then help potential candidates navigate the system.

I'm flying down to Nashville this afternoon for the YDA Convention. I'll be asking around about these things.

Kevin Bondelli is on fire this week, first with his post about why and how chapter-based youth orgs should blog, and now with a new post outlining why young people should become involved in state and local parties, and a few ideas for how to go about doing it.

Here's an excerpt, go read the whole thing:

I know that’s what your thinking, and trust me, as a former state party employee I feel you, but the rewards of involvement will vastly outweigh the costs if you and your organization commit. Here is why:

• The local and state parties determine the allocation of a lot of resources, and if nobody is there to advocate for youth programs, they are going to be overlooked.
• Elected Precinct Committeepersons and state committee members (at least in Arizona) vote on who becomes delegates to Democratic National Conventions, so while advocating for youth representation goals in delegate selection plans is important, having a number of young democrats involved will make the biggest difference.
• Some of those older activists are actually quite interesting, and talking to them and learning from their experiences can be an invaluable education for you and your members.
• Fundraising lead generation. The members of your state and local parties are the high-efficacy donors, even if they are small-contribution donors, and knowing them personally will give you a much better opportunity of raising money.
• You can sell your organization and young voters in general to party regulars, and getting your message out to them will increase your legitimacy and exposure.
• You are officially changing your role from “future of the party” to the “present of the party.” As long as young democrats are absent from the regular party apparatus it will appear that Young Democrats is AAA and the local/state party is the major leagues, and when you get older you graduate and get called up.
• The more your state party knows you the more you will be able to partner up with their big events. In Arizona the state party works with YDAZ to have after-party fundraisers following their big dinners.

This is a little dated, but Kate Sheppard over at Tapped clued me in to a 2003 CIRCLE study (pdf) that examined the role that state parties play in engaging young voters in the political process. The study found that among Democratic and Republican state party leaders, an overwhelming majority thought that senior citizens were the most important demographic for the long-term health of the party. Yeah, wrap your head around the logic of that one.

When asked an open-ended question, only 5% of Democratic Party leaders and 8% of Republican Party leaders thought that younger voters were the most important group for the future health of their party. Each official was asked this question two more times, and at the end of the survey, only 32% of Democratic leaders and 26% of Republican leaders mentioned young people as a constituency of any importance to the party.

Granted, this study was published in 2003, a few months before the youth organizing boom revved up, and it was over a year before youth turnout began it's upward trend. But this is a good indication for how clueless the parties were - and to a large extent continue to be - about the importance of engaging young voters.

I'd love to see a follow-up to this study. My bet is that the situation wasn't much changed as recently as two months ago, though after Obama's big youth turnouts, it's an open question now. The youth organizing movement now has a huge opportunity to push the state and national parties into putting real resources into young voter engagement and turnout.