student voter turnout pirg new voters project

Bumped. Eric Greenberg is the Chairman and CEO of Beautifull! Food, as well as the author of Generation We: How Millennial Youth Are Taking Over America and Changing Our World Forever. -Craig

Well, today is election day and there are several important races destined to be determined. I have read several articles in various blogs and newspapers, raising the question of "where are the Millennials and will they vote?" I fear "disengaged" youth will be to blamed for election day turnout (or lack there of). But what people have yet to learn is how to engage the youth in a empowering and meaningful way, Obama did it successfully, but others have not yet gotten the message.

Paradoxically, members of Generation We are not quick to claim for themselves the mantle of being particularly active or politically engaged, even though they are, in fact, among the most involved young people in history. In our focus groups, many Millennials criticized their own generation as being “apathetic” or “materialistic.”
There are a number of possible explanations for this paradox.

One is that the Millennials are measuring their and their generation’s activism—actually high relative to earlier generations of young people—against the seriousness of the planetary problems they face and finding it wanting. They are worried that their generation has not yet launched the kind of social and political movement they see as necessary to address the major issues of our time. This attitude is a reflection of their strong sense of responsibility—and also a measure of their readiness to step forward when conditions are right and a clear agenda emerges for Millennials to rally around.

Negative media coverage of youth probably also plays a role. It is intriguing to note that although Millennials in the June 2007 Democracy Corps survey were overwhelmingly convinced (87 percent) that the word “materialistic” well-described people their own age, only 35 percent felt that term well-described themselves. Generation We as a group strongly condemns materialism even as they believe (or fear) it is rampant among their peers.

The fact is Generation We is ready to work for large-scale change and to support the kind of collective movement they consider necessary for such change to occur. Perhaps only such a movement—one that empowers individuals to become, in Gandhi’s words, “the change they wish to see in the world”—can overcome the barriers Millennials see as holding them and their generation back.

We’d argue that a movement aimed at engaging and mobilizing Generation We must build on the distinctive aspects of the Millennial personality: a view that overcoming tradition and innovating to create a better future is both necessary and a central strength of their generation; a wish to embody in their lives and actions the kind of change they are seeking to make; an unabashed willingness to use their economic power as consumers; a deep embeddedness in social networks; a clear-eyed assessment of the difficulties of change, which leads them to seek not just action but plans for successful action; and of course, an appreciation of the potential of the new technologies that have done so much to shape this generation.

In short, Generation We is becoming more active and increasingly ready to support a collective social movement that embraces both government and entrepreneurship focused on the greater good. Based on their numbers and their sense of urgency, once such a movement emerges it is certain to be large, powerful, and lasting.

From Sujatha Jahagirdar, Program Director for the Student PIRGs' New Voters Project:

With polls closed on the east coast, a lot is still happening on campuses around the country:

Ongoing problems at the polling place at the University of South Florida drew out the Hillsborough County supervisor of elections, who showed up at the Marshall Student Center with more voting material. Since then, the line is moving twice as fast. Also, Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Earnest Graham showed up to ease the frustration of waiting in line. He walked around, having conversations with people in line and signing autographs.

At The Ohio State University polling location at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, pollworkers are reporting that 546 people have voted so far, compared to only 7 people who voted there in 2004! In addition, at Precinct 39-B 1041 students had voted by 1 p.m., compared to only 622 who voted in 2004.

At one close-to-campus precinct near Salem State College in Massachusetts, as of 7 p.m. 1200 people had voted, out of 1400 registered voters.

At one University of Maryland polling place,1440 students had voted as of 6 p.m., almost twice as many as in 2004.

Temple University students are now waiting up to four hours to vote at the 12th and Susquehanna polling location in Philadelphia, which serves three of the biggest dormitories on campus. This is just the latest voting problem that Temple students have faced today - this morning students reported that voting machines were broken at the 15th and Gerard polling place.

To help students pass the time, the Temple Student Government brought in a DJ who will stay until the polls close. When it rained on the long line of voters, PennPIRG students handed out umbrellas and ponchos.

Out west, where the polls are still open, students at Arizona State University - Tempe are facing a 90 minute wait at one poll. Volunteers have been passing out copies of The New York Times and have been having conversations with people waiting in line to help them pass the time.

At CU Boulder, Precinct #102, 607 students voted early. In contrast, 668 people total had voted for all of 2004.

From Sujatha Jahagirdar, Program Director for the Student PIRGs' New Voters Project:

Our album of Election Day photos is growing. We'll keep adding to it throughout the day, featuring photos of long lines at the polls and other highlights. Check it out here.

Turnout at campus precincts continues to look very strong:

At the University of Connecticut Storrs, ConnPIRG volunteers report a wait time of 3+ hours. Pollworkers are having students make a separate line from non-students. While the student line is moving at the 3 hour pace, the non-student line has only a 30 minute wait.

The polling places near the University of Maryland are reporting lines of 1 hour and 15 minutes.

At Iowa State University, one of the nearby student-dense precincts had 311 ballots cast as of 12 noon. In contrast, 430 people cast ballots in all of 2004.

At the University of Arizona, pollworkers report that this is the first year there has ever been a line to vote.

A pollworker at the polling place near the St. Louis Community College - Meramec in Missouri told us that she's been a pollworker for 20 years and has never seen turnout like this.

And voting problems continue to pop up:

At Cincinnati University, student Patrick Mcconville got his voter registration card from the election board. The card told him to vote at the 12-H St Monica Parish poll. When he came to vote, however, he wasn't on the rolls. Rather than taking the time to figure out why, or figure out if he is in another precinct but got the wrong card, pollworkers made him vote provisionally.

This morning, we reported that pollworkers at the University of Southern Florida precincts were refusing to allow properly registered voters who needed to change their address to cast a regular ballot. Florida PIRG organizers contacted Election Protection, who were able to resolve the problem quickly.

At Rutgers, the quick footwork of NJPIRG organizers helped one Rutgers student cast a ballot. This morning, the student wrote us an email, saying that pollworkers could not find her on the rolls, even though she was confident she was properly registered. NJPIRG organizers quickly contacted the county board of elections, confirmed the student's registration, and got instructions from the elections director to tell the student to go back and vote again. This time it worked, and another ballot was successfully cast.

From Sujatha Jahagirdar, Program Director for the Student PIRGs' New Voters Project:

Here are some more quick updates from campuses around the country.

In Arizona, restrictive registration and ID requirements flagged by the Student PIRGs in 2006 are already taking their toll on students' right to have their vote counted. State law requires the address on the voter rolls to match the student's driver's license. Students who have different addresses for each must produce two utility bills with the same address on the voter rolls or one utility bill and a special voter ID card. All of these requirements are unrealistic given students' high mobility. At one precinct near the Arizona State University-Tempe, 27 of the 80 students who cast ballots this morning we’re required to cast a provisional ballot.

Our network of pollwatchers have been checking in with pollworkers regularly to monitor turnout and flag problems. Here are a few more reports:

At a poll near Salem State College in Massachusetts, nearly four times as many people have voted today as had voted at that polling place at the same time of day in 2004.

At UMass Dartmouth's local polling place, 425 people had voted by noon, setting them on pace to easily surpass the number (865) who had voted at that same poll in 2004.

Pollworkers at Rutgers Newark estimate that turnout today is double what it was in 2004.

Pollworkers at the University of South Florida precinct report that turnout is "not even comparable to 2004 - this year there's a line, last time it was a trickle."

Pollworkers at Temple University report that turnout has far surpassed the 2004 experience. Voters have had to wait up to two hours to vote.

Pollworkers at UW Green Bay say that turnout as of 10 a.m. was double the 10 a.m. turnout in 2004.

Pollworkers at UC Berkeley report that turnout at one polling place is already five times that of the primary elections.

From Sujatha Jahagirdar, Program Director for the Student PIRGs' New Voters Project:

Some new updates from campuses across the country.

A set of legal problems have cropped up at the polls this morning:

By 7:45 this morning in Cincinnati, Ohio, four students were mistakenly turned away at the polls by pollworkers who incorrectly told them they were at the wrong polling place. Ohio PIRG organizers confirmed with the Hamilton County Board of Elections that the students had indeed arrived at the proper polling place. It is unclear if those four students were eventually able to vote.

Florida law allows registered voters to change their registration address at any polling place in the state, so long as they complete a change of address form. As of this morning, however, pollworkers near the University of South Florida have mistakenly told students they may not vote if they are registered outside of Tampa. Florida PIRG organizers have contacted Election Protection, who has dispatched their legal council to remedy the problem.

In District 41-D in the student heavy district of Columbus, Ohio, Ohio PIRG organizers report that pollworkers are telling students to complete provisional ballots without providing a reason why. In addition, we have at least one report of pollworkers telling students who arrived at the wrong polling place to complete a provisional ballot, instead of directing them to the correct polling site. This has affected at least 20 students to date. One Ohio State University student reported having been told to complete a provisional ballot, even though she correctly re-registered at her new address before the registration deadline.

Long lines continue to appear at campus polling places:

Hundreds of Ohio State University students were lined up at the polls starting at 6:30 am. Ohio PIRG volunteers kept people entertained with doughnuts and coloring books while they waited.

Temple University students in Pennsylvania faced early morning lines up to two hours long.

At Arizona State University, one precinct is reporting a one hour wait to vote.

The University of South Florida continues to face serious problems, with wait times of three to three and a half hours at one polling place.

From Sujatha Jahagirdar, Program Director for the Student PIRGs' New Voters Project:

I'll be posting updates all day from campuses about voter turnout and other breaking election news.

So far this morning, a number of campuses are seeing long lines at the polls:

Students at Indiana University lined up at 7 a.m. at their local polling place, with many waiting between an hour and an hour and 20 minutes to vote.

In Ohio, students at Oberlin College waited 60-90 minutes at two local polling places.

At the University of South Florida, lines were up to 2 hours long.

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, students were waiting an hour in line to vote on campus.

Turnout is already looking high at some polling places:

At the polling place on the Busch campus of Rutgers University, pollworkers reported that 250 students had already voted by early this morning. In 2004, only 400 people voted at that polling place all day.

We have an album of Election Day photos that we'll be adding to throughout the day, featuring photos of long lines at the polls and other highlights. Check it out here.