USSA

Responses to Catherine Rampell's Op-Ed in the Washington Post, which trashed youth orgs - particularly Rock the Vote - were published in today's edition of the paper. My own LTE didn't run, but three others did - one from Rock the Vote, one from the Student PIRGs, and one from USSA:

Galvanizing Young Voters

Saturday, April 5, 2008; A13

Catherine Rampell's March 30 op-ed column, "Why Obama Rocks the Vote," falsely framed recent surges in turnout of young adults -- voters ages 18 to 29 -- and failed to recognize the important work done by nonpartisan organizations such as Rock the Vote.

Turnout of these young voters in fall elections increased by 4.3 million in 2004 and by another 2 million in 2006. Far from being an anomaly, 2008 is set to become the third major election in a row with an increase in turnout among young voters.

While Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign is doing excellent work engaging young adults this year, our research shows that registration is a major step toward participation. In 2004, 82 percent of registered young adults voted, up from 74 percent in 2000. In 2004, Rock the Vote registered nearly 1 million voters, and already in 2008, more than 500,000 young adults have used our online tool to register to vote. Like the Obama campaign, Rock the Vote's message embraces the hopeful spirit of the millennial generation, and our tested and proven strategies of peer-to-peer mobilization reflect youth culture.

We're seeing unprecedented engagement in the primaries and caucuses so far and are confident we'll see this continue through November.

-- Heather Smith

Washington

The writer is executive director of Rock the Vote.

·

Catherine Rampell's analysis of trends in youth voting was misleading. Youth voter turnout was on the rise long before the 2008 elections. In 2004 alone, turnout among those ages 18 to 24 rose at a rate nearly three times that of the general population.

Rampell also ignored a vast body of research that points to the efficacy of canvasses, phone banks and other on-the-ground grass-roots methods. It's likely that this research, combined with the increase in turnout, persuaded most of the candidates to pay more attention to young people this primary season, turbocharging the youth vote even more.

By ignoring this correlation, Rampell missed a chance to explain the exciting continued increase in young voter turnout.

-- Sujatha Jahagirdar

Los Angeles

-- Carmen Berkley

Washington

Sujatha Jahagirdar is program director for Student Public Interest Research Groups' New Voter Project, and Carmen Berkley is vice president of the U.S. Student Association.

Since the hold is now off, here's what I submitted to them for publication. I think I exceeded the word limit . . . :

In her recent Op-Ed on the youth vote (Why Obama Rocks the Vote, March 30), Catherine Rampell trafficked in some of the worst stereotypes about young voters and conveniently skipped over significant events in the last 5 years that thoroughly disprove the bulk of her argument.

Ms Rampell is right to note that Sen. Obama is playing a crucial role in increasing youth turnout this election cycle, but rising youth turnout is not a new phenomenon. It began in 2004 when young voters created dozens of new organizations – partisan and non-partisan – to target their peers. In 2004, voter turnout among 18 – 29 year olds rose 9%. In 2006, this trend continued and the youth vote rose for the first time during a midterm election sine the 1980s.

Before Senator Obama was ever on the ballot, organizations like The League of Young Voters, the Young Voter Alliance, Music for America and many more were driving young people to the polls in greater numbers. Senator Obama, whose youth operation is staffed with veterans of 2004 and 2006, is building on the successes of these groups.

Ms. Rampell’s piece neglected to mention any of this, preferring instead to repeat stereotypes about young voters and youth organizing that may have held true in the 1990s, during the reign of Generation X, but bear little resemblance to the realities of youth organizing today. In this, she is not alone. The revolution in youth politics I describe has gone largely unnoticed in the media.

As Senator Obama might say, it’s time the media abandoned the (youth) politics of the past and embrace the change that has occurred right under their noses.

Michael Connery
Author – Youth to Power: How Today’s Young Voters Are Building Tomorrow’s Progressive Majority

John Edwards and Barack Obama released their education plans this week. Both are proposing solid first steps to reduce the burden that rising tuition places on students and eliminate some of the most egregious abuses of the government/corporate lending system.

The plans are both good (and I'll post a head to head review of both plans later this week) but I'd like to see the candidates take it a step further.

As Jonathan Singer and Peter Levine have both noted, Obama and Edwards are taking a somewhat original approach to organizing their campaigns. In addition to asking for traditional campaign support - volunteer hours, donations, and local organizing - these campaigns are asking their supporters to take action on specific policy issues. John Edwards has been doing this for months - indeed, his entire campaign is designed around the idea that he and his supporters need to be the change they want to see. That's the whole idea behind OneCorps, Edwards' dual community service/campaign organization. So far, OneCorps has asked members to support the troops by stopping the war and reduce their carbon footprint, among other actions. Barack Obama's campaign seems to be following suit. He recently asked his supporters to contact their Senators and Congressmen to end the war. In short, these candidates are organizing their followers to impact policy before they are elected to higher office as a way of campaigning to attain that office.

Nobody's hit a home run with this type of organizing yet, but so far I like it. Seeing a candidate engage in direct action before attaining higher office can help defuse the initial skepticism of politicians and politics that many voters - particularly younger voters - feel. These action campaigns show voters that the candidates are about more than words. This isn't "trust what I say, not what I do." Rather than force voters to take it on faith that a candidate will live up to his/her rhetoric once they are in office, these campaigns are showing now how they would act on some of the major issues of the day for young voters.

That's why, following on the release of their education plans, I'd like to see these - and all - candidates organize students to take action on two major policy proposals new before Congress: the Student Loan Sunshine Act and the renewal of the Higher Education Act (pdf).

Here's what I think that would look like:

Jennifer S. Pae is the president of the United States Student Association, the country’s oldest and largest national student association representing millions of students across the country in the Capitol, the White House, and the Department of Education. Jennifer recently ended her term as the primary student negotiator for the student loan committee for the Department of Education.

Right now, a corrupt college official and student loan lender may be purchasing a round of mojitos with your student loan check. Unfortunately, we have come to learn through Attorney General Cuomo’s recent investigations that this is not as absurd as it may sound.

Deceitful student loan practices have festered for years without federal oversight. Now that widespread corruption has been revealed, college students and their families must increase the pressure on Congress and the U.S. Department of Education to restore integrity to the nation’s higher education system.

Recently, Education Secretary Spellings testified before the House Education Committee and, once again, students are left behind in the debate over regulation and enforcement of the growing problems within the student loan industry. Chairman Miller grilled Secretary Spellings on the lack of enforcement by the Department with the student loan industry for unethical behaviors. While the Secretary explained that the “hurdle is too high” for enforcement due to unclear regulations and claimed that she was already taking large strides in oversight.