[Mb-civic] Voters, Fighters, Citizens, Youth

Fri Nov 19 10:01:20 PST 2004

Voters, Fighters, Citizens, Youth

By Zack Pelta-Heller, WireTap
 Posted on November 18, 2004, Printed on November 19, 2004
 http://www.alternet.org/story/20538/

³A lot of people are having a hell of a time putting a finger on what to do
next,² says Chris Walla, guitarist for the indie rock band, Death Cab for
Cutie. Over 50 percent of the youth in this country turned out in this
election, and like a good portion of those, Walla is feeling somewhat
unmoored. ³When you get that far into a cause, it comes as a huge shock when
something like this happens,² he explains.

 Walla and his band members got involved in the effort to get out the youth
vote last February. Soon, they were opening for Pearl Jam on MoveOn PAC¹s
Vote for Change Tour and playing shows sponsored by Music for America, a
partisan non-profit that spent the year building what they call a ³movement
to unify youth culture and 21st century progressive political
participation.²

³I¹m certainly going to continue to be involved with MoveOn and Music for
America,² Walla told AlterNet. He also reports that Death Cab singer Ben
Gibbard is ³fired up and writing political songs for the first time, which
is really exciting.² For the time being, Walla says he plans to return his
home town, Seattle, because he feels it¹s where his activism and political
influence is most needed now.

 As November 2004 winds to an end and progressive artists and activists
begin looking forward to turning the page on their calendars, the struggle
isn¹t about whether to stay engaged in politics, it¹s more about how.

 To begin with, there are the facts. While the youth vote didn¹t deliver the
presidential election for John Kerry, as many hoped it would, the turnout
was undeniably high. Despite what some pundits and mainstream media sources
were quick to suggest in the wake of the election, the percentage of
eligible 18-29-year-olds who voted on Nov. 2 was the highest it's been since
the voting age was lowered to 18 in 1972.

 This high turnout didn¹t just magically occur. Although the stakes were
perhaps higher this year than they have been in the last few decades, more
youth voted because it was what was asked  and at times demanded‹of them.
Countless massive efforts‹from non-partisan and partisan groups alike  were
made to reach out to young people in the months leading up to the election.
Organizations like Citizen Change, The New Voters Project, The League of
Pissed Off Voters and Music for America took to the streets, to the
airwaves, and to concerts and churches, using all means available to spread
awareness of the issues surrounding the election and the urgent need to
exercise the right to vote.

The exit polls numbers speak for themselves: 21 million 18-29-year-olds
voted on Nov. 2. Voters under 30 favored Kerry over Bush 54-45 percent. But
what cannot be tabulated is the profound impact that activist groups made in
communities all across this country. More than simply registering voters,
these organizations started a dialogue among young voters (and potential
voters) that might have a lasting effect on the political future of this
country.

In the months prior to the election, it was hard to miss Citizen Change¹s
forceful, pseudo-ultimatum, ³Vote or Die.² A project of Sean ³P. Diddy²
Combs, Citizen Change didn¹t get off the ground until July of this year.
Even with a late start, it¹s hard to deny that the group did their part in
getting out the vote, particularly in African American and inner-city
communities. According to Alexis McGill, the group¹s executive director,
Citizen Change made a ³tremendous impact² on youth voter turnout by tapping
into pre-existing markets in order to reach their audience. They got DJs
talking about politics on the radio (Clear Channel and Radio One are
partners of Citizen Change), and they utilized the ³mixed tape circuit² in
order to spread their ³Vote or Die² statement. Citizen Change also spoke to
receptive audiences at churches and community centers. In the course of only
four months, Citizen Change spent over four million dollars, primarily on
street teams set on registering and informing voters. ³We went to places
politicians didn¹t, to the point where we got calls saying people saw more
ŒVote or Die¹ posters than posters for either Bush or Kerry,² says McGill.

 Many of Citizen Change¹s supporters were initially disappointed at the Bush
win, but they say they have already begun looking forward. Although P. Diddy
had no intention of making Citizen Change a direct conduit to elected
officials, the organization is now looking to continue to educate voters on
the issues that mattered most in this past election and will continue to
reach out to youth of color. As McGill puts it, ³the communities have
changed ... people have started talking about the issues.²

 One thing that¹s clear: the conversations this election have spurred are
not over. According to Ivan Frishberg, communications director for The New
Voters Project, ³The natural next step is to keep the connection alive
between the elected and the electors, and to build that connection around
issues that are priorities for young people.² The New Voters Project focused
their grassroots efforts in Iowa, New Mexico, Oregon, Wisconsin, Nevada, and
Colorado, and successfully registered almost 350,000 18-24-year-olds and
over 100,000 people over 25. As for the fear that voter turnout could drop
off in the years to come, as it did after the 1992 election, Frishberg says,
³The issues that made this an intense election are still here and our
experience is that many young people are not ready to skulk back to the
shadows.²

Staying Vocal

One organization that is not about to let young voters become disenchanted
with the political process is The League of Pissed Off Voters (a name that
speaks to the general voter dissatisfaction after the last two presidential
elections). This partisan group grew out of the mounting fervor leading up
to the election and became a national organization made of smaller teams of
local organizers. Naina Khanna, The League¹s national field director says
she thinks the group succeeded in their overall mission to enable young
people to participate in the election in a meaningful way.

 ³We had an issues-based agenda,² said Khanna. ³We wanted to make politics
accessible to young people, to empower people by teaching them about issues
that affect their communities.² In order to determine which issues were of
particular concern to voters, The League sent volunteers to survey peers and
community members.

The local basis for the organization meant that The League used the momentum
of the presidential election to galvanize people to get involved closer to
home. In many cases, the effects were tangible. In Portland, Maine, for
example, The League mobilized a few thousand extra voters on Election Day,
which enabled Green Party incumbent John Eder to keep his seat in the State
Senate by a slim margin of about 500 votes. It¹s efforts like these that
prove the potency of young progressives in the electoral process.

 Khanna admitted that her voters were devastated by the results of the
presidential election, but The League is looking to the long-term in trying
to establish a progressive government. ³We need a 40-year plan,² Khanna
stresses, ³that¹s what the Right had in this election. ... The movement of
newly engaged young people will continue, and we will keep supporting young
voters locally to lobby and hold elected officials accountable.² In addition
to educating voters on major issues, League members are eager to remind
people that their elected officials have a responsibility to them,
regardless of whom they voted for.

 In the short-term, The League has wasted no time in reenergizing. Over the
past weekend, they held public hearings in a Baptist Church and at the
courthouse in Columbus, Ohio, where the votes were not completely counted
before John Kerry conceded the election. Disappointed voters turned out in
scores to tell their stories of Election Day voting difficulties. Khanna
says that the weekend ended with a moving discussion on electoral reforms,
but recalled that the most moving part was listening to people voice their
support for The League for making voting accessible in the elections to
come.

Register Them Today for Tomorrow

For many voting was made more accessible this year, but the fight is not
over. Music for America has vowed to make accessibility a chief concern in
the coming years. Molly Moon, MfA¹s 25-year-old executive director, says
that same-day registration must be allowed everywhere, and that MfA began
registering voters again the day after the election at various concert
venues. MfA took part in or organized 2,304 of the approximately 3,500 music
and political events that occurred prior to the election. They hosted
renowned groups like Death Cab for Cutie and The Beastie Boys as well as
lesser-known and local bands. According to Moon, The artists reached out to
voters by ³talking about real issues affecting people ... talking about how
unemployment sucked, or how young people don¹t like bans on gay marriage, or
were screwed out of jobs or benefits and social security, and how they¹re
oppressed by drug laws strengthened through this Republican administration.²

 MfA was also formed within the past year. The group registered 20,000 new
voters and engaged over 45,000 youth in the political process by making them
members of the MfA community. Of course, as partisan participants, these
voters were also initially deflated after Nov. 2. ³The day after the
election,² Moon said, ³e-mails [from MfA members] began pouring in, saying
ŒWe¹ve cried, we¹ve kicked and screamed. We¹re ready to work.¹²

 Already, MfA has begun looking ahead to 2006 and 2008, trying to include
people as young as 14 in the process, in order to ensure an even higher
voter turnout in the next presidential election. Moon feels that now is the
time to use the awakened participatory culture to change politics. They have
also kept the dialogue going by opening MfA up to ideas and decisions of its
members, who can participate in online forums on their Web site.

 Like Chris Walla, Moon knows that a large percentage of America's youth are
looking to talk share ideas with their peers. As Walla puts it, ³It¹s hard
to know where to start now, but I know there are similarly minded people out
there, and I will be finding them.²