'No Vote, No Voice': Why young adults should care about the election

I checked in at the Kennedy School of Government Web site at Harvard to get a little more information on this seminar that Fresno County Supervisor Henry Perea's going to be attending -- it sounds fascinating.

Here is our story from Saturday:

Henry Perea, next year's chairman of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, plans to leave today for a weeklong leadership program at Harvard.

Perea is scheduled to attend the John F. Kennedy School of Government Executive Education's National Preparedness Leadership Initiative. The program is designed for state, federal and local government leaders who must handle crisis situations such as natural disasters and terror events.

Perea said it's his duty to be ready to lead in a crisis. He also said that as chairman next year, he wants to look at strategies to identify potential targets and protect those assets.

Perea said he was selected for the program through a competitive process and received a partial scholarship; the other half of his tuition is being paid from his campaign account.

I cannot wait for him to get back to talk to us about what he learned there.

Meanwhile, I got sidetracked by an interesting new online effort by the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics to boost youth voting in the primaries.

The Insitute of Politics has set up this homepage here to offer ways for young people to register to vote and get news and information about the candidates and campaigns of the 2008 presidential primary process. Young people are also being invited to create their own original or mashup video showing “Why Voting Matters,” and upload the video to the “No Vote, No Voice” YouTube.com channel here. Sounds like an intriguing way to reach young people to me -- and there is so much at stake for them.

The press release says:

A key component of the “No Vote, No Voice” project is a Facebook.com application young people can download to their online profiles. Using the application, youth who “pledge” to vote in an upcoming presidential primary or caucus will be sent important state-specific voting deadline reminders to their Facebook.com page, including those for registering to vote and sending in an absentee ballot.
Navigating the logistics of where and how to vote can be confusing, particularly for those who have never voted before or who choose to vote by absentee ballot. Intended to be an easy-to-navigate voter education web portal, http://www.novotenovoice.com will offer – all in one place – links to voter information and registration websites to help first-time voters. For example, a visitor to the “No Vote, No Voice” homepage can quickly learn more about presidential candidates and their positions on various issues via a searchable website (http://www.votegopher.com), find youth-oriented news and perspective on the 2008 race, and get links to candidate websites if interested in volunteering on a presidential campaign. Additionally, the website will offer a selection of video clips from inspirational speeches given by political leaders over the past several decades.

"The most glaring weakness of American democracy is the primary process where candidates are chosen and platforms established," said IOP Director and former U.S. Representative (R-IA) James A. Leach. "Americans like choice and the chance to participate in decision-making, but the irony is that the vast majority of citizens have left to a narrow few the responsibility of choosing who will represent the political parties in general elections. College is about preparing for the future, but citizenship can’t be put off."

Although younger voter turnout has – like the rest of the electorate – traditionally been much lower in primaries and caucuses than in general elections, in 2000 and 2004 youth turnout in general elections increased markedly and the "No Vote, No Voice" project is part of the Institute’s effort to expand youth participation at the beginning as well as the end of the electoral process.

While older voters have a history of voting in higher percentages than young voters, exit polls indicate that during the 2004 presidential election the 18-29 year-old demographic group cast in total slightly more votes than seniors aged 65 and older.

Young people who forward the Facebook.com application and encourage their friends to vote will be automatically entered to win weekly prizes including gift cards and an Apple iPod “Touch.” All eligible participants will also be entered to win the “No Vote, No Voice” grand prize, an all-expenses paid trip for two to watch a taping of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” in New York City in the Spring of 2008.

The Institute is also inviting young people to create their own original or mashup video showing “Why Voting Matters,” and upload the video to the “No Vote, No Voice” YouTube.com channel (http://www.youtube.com/group/novotenovoice). Submitted videos will be played on the channel until the conclusion of the contest period (February 15, 2008), and the creator of the best video will receive an Apple iPod “Touch.”