“We’re Young. We Vote!”

In September, along with several of my classmates, I joined in hosting a voter’s drive on-campus to get the local community of Wilkes-Barre and Wilkes University students, faculty, and staff to register to vote. While we were basically focusing on our fellow college students, anyone was welcome to register to vote or to update their information such as address or party. In the second part of our “We’re Young. We Vote!” campaign, we held a statewide televised focus group in which we wanted to find out what was important to young voters. In the last election, 47% of our age group, 18-24, came out the polls, which was a significant increase from the election in 2000. Typically only 25% of the 18-24 age bracket comes out to the polls. However, with the recent debates on global warming, gay marriage, and most importantly the War in Iraq, I believe that the 18-24 year olds will experience another boost at the polls.

The young vote will come out to the polls in 2008 for a bigger reason than the typical politician or American citizen might think. Yes, we want change in our government. We are sick of going to war for the sake of going to war. We are tired of being denied financial aid. We are tired of being judged by the romantic partners we choose to have. We are tired of seeing the signs of global warming being ignored. We will vote in 2008 with the hopes of our government will change for the better.

Some politicians are already noticing this. Politicians are reaching out to college students in a new technological savvy way. The online community website, Facebook, which recently has allowed public access, has become a new medium to target voters. Facebook, before it was public, was a community specifically for college students to have online profiles and groups. Several politicians, taking advantage of this new public domain, have now registered profiles. This allows the web-based college student to learn more about their politicians without looking on their websites. Because, let’s face it not every voter is an educated one. Some politicians who have gone on this virtual bandwagon include Senator Joe Biden, Senator John McCain, and Senator Barack Obama. While searching online to find their profiles, I came across several support groups and some not-so-friendly support groups created by various college students. Facebook has now defined a new era in online campaigning.

Another way politicians are reaching out to the younger voters is through online blogs. Blogs, such as the one we run here ourselves, are becoming a new way to target public interest. It is quite a necessity these days to have a blog on their website that will include statements, such as the ones we post, that summarize their feelings on issues. These blogs allow the public to get to know their candidates a little bit better before heading to the polls, and it also allows them to talk about a lot more issues on hand. Before, we had blogs, we had debates that were only limited to the “hot topics” and no one really wants to read the long never-ending text where every politician stands on these issues. Let’s face it, half of the time we could not even understand what the politician was trying to say! With the politicians starting to post, it makes their campaigns more accessible to a younger audience, who spend a good amount of their day online.

So that leaves me to this – if politicians are now starting to target the younger vote why doesn’t the rest of the country take us seriously? In the next 20 years, we will be the ones running for office, making policies and laws, and deciding if we go to war. Wouldn’t you want that future politician voting and getting their voice heard now? I know, I would.

Cheryl Gressley '08

Wilkes University
Communication Studies Major