The Student PIRGs: 25 Years of Mobilizing the Youth Vote

The Student PIRGs’ New Voters Project is the country’s oldest and largest non-partisan youth voter mobilization campaign.

The Student PIRGs started the New Voters Project way back in 1983, about a decade after 18 year olds first got the right to vote, when it became clear that youth voter turnout was dangerously low.  We cared about that because a democracy is strongest when citizens participate. If America’s youngest voters aren’t participating now, then our political system is in long-term trouble. 

Since then, we’ve developed a proven model for increasing youth voter turnout.  We’ve shown how voter registration drives and personalized Election Day reminders can boost the youth vote.  We’ve shown how anyone at any skill level or experience can run a great voter mobilization program at any scale – on one campus, or on 200 campuses in 25 states.  Our work has been studied extensively by social scientists, and reviewed by political operatives from both political parties.  And we’ve trained some of the nation’s top leaders, including Heather Smith from Rock the Vote, Antonio Gonzales from Southwest Voter Project and Jessy Tolkan of the Energy Action Coalition. 

Ours and others’ work is starting to pay off.  After decades of decline, youth voter turnout is now increasing faster than the general population.  In 2004, youth turnout increased by 11 percentage points over 2000.  In 2006, the number of young people who vote increased by 2 million votes, while the general population’s increased only slightly.  And turnout in the 2008 presidential contest to date, has been astonishing, with primary turnout figures doubling, tripling and quadrupling in many states. 

This is all good news, but remember that even with these increases, only 42 percent of all eligible youth voted in 2004.

So we still have lots of work to do.  And the first order of business is to make sure we keep the trendline going up for 2008.  So let’s get to work.