For Immediate Release:
November 2, 2006

Contact:
Tina Post, New Voters Project, 312-291-0349, ext. 219, tpost@pirg.org
Dave Rosenfeld, New Voters Project, 503-231-4181, ext. 311, daver@pirg.org
Ben Unger, New Voters Project, 503-351-8833, bunger@pirg.org

With a number of toss-up races bound to determine the Congressional balance of power this midterm election, many politicians and opinion-makers are focusing on young voters—a previously disparaged constituency—as the demographic to watch. Experts point to Ohio and New Jersey, both places with highly contested Senate races, as places where the youth vote could decide the election.

Ohio and New Jersey both have plenty of potential young voters. Ohio State University is currently the largest campus in the country, with 51,818 students enrolled at its Columbus campus. The Rutgers University system in New Jersey has over 50,000 students as well. Senate races in the two states may well be decided by mere hundreds of votes.

“Students on this campus are definitely aware that the Senate race is extremely close,” says Sarah Clader, the student Campaign Coordinator for the New Voters Project of the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group (NJPIRG). The race between Democratic Incumbent Robert Menendez and the Republican challenger Thomas Kean, Jr. is currently too close to name a front-runner. “Hopefully students will have a hand in deciding the outcome of this election,” Clader continued. “That would go a long way toward increasing respect for young voters.”

This has been a banner year for youth mobilization, with groups working to register thousands of young voters across the country. Mobilization groups point to the 11 percentage point increase in youth vote during the 2004 election, and a 15-19% increase in districts where youth vote was targeted during the 2005 election, as reasons to be optimistic about young voters. Efforts by the New Voters Project have registered over 70,000 young voters enrolled at colleges and universities around the country; it’s the largest campus component of a wider coalition effort coordinated by Young Voter Strategies and funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Another factor fueling this election’s focus on Generation is evidence that Generation Y is more politically engaged than Generation X was. Generation Y is also huge in number, providing ample reason for both parties to reach out to them—Generation Y voters will represent a third of the U.S. electorate by 2015. Additionally, online networks like FaceBook and MySpace have helped politicians feel like they have a place to connect to young voters.

In Ohio, the Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown and the Republican incumbent Mike DeWine both have FaceBook profiles online. DeWine and Brown have both made visits to college campuses in the state as well. Students say they’re receptive to the gesture.

“It's so great that students are being recognized as active and engaged citizens,” says Sara Feldenkris, a volunteer with OSU Votes, the nonpartisan student mobilization effort of Ohio PIRG’s New Voters Project, the John Glenn Institute, and the Undergraduate Student Government. “It's important to change the perception of college students as apathetic non-voters: it's time to make our elected officials pay attention to us.”

The Student Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) are non-partisan, student directed, state-based organizations that work to solve public interest problems related to the environment, consumer protection, and government reform. For 30 years, students involved with PIRG chapters on college campuses have had a chance to face up to society's big problems, take action, and win concrete changes that improve the quality of our lives. The goal of the Student PIRGs’ New Voters Project is to increase youth electoral participation and show politicians and opinion leaders that young voters are an important constituency, deserving and demanding of their attention. www.studentpirgs.org

Young Voter Strategies, a project of the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University, with support from The Pew Charitable Trusts, provides the public, parties, candidates, consultants and non-profits with data on the youth vote and tools to effectively mobilize this electorate for upcoming elections.  We are committed to make the targeting of young voters a more permanent part of electoral strategies. www.youngvoterstrategies.org