How many times have you heard someone say “Young People Don’t Vote?” It’s one of the most self-fulfilling prophecies of modern politics. One we’re out to change.

In a typical campaign, young people get knocked off a campaign target list because they are unreliable voters or because they’re hard to track as they move residences year after year. As a result, young people rarely hear from candidates and almost never hear about a candidate’s stance on the issues we truly care about.

Due to this “cycle of mutual neglect” candidates and campaigns don’t focus on young people so young people don’t vote.

When candidates and campaigns do focus on young people, they often pick the worst possible tactics. They try to simply make voting cool. Often the focus is simply on voting, and not on creating informed young voters. Young people, like any other age demographic, need to be talked with about real issues and why Democrats are a better choice.

The 2004 election cycle showed this trend is one that we can change. Young people showed up and increased their turnout by 11 percentage points—double that of any other age group. Young voter turnout was the highest since 18 year olds were given the right to vote in 1972.

Before the November elections, 70 percent of young people said they received NO contact from a party or candidate. Post-election, this shrunk to below 40 percent indicating the intense focus on young people by political groups.

What was the difference in 2004? Youth groups like the Young Democrats decided to conduct peer-to-peer voter contact projects focusing on partisan issues. Young people responded to this message and demonstrated a much closer alignment to values expressed by Democrats than those of Republicans.

Not surprisingly, the only age group Kerry won nationally was young voters (under the age of 30). Kerry received 54 percent of the votes from this group compared with Bush’s 45 percent.

Here in Thurston County, we’re going to continue this model by reaching out to our peers and providing forums to discuss issues important to young voters. If you live in Thurston County, we encourage you to sign our Pledge to Vote – and to get active in this election!