Declare Yourself hails record youth turnout
Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: News
LOS ANGELES - Declare Yourself, the national nonpartisan, nonprofit youth voter registration initiative, today hailed record-level participation by 18-to-29-year-olds in yesterday's primaries, which nearly tripled youth turnout in Texas and nearly doubled youth turnout in Ohio as compared to the 2000 elections.
"Young voters were inspired by the pivotal nature of yesterday's races, particularly on the Democratic side, to participate in a wave that swamped prior youth voting levels and continued the unprecedented 18-29 year-old involvement in this presidential campaign," said Marc Morgenstern, Executive Director of Declare Yourself.
"Young voters stated loud and clear that they are an important factor in determining the next president and must be listened to."
Exit polling (Source: CIRCLE) found that more than 620,000 young people voted in Texas (versus 172,000 in 2000) and youth turnout increased to 17 percent from 6 percent of eligible 18-29 year-olds. In Ohio, more than 479,000 young people voted (versus 260,000 in 2000), an increase to 25 percent from 15 percent of eligible young voters. Vermont and Rhode Island numbers were forthcoming.
Morgenstern added that Declare Yourself registered more than 300,000 young voters through its on-line form in late January and early February, as young people sought to meet state registration deadlines to vote in yesterday's primaries. The organization used email and cell phone text reminders to get out the youth vote. "We have used all the tools of the Internet and social networking to make it much easier for young people to navigate the confusing registration process and participate," said Morgenstern. "Use of technology has paid off in these record voting numbers."
Declare Yourself, founded by television pioneer Norman Lear, further confirmed that it has registered unprecedented numbers of young people to vote in the 2008 primaries through declareyourself.com and dozens of on-line partners, including MySpace.com/declareyourself, Yahoo.com, Facebook.com and Votolatino.org. This accelerated registration pace puts Declare Yourself well on its way to exceed its target of 2 million registrations by the general election.
"Young voters were inspired by the pivotal nature of yesterday's races, particularly on the Democratic side, to participate in a wave that swamped prior youth voting levels and continued the unprecedented 18-29 year-old involvement in this presidential campaign," said Marc Morgenstern, Executive Director of Declare Yourself.
"Young voters stated loud and clear that they are an important factor in determining the next president and must be listened to."
Exit polling (Source: CIRCLE) found that more than 620,000 young people voted in Texas (versus 172,000 in 2000) and youth turnout increased to 17 percent from 6 percent of eligible 18-29 year-olds. In Ohio, more than 479,000 young people voted (versus 260,000 in 2000), an increase to 25 percent from 15 percent of eligible young voters. Vermont and Rhode Island numbers were forthcoming.
Morgenstern added that Declare Yourself registered more than 300,000 young voters through its on-line form in late January and early February, as young people sought to meet state registration deadlines to vote in yesterday's primaries. The organization used email and cell phone text reminders to get out the youth vote. "We have used all the tools of the Internet and social networking to make it much easier for young people to navigate the confusing registration process and participate," said Morgenstern. "Use of technology has paid off in these record voting numbers."
Declare Yourself, founded by television pioneer Norman Lear, further confirmed that it has registered unprecedented numbers of young people to vote in the 2008 primaries through declareyourself.com and dozens of on-line partners, including MySpace.com/declareyourself, Yahoo.com, Facebook.com and Votolatino.org. This accelerated registration pace puts Declare Yourself well on its way to exceed its target of 2 million registrations by the general election.
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