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New Voters Project

 

What's New

Americans made history on Nov. 4 in numerous ways. Among them: A record number of voters cast their ballots for president, and for the first time in 20 years, young voters’ share of the electorate surpassed that of voters’ over 65.

In 2008, WashPIRG volunteers and staff joined the student PIRGs’ New Voters Project to register 118,000 young voters across the country. Working on more than 100 campuses in 22 states, we combined good old-fashioned pavement pounding with high-tech outreach efforts. We sent a combined quarter million text messages reminding voters to get to the polls.

According to our analysis, text message reminders sent to young voters on Super Tuesday increased turnout by 4.6 percentage points. The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement estimated that 2.2 million more young people voted on Nov. 4, 2008, than in the last presidential election.

How You Can Help

To find out all the ways you can get involved, volunteer or otherwise participate in the New Voters Project, please visit the Web site at www.newvotersproject.org.



Overview

Democracy is strongest when everyone participates. Yet ever since gaining the right to vote in 1972, voter turnout among young people has been significantly lower than the rest of the population. Young potential voters feel excluded, disenfranchised and cynical about the participating in the electoral process.

WashPIRGs New Voters Project aims to engage and inspire our nation’s young people by educating them about the voting process, training young activists of all ideological persuasions and, most importantly, aggressively registering young new voters from all walks of life. The New Voters Project is a non-partisan effort that champions no legislation or candidates. The project’s only goal is to register as many young people as possible.




Because voting at a young age promotes a lifelong habit of civic engagement, the New Voters Project works to increase voter participation among 18- to 24-year-olds. In 2004, youth turnout increased by 11 percent.

 

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Washington Public Interest Research Group: 1402 3rd Avenue, Suite 715 - Seattle, WA 98101
Phone: 206-568-2854