It’s no new revelation that the young adult voting bracket is the one with the lowest voting turnout. In the 2000 election, the US Census bureau found that the voter turnout from the 65 to74 age bracket was twice that of the18 to 34. What’s most striking about this statistic is that the young compose about three times the population of the older bracket.
For years now there have been organizations out there such as Rock the Vote and punkvoter.org designed to counteract this trend. They attempt to appeal to young people and get them to vote through something many of them are passionate about: music. This election year, we in the state of Maine have a new political force of this type we can look towards and call our own: Bull Moose Music (in association with Rock the Vote).
The Bull Moose chain, with its eight stores in Maine and a handful in New Hampshire is hosting an in-store voter registration event in all its Maine locations (the closest ones to USM being in Portland and Scarborough) on Thursday, April 15. This tactic for raising young voter awareness and turnout could well prove to be the most effective one tried yet.
With young voter apathy prevailing, giving them the opportunity to register to vote at a place they’re fairly likely to frequent is a great boon. After all, young voter apathy might have gotten worse after the 2000 election when Al Gore, proven winner of the popular vote failed to win the election. According to MSNBC’s Michael E. Ross in a February 24 article, Gore had 544,000 more votes than Bush but managed to lose nonetheless, an outcome that he says has “galvanized outreach groups, and may have reinforced the belief among nonvoters that voting is useless.”
We won’t know for certain until November whether or not Gore’s losing the 2000 election will affect young voter turnout for the worse, but nonetheless it’s not a risk that any of us who don’t support President Bush can afford. If Gore could beat Bush by 544,000 votes and still lose the election, then John Kerry needs all the help he can get.
Each young voter can make a difference regardless of how Gore’s strange loss in 2000 might make voting seem pointless. For example, Bush beat Gore in New Hampshire (a proven “swing state”) by just 7,211 votes (do the math yourself: http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/2000presgeresults.htm). With just a little more young voter turnout (and if Nader hadn’t been a factor), Gore could have taken New Hampshire and the Electoral College.
The young need to vote. Everybody needs to, and there’s no simpler way to put it. There’s absolutely no good reason for anybody, young or old, not to. Bull Moose Music and others are there to meet any apathetic voters halfway, providing many opportunities to make your voice heard and your vote count. Don’t throw this opportunity away! If you’re not already registered to vote, go to any Maine Bull Moose Music location on Thursday, April 15 anytime from 1 to 6 p.m. to register. If you’re already registered, treat yourself to a cookie.
Dan Goldstein can be contacted at [email protected]