TRENTON--The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, Project Vote, and the Fair Elections Legal Network submitted a brief seeking to ensure that the Department of Education fulfill a 25-year-old mandate to protect the voting rights of private, charter, and public school students, which the DOE has thus-far failed to meet.
“It is appalling that 25 years after the High School Voter Registration Law was issued, there are still no regulations on the books protecting the rights of private and charter school students under the law, and only the most minimal of protections for district public school students,” said Ed Barocas, the ACLU-NJ legal director.
The California Legislature approved a bill last week to extend voter registration privileges to 17-year-old citizens. If signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the bill would help put California youth on the road to a lifetime of democratic participation.
Between 2004 and 2008, voter turnout among young people increased by two percent-or over 2.3 million voters-a triumph for this historically underrepresented group. However, with voter registration rates only increasing by one percent in spite of heightened political interest, it is clear that more that needs to be done to engage young voters beyond holding voter registration drives on high school or college campuses. While measures to provide voter registration or voter education opportunities for voting eligible Americans are important, three states have taken a step beyond by moving legislation to not only address the issue of standardizing the voter registration system, but to engage the future of America before they reach the age of 18.
The Arkansas Progress Team began organizing three months ago to bring new leadership, ideas, and membership to the Arkansas Young Democrats by focusing on progressive offline and online grassroots organizing. Their three main goals are to increase membership (check this one already), increase fund raising, and increase awareness on the issues important to Young Democrats. On Saturday, April 18th, over 200 Young Democrats turned out to vote at the State Capitol Building and delivered the Arkansas Progress Team a victory.
Left to Right: Eric Bell (Sec/Treas), Jonathan Spinks (Committeeman), and Chris Burks (President)
The rising levels of voter participation among the nation's youth continue to be challenged by the current voter registration system, perpetuating the difficulty of fostering lifelong voters. Some states are proposing to take this challenge into their own hands by making voter registration accessible to citizens as young as 16. Already widely accessible at schools and departments of motor vehicles, the move would allow future voters in some states to automatically be enrolled on the voter rolls on their 18th birthdays, a change that advocates say could "close the registry gap between young voters and the rest of the population."
(In Japan, which has much lower crime rates, much less recidivism, there's an emphasis on doing whatever possible to reintegrate convicted criminals into society after incarceration. Depriving ex-cons of the right to vote is INTENTIONALLY taking the exact opposite approach, insisting that they are NOT part of society, and that they are right to feel alienated, hostile, and at war with society. Hopefully, this diary reports on continuing progress in changing these counter-productive practices. - promoted by Paul Rosenberg)
by Erin Ferns and Donald Wine II
For the past few years, there has been a push by voting rights advocates to expand and balance the electorate in the United States. Finally, measures to help enfranchise some of the nation's least represented Americans are moving forward in several states. This past week, five states advanced bills to restore the voting rights of citizens convicted of felonies, while four states moved bills designed to facilitate voter participation among young citizens. This trend in election reform is a step in the right direction, which more states should take notice of and consider in the near future.
So I presented my work as a blogger to a group of high school seniors interested in politics yesterday, and a bunch of them told me yesterday that they don't use email anymore. The exact quote was, "Email is for old people, I just Facebook or text everyone I know". This is fairly common among people under the age of 24, who see different tools as representing different generations much as older generations thought that rock and roll was a cultural differentiator.
Bloggers and activists David All, Karl Frisch, Jon Henke, and John Aravosis were on the panel, and it was interesting that part of the conversation centered on how the Republicans are obviously going to give way on gay marriage. The younger Republicans were obviously angry that their party didn't accept gay people.
In profound ways, we're quite foreign to this younger generation. Not to be all 'these damned kidz' about it, but I tried to explain that when I grew up it was very hard to talk to friends except over a landline. And it just seemed like they didn't quite believe me, or rather, that was completely alien to their understanding of the world.
So let's have a generational discussion. I first encountered the internet when I was 17, and really started using it when I was 18. That was in 1995, but I had been on BBS systems in the 1980s and my friends had AOL and Compuserve accounts in the early 1990s.
You? And if you haven't created an account at OpenLeft, now's a good time to sign up and chime in.
STATE BLOGS
