cheers! to the new future of american politics!

"Both parties should be seeing their future in the eyes of young voters," concludes David King, the associate director of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. After outlining a clear argument that young voters did in fact turnout at the polls -- that it was the highest turnout percentage since 1972, at least 20.9 million Americans under 30 voted on November 2nd (4.6 million more than in 2000) and young people were especially active in battleground states -- King says that, if anything, we learned a lot about the future of American politics. He adds: "Most college students no longer fit neatly along a liberal to conservative continuum [according to the Harvard Institute of Politics]."

It's going to take some time to figure that out. We're looking forward to the challenge.

Turning Out in Droves

For all you news-watchers, blog-readers, and political-junkies we begin with the meta-analytical breakdown on the youth vote story. But don’t worry; we’ve got the hard news waiting for you at the end of the tunnel, so hang in there.

The youth vote story appears to be splitting in two directions. One is that the youth vote didn’t show up. The other is that the youth vote DID show up.

Ok, we were kidding earlier about the story going in two directions. The correct story is number 2 – because the youth vote turned out, and turned out big. But that didn’t stop a few naysayers from rushing to print with stories to dismiss all of your efforts. We’re lookin’ in your direction there, Siobhan. And feel free to miss this article as well.

As for the REAL story - the numbers are still coming in, but right now we know that young voters surged at the polls, even significantly exceeding their 1992 turnout spike. You’ve turned out with enthusiasm and gusto, and we at Rock the Vote are proud of you. As for how you voted, it looks like more young people ended up breaking towards Senator Kerry over President Bush at 54/44 percent nationally, and more so in the battleground states.

Head to CIRCLE’s site for the earliest hard data.

We applaud the youth vote for showing up and making your voice heard. Read your own story. At CNN. The Washington Post. In New Jersey. In Iowa.

All over the country.
-Aaron Coles

election day horror stories

...everyone's got one. we hear about voter suppression, voter intimidation, and voter fraud. but voter b.o.? here's a quick anecdote from (state of states!) new jersey.

Rolling Out Of Bed

"While driving my daughter and her friend to a 7 am wind ensemble rehearsal, it occurred to me that it was probably the ideal time to beat the crowds at the polls. It then occurred to me that I was unshowered, unshaven, untoothbrushed and wearing sleep pants with shoes and no socks. What to do, what to do? Would the seniors running the polls talk about me? What if I assault a neighbor with my morning breath? What if my poker buddies knew I had Spider-Man sleep pants??? Oh, well, this is the Home of the Brave, so in I went. No problem! The place was empty, the seniors unfazed. I wonder if I could get away with this at work? Could mean an extra hour of sleep every day..."
-- Rick from Branchburg

http://www.nj.com/weblogs/localbreakingnews/

Here's a dispatch...

...from Alex in Madison, Wisconsin, probably our most successful street team member ever who has managed to register nearly 50,000 new voters on the ground...

"The polls and the streets have been full of young people today. Hundreds of
young adults lined the streets in madison and milwaukee waiting in long
lines for the chance to cast their ballots. Walking the lines at the polling
place at UWM this afternoon I saw kids of all races and all different social
groups interacting with each other talking excitedly about voting. Two
girls, around 18 years old were hugging each other and congratulating the
other for voting for the first time, one was wearing a Kerry sticker and the
other a Bush sticker. This election, who kids around campus are calling ³The
Hip Election² is uniting youth in all parties and drawing them together
under the common want of a massive youth turnout. From the long lines
outside the polls to the talk on the streets and on Wisconsin campuses, 20
million loud are well on their way to representing the youth of America."

Not quite The Daily Show…

But still, you know you’ve made it when you’re in lawyer jokes, right?

señor: tales of voter suppression

It's just past noon on the east coast and already we've been seeing some crazy stories of political operatives trying to intimidate students from voting with false or misleading information.

In Pennsylvania, a flyer is being circulated that threatens students with loss of financial aid if they are from out of state. Totally false. Totally screwed up.



"Dorm residents at both schools reported that a doctored version of an Associated Press news article left the impression that out-of-state students voting in Pennsylvania could be forced to repay state grants because of a residency controversy."

Read more about it here.

In New Hampshire, it's a similar story. The local Republican party has printed a flyer that uses tidbits of information from the NH Secretary of State to paint a broad and misleading picture about what happens if you register to vote in NH (you can still register there on election day---its a beautiful thing and it should be in place every where).

Take a lesson from this my friends.

You still have to fight for the right to vote.

Email us at the blog team with any tips or stories! We’ll publish.

If you want to report any problems at the polls, call 1-866-MYVOTE1. Tell them you are calling from Rock the Vote.

If you have a problem that you need legal help to resolve, call 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

THE GOTV, THE BATTLE, AND THE INFO

You call this a "Big 3"?
It's Election Day, fool! It's ALL big!

1. GOTV
The voter turnout today looks like it’s going to be mammoth. That means you can expect long lines, but a lot of company! You’re going to set some records today. So read up. We’d tell you more about this, but we’re all busy making get out and vote calls ourselves! We’re playing music (Rockin'!) and celebrating our favorite day of the year. Election Day.

2. THE BATTLE
The poll-challenger saga appears to have ended. Again. A federal court has ruled that Republicans are permitted to send challengers to the polls in Ohio to contest voters who they feel may not be legally entitled to vote. This is a reversal from yesterday’s ruling from a lower court which was to have prevented such challenges from taking place. Now, it’s become cliché to call Ohio the new Florida – but if there are post-election lawsuits, Ohio is likely to become ground zero in any legal electoral showdown.

[As of this writing, there have been no major incidents, and the only result of the challengers has been delays. We’ll see how events play out…

IF YOU HEAR OF ANY INSTANCES OF YOUTH OR COLLEGE VOTER SUPPRESSION, INTIMIDATION, OR GENERALLY SHADY BUSINESS, PLEASE EMAIL our political director at "HANS AT ROCKTHEVOTE DOT COM"]

Voter suppression and fraud stories tend to break along two separate and equally ugly party narratives. Namely: the Democrats are attempting to push fraudulent or ineligible voters through the system, and the Republicans are attempting to prevent eligible ones from entering the system. Meanwhile, take a look at some fun stories of voter intimidation: license-plate writing in South Dakota, phony phone calls in Michigan, and fake letters in South Carolina.

3. THE INFO
Because if you want the info, you want ALL the info.

News today has been flowing like the Mississipp'. High volume, very
slowwwwly. We've been checking cnn.com's electoral college map
every five minutes for the past three hours just to see Bush, Kerry, and Nader
tied (probably the only time you're gonna see that today) at zilch.

But if it's more than just an electoral college map you're craving,
there's a whole bunch of other sites (besides yours' truly) to keep up
with today. Here's just a few.

Check out MyPollingPlace.com or MyPollingSite.com (if you can get on
either site, which are balky today, probably due to traffic overload)
to find out where your polling place is.

Here's a site where undecided voters can find out whom other like-minded people will be voting for today.

There's bound to be about a slew of faq's about this election today,
right? The questions are probably more important than they are
'frequently asked,' but check out this government website that's sure
to teach you a thing or two you didn't know about today.

There's too many sites to write about all of them. We just took a
handful from here. Stay updated on this close race all day long.

-Aaron Coles & Alex Sherman

The Vote Shall Be Rocked!

Hey, if you're reading this, what are you waiting for? Get up and vote!

If you've already voted and made sure everyone you've ever met has voted too, then stay tuned. We'll be rocking the blog throughout the day.

Find your polling place...

If you've done everything you need to register, but find out where you're supposed to vote, try the polling place locator at:

http://www.mypollingplace.com/

The website has been getting a lot of hits recently, so you may have to give them a few tries.

Yahoo! has a great resource for finding your polling place...

Yahoo! Polling Place Locator

Rock the Vote. Everyday. But especially tomorrow.

Pollster are catching up with the youth vote...

This weekend, former Democratic candidate Howard Dean’s campaign manager Joe Trippi weighs in on the significance of the Rock the Vote Mobile political poll results. “Finally,” says Trippi, “someone has done a SMS Text Messaging poll of cell phone users between the ages of 18 and 29.”

The poll shows us what others could not: the opinions of people who primarily use a cell phone. He goes on:

“Pollsters are using old turn-out models for younger voters, and are failing to see the increased intensity among these voters, and therefore are likely to be surprised on Tuesday night. It is now becoming increasingly clear to me that if John Kerry wins on Tuesday it will be due to an unprecedented turnout among younger voters.”

Young people are generating a lot of heat as a major deciding factor in the last day before Election Day. Could they tip the balance on Nov. 2nd??

Big Three T-minus 1

What a weekend. Lost weapons. Osama. Now it’s one last day before Bush and Kerry have a chance to persuade voters to join them. Most polls call it a dead heat. Which candidate will be beat? We’re gonna keep this Big Three short and sweet.

#1) new polls are showing the youth vote as the major deciding factor for election day...

“Bush led Kerry 48-47 percent in the latest Reuters/Zogby three-day national tracking poll on Monday, well within the margin of error. However, Kerry was favored by young voters—those between the ages of 18 and 29—by 64 percent to 35 percent, but the size of the turnout in that voting bloc is one of the biggest unknowns of Tuesday’s election.”

#2) and since we’re losing sleep over turnout, this has got us happy as mongoose: expect high voter turnout tomorrow. Make sure your friends are voting. Drag 'em to the polls. Stalk them if you have to. Make it a party.

#3) …and since we last reported proclamations of 'motivation' (!) among young people, we’d like to share reports of passion sweeping the swing states. It’s never been like this before. At least not in Rock the Vote’s lifetime. So get out there on Election Day and ride the wave of political excitement that hasn't been this hot since Jimi Hendrix wailed at Woodstock.