We're Better Than Alright

Check out this great post, The Kids Are Alright, over at the Campus Progress blog. Author Tim Fernholz writes in response to a recent American Prospect piece that wags its finger at today's young adults for being too complacent and co-opted because we're not enough alike the student activists of the '60s.

Read Fernholz's response, an excellent look at youth activism today, which posits that while we may be quieter than the protesters of the '60s, perhaps that's because we're working smarter and more strategically in winning social change. A few excerpts are below:

"Today’s youth activism is better than that of the ’60s. Too bad one young journalist doesn’t get it...

"Martin would like to see today’s young activists adopt the tactics of the 1960’s student radicals—protests, theatrics, and the like. Martin’s complaint is that young people today are too complacent, too safe, and too co-opted by "the man." We’re just not angry enough, she argues.

"But today’s young activists are angry—they’re just too busy attempting to create meaningful change to sit around waving signs. Martin, despite her travels around the country speaking to college students, doesn’t understand what a new generation of activists is doing to effect political change. In fact, she doesn’t even understand who today’s young activists are.

"But the fact is that young people are politically active on and off campus and more involved than many other demographic groups around the country. If you judge by their voting patterns, activism, organizing, and use of new technology, young people today are doing more now than in previous decades. Martin says we need to take advantage of our “raw power—the priceless power of being young and mad.” We already are young and mad, but we’re smart, too. Young progressives have moved beyond superficial displays of anger to spend more time changing the world than complaining about it. This isn’t to discount the strides our forebears made in the golden age of the student movement; it’s simply time to realize we don’t have to fight their battles all over again...

"Martin proves to be completely unaware of the effective student activism taking place today. For example, at my own college, Georgetown University, students have organized a successful living wage campaign that led to the unionization of sub-contracted workers and helped negotiate a raise for security guards. They also started STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, an activist group that has chapters on 600 high school and college campuses. LGTBQLGBTQ students and their allies forced the administration to enact plans to hire a full-time resource coordinator—which is a big deal for a Catholic university. And this is just in the four years that I’ve been here.

"Around the country, organizations like Campus Progress fund issue campaigns that are conceived and organized by students on issues from stopping the death penalty and global warming to ending the war in Iraq. Some students have recently organized to support affirmative action. As Connery points out, other students at Harvard University and New York University have protested for a living wage and against bad immigration policies. And these are just the examples that make it into the national media. Despite Martin’s condescension, students who raise awareness of issues large and small on campuses across the country are engaging in meaningful activism, too. This might be part of Martin’s problem: Many community-centric activists aren’t involved in monolithic national movements. But these students aren’t voting on buttons—they’re passionate about working to change the world.

"And it’s not just activism. Thanks to the work of our baby-boomer forebears, young people have a place in politics today. They work on political campaigns, in think tanks, and in government. They seek to expose problems and advocate for change through journalism and blogging. They even run for office. They are part of groundbreaking campaigns like the Oregon Bus Project and Forward Montana. Our generation is also taking the lead in online organizing, from Facebook to MySpace. Do you think that the YouTube debate, arguably the best of the election cycle so far, would have happened without our generation’s influence?

"Martin says she would rather see young activists spend their time placing “viruses in campus administrators’ computers with pop-up windows demanding no more expansion into poor, local neighborhoods,” creating “mock draft cards [to send] home to their parents,” and organizing “a dance party—1 million youth strong—on the Washington lawn.” All of Martin’s suggestions have one thing in common, besides their sheer inanity (what, exactly, is “the Washington lawn?”): They would achieve nothing, except to further the stereotype that young people don’t understand politics. But then again, neither does Martin. As my generation works out how to make our own impact on the political system, we don’t need a ’60s wannabe telling us we’re not angry enough."

Read the full post, The Kids Are Alright, here.

New Young Voter Polling

The latest volume of Rock the Vote's Polling Young Voters is available. Key findings are below and the full report is available here. (PDF)

Key findings:

• Young voters are attuned to the presidential debates - 77% report watching them, compared to 64% of voters of all ages. (Pew Research Center)
• In the primary races, young Democrats are most heavily in favor of Clinton and Obama; young Republicans are leaning toward Giuliani, Romney and Thompson. Many on both sides of the aisle have yet to make up their minds. (Rasmussen, NH Institute of Politics, CBS/NY Times)
• When asked with which political party they identify, 32-42% identify as Republican or Republican-leaning and 37-49% identify as Democratic or Democratic-leaning. (RT Strategies, Democracy Corps, Rasmussen)
  

For more, see Polling Young Voters VII.

Victory!

Written Eric Marshall, National Campaign for Fair Elections. Originally posted at www.nationalcampaignforfairelections.org

Victory! Georgia Election Protection leader Charles Lester was notified by Bulloch County officials moments ago about the withdrawal of all challenges against student voters in Statesboro, Georgia. This victory is due in large part to the work of Georgia Election Protection, the National Campaign for Fair Elections, and our partner the ACLU Voting Rights Project.

While this is an important victory for student voting and our democracy as a whole, there is still plenty of work to be done. First and foremost, the Caging Prohibition Act, that would make these blanket challenges for the purposes of intimidation illegal, has been introduced in the U.S. Senate. Click here to tell Congress to support the Caging Prohibition Act, and demand that voter registration challengers be held accountable.

Even though the challenges were withdrawn the election exposed several issues in Statesboro, such as the challengers themselves. Statesboro Citizens for Good Government, a group of four Statesboro residents, were able to effectively suppress student turnout by filing 909 identical challenges of student voters based on personal information that the challengers could not have ascertained. According to the Associated Press more than 60% of the registered voters who were challenged did not show up at the polls.

Another exposed issue was the harassment at the polls. During the early voting period students were harassed by uniformed police officers inside and around the polling place. One police officer told a student he’d face police action if he did not update his ID to reflect his residency in Bulloch County. Another police officer intimidated a female student by demanding she show where she lived on a map of the voting district and attempted to prevent her from voting even through she grew up in the area and attended Statesboro public schools.

The National Campaign for Fair Elections, Georgia Election Protection, and the ACLU Voting Rights Project will continue to work on the behalf of the students of Georgia Southern University as well as voters across the state of Georgia. As we turn to 2008, the National Campaign and the Election Protection Coalition will build the largest non-partisan voter protection program in the history of our nation to ensure that Statesboro’s and other issues do not impede eligible voters’ ability to cast a meaningful ballot. However, we need your support please consider donating or volunteering today!

Don’t forget to sign our petition and support the Caging Prohibition Act TODAY!

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GA Voting Rights Violations Story Update

Earlier this week, I posted a note about the outrageous attempt of a local group to deny 909 Georgia Southern University students the right to vote in this past Tuesday's elections.

Election day has come and gone, but the story continues. The local Board of Registrars is now reviewing the challenges and will decide whether or not the students - those who voted despite the threats and police presence - will have their votes counted.

Today the Atlanta Constitution Journal published an excellent column on the subject from Laughlin McDonald , director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project. McDonald notes the illegality of these challenges and the disconcerting similarities they have to other attempts at targeted disenfranchisement in the U.S. Below are a few excerpts:

"State law requires such challenges to 'specify distinctly the grounds of the challenge.' Far from being distinct, the 909 challenges used an identical form, with a blank space for filling in the names of individual voters, and identical language...

"This kind of tactic is nothing new. After a federal court invalidated the white primary in the 1940s, Georgia gubernatorial candidate Eugene Talmadge challenged blacks en masse in more than 30 counties, and an estimated 15,000 to 25,000 were purged from the voter rolls...

"Although contrary to the beliefs of the ironically-named Statesboro Citizens for Good Government, the right to vote occupies a special place in our constitutional system. There are more constitutional amendments — the 1st, 14th, 15th, 19th, and 26th — guaranteeing the right to vote than any other civil right we posses as Americans, not to mention a myriad of state and federal laws protecting voting...

"Unfortunately, our nation has a long and shameful history of targeting various groups and denying or suppressing their right to vote. The South disfranchised blacks in the aftermath of Reconstruction through such devices as literacy tests, poll taxes and durational residency requirements...

"As for Statesboro, the public must see this maneuver for what it is - another shameless attempt at undermining voting rights in this country. The board of registrars should reconsider its ill-determined finding of probable cause and dismiss the pending challenges.

"That would actually bring good government to Statesboro's citizens."

For more information on this story, visit the National Campaign for Fair Elections.

Young candidates rock the 2007 election

City councils and mayor’s offices across the country got an infusion of new blood after this past Tuesday’s elections. Young candidates – from their late teens to their mid-30s – beat out incumbents or older opponents in several races. Below are just a few examples – if you know of any others, let us all know in the comments!

Fitchburg, MA: “For the first time in its 243-year history, Fitchburg has elected a minority mayor. Lisa Wong, a daughter of Chinese immigrants, is 28 years old and a newcomer to the world of politics. On her first campaign for municipal office, Wong unseated a four-term City Councilor to become the Mayor of Fitchburg.” WBUR, 11/8/07

Pittsburgh, PA: “Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is challenging Pittsburgh residents to forget the past and start believing in themselves and the city. The 27-year-old mayor won the election yesterday to finish out his predecessor's term.” Associated Press, 11/7/07

Kentucky: “[Trey] Grayson, 35, of Richwood, emerged from the [Secretary of State] contest with his rising political star very much intact… The only Northern Kentuckian to hold a statewide office in the past four years will maintain that distinction for the next four years, after dispatching Democratic challenger Bruce Hendrickson with 57 percent of the vote Tuesday.” The Kentucky Post, 11/7/07

Branford, CT: Eighteen-year-old Grady Keefe won a spot on the Representative Town Meeting, Branford's legislative body, on Tuesday. WTNH, 10/26/07 and New Haven Register, 11/8/07

Duluth, MN: “It pays to be young, run an aggressive campaign, have lots of campaign cash and, in some cases, get union help. That’s what pundits said about Tuesday’s Duluth City Council election in which five new councilors were chosen and three incumbents lost their seats…Jeff Anderson, 30, Tony Cuneo, 29, and Mayor-elect Don Ness, 33, were victorious.” Duluth News Tribune, 11/7/07

Battle Creek, MI: “[Ryan] Hersha, 34, elected Tuesday to his third term on the [Battle Creek City] commission, said the city is at a critical juncture in its economic health and the next commission will have the chance to help shape Battle Creek's future.” Battle Creek Enquirer, 11/7/07

Missoula, MT: “Ward 1 candidate Jason Wiener won a decisive victory…In Ward 1, [30-year-old] Wiener mounted a strong campaign that only ended Tuesday afternoon, with a hike in his ward in the North Hills…He continued to knock on doors, and according to unofficial results, Wiener earned 64 percent of the vote to Armintrout's 34 percent.” The Missoulan, 11/7/07

East Lansing, MI: “Voters appear to have opted for change Tuesday, with two new faces poised to join the five-member City Council. …including [24-year-old Nathan] Triplett [who] earned bachelor's degrees from MSU in 2006 in political theory and social relations. He is a legislative aide in the Michigan House of Representatives.” Lansing State Journal, 11/7/07

Springfield, GA: “Twenty-seven-year-old Troy Allen will become the youngest member of the Springfield City Council when he takes his seat in January. Allen, along with council incumbents Max Neidlinger and Butch Kieffer were the top three vote getters during Tuesday's election, which had 287 - or 23 percent - of the city's registered voters turn out. Councilman Dennis Webb did not run for re-election.” Savannah Morning News, 11/8/07

New Report: Millennials Talk Politics

Today, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) released a new report - below is the information, cross-posted from CIRCLE's website:

Millennials Talk Politics: A Study of College Student Civic Engagement

College students in the United States are hungry for political conversation that is authentic, involves diverse views and is free of manipulation and “spin,” according to a new report released on November 7th, 2007 by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE) and The Charles F. Kettering Foundation.

Download the full report in PDF format

Read the press release

Today’s students—part of the Millennial Generation born between 1985 and 2004— are more engaged in their communities and feel responsible to become civically involved. They recognize the importance of being educated and involved citizens, but discard much of the information available to them because of its polarizing and partisan nature. They are turned off by intensely combative political debate, the report says. We also find that colleges and universities are providing very unequal opportunities for civic participation and learning.

Nearly 400 students convened in 47 focus groups on 12 four-year college campuses across the country to discuss their civic and political attitudes and experiences. Focus groups were conducted on the following campuses between October 2006 and July 2007:

Bowdoin College
Kansas State University
Princeton University
Providence College
Tougaloo College
University of California Berkeley
University of Dayton
University of Maryland College Park*
University of Massachusetts Boston
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
University of New Mexico
Wake Forest University

*Pilot focus groups were conducted at the University of Maryland College Park in May 2006.

For more information and the full report, visit http://www.civicyouth.org

GA Southern students threatened when trying to vote

Originally posted on the National Campaign for Fair Elections blog, written by Jonah Goldman, staff attorney with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law

For the past two weeks the students of Georgia Southern University in Statesboro have been the victims of challenges to their registration, threats, intimidation, and have faced police officers stationed outside and inside early polling places all because they had the nerve to want to vote in local elections. While the nation has been focusing its attention on the 2008 elections, the National Campaign for Fair Elections and the Lawyers’ Committee has been hard at work this year protecting the rights of voters, most recently the students in Statesboro, Georgia.

Lawyers’ Committee Board Member and Georgia Election Protection legal leader, Charles Lester, is working on behalf of the students to try and stop the intimidation and ensure every student who was properly registered is able to vote and have that vote counted. However, the situation in Statesboro is a clear example of why the Senate needs to act NOW and pass the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act. If you haven’t done so already, please sign our petition to the Senate.

Public statements made by the challengers have clearly exposed their motive - to prevent the students from voting through intimidation. Incumbent council member, John Morris, attempted to take out an ad in the Statesboro Connect warning students that by registering to vote, they’d risk losing their financial aid and their parents could no longer list them as dependents on their tax returns. Neither part of Council member Morris’ "public service announcement" is true. Morris also expressed his concern for the students when he was quoted in a Statesboro Herald story saying:

"I want everyone who votes to be a legal resident and I want to make sure that these students aren’t getting into some type of trouble," said Morris. "I want to make sure they’re doing the right thing and not doing anything that would get them in trouble later."

Actions by Morris, and the automated phone calls reportedly received by students telling them don’t bother voting because it won’t count, would be illegal if the Senate passes the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act. Please sign our petition if you haven’t already by clicking here.

In addition to these statements, the National Campaign has received several disturbing reports this week during the early voting period:

• Students intimidated by uniformed police officers stationed in and around the polling place.
  
• One police officer told a student he’d face police action if he did not update his ID to reflect his residency in Bulloch County.
  
• Another police officer harassed a female student by demanding she show where she lived on a map of the voting district and attempted to prevent her from voting even through she grew up in the area and attended Statesboro public schools.

The situation began in early September when GSU students began voter registration drives. The drives were extremely successful, registering over 1,000 students in one month. Apparently some residents of Statesboro weren’t so excited about the students’ success and took action into their own hands. A group called the Statesboro Citizens for Good Government filed a blanket challenge of 909 newly registered student voters challenging them on the basis of residency requirements.

It appears that our advocacy and that of other concerned citizens and groups is starting to pay off. Today, the Statesboro Herald published an editorial asking the challengers to withdraw their complaints because:

While we respect the right of the four citizens to present their complaints as allowed by law, we think the unprecedented protesting of the fundamental right to vote of so many people is reckless. We believe the students do have a right to vote for whatever reason they choose. Why somebody registers or why he or she votes must never be a reason to deny their franchise.

The National Campaign for Fair Elections and the Lawyers’ Committee will continue to fight for the right to vote, free of intimidation, for students of Georgia Southern University. While the treatment of these students is appalling, it’s unfortunately all too common. As the 2008 election season rapidly approaches we will continue to ramp up our Election Protection activities to protect students in Statesboro’s all across the country. If you would like to volunteer for Election Protection please click here. In the meantime, we will continue to push for pro-voter election reform initiatives at the federal and local level. Please spread the word about the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Act and get as many people to sign our petition as possible.

Read our press release.

Read Charles Lester’s letters to the Statesboro City Attorney and Bulloch County Registrar of Voters.

Index of Articles:

New group aims to register student voters, Statesboro Herald, 9/4/07

Voter sign-ups prove effective, Statesboro Herald, 10/3/07

Student voter registrations challenged, Statesboro Herald, 10/23/07

Citizens group challenges highest number of voter registrations in state history, Statesboro Herald, 10/24/07

Voter registration rumors clarified, Statesboro Herald, 10/25/07

GSU Dean of Students: ‘They really just want their voice to be heard’

Due to current controversy surrounding city council elections, some students voice concerns, Statesboro Herald, 10/25/07

Shot in the foot, Statesboro Connect, 10/27/07

Early voting off to fast start in Statesboro, Statesboro Herald, 10/29/07

Our Views: Citizens group should withdraw challenges to voter registrations, Statesboro Herald, 10/31/07

Student Voters Get a Lawyer, WSAV, 10/31/07