Speaking out for Young Voters

Yesterday we announced our Young Voter Platform and asked you all to tell Senators McCain and Obama to support our values. Thousands of you have already taken action.

But if you haven't signed yet, listen to our new political intern, Zach Pilchen, as he talks about the importance of equal representation:

I got interested in youth voter registration during my freshman year at William & Mary when I attempted to register to vote in Williamsburg for the local elections but was rejected by the voter registrar because I was a student. Even though students pay taxes in Williamsburg, have jobs in Williamsburg, play in Williamsburg and live in Williamsburg nine months out of the year, this anti-student voter registrar told my fellow students and I that we would not be allowed to have a voice in how our local democracy operated.

Interestingly, this registrar had a long history of allowing students to vote in Williamsburg (like in nearly every Virginia college town). But in 2004, after a group of students announced their intentions to register 2,000 college students to vote locally and overturn several anti-student ordinances, the registrar reacted by changing his policies to prohibit all students from registering to vote.

In 2007, the registrar was fired by the local electoral board after it came to light that he had mishandled student registration forms (i.e. destroying them) and embezzled money from the state. Police officers escorted him from his office, "to ensure the integrity of election records," and a new student-friendly registrar took his place. A group of students and I organized large-scale voter registration drive at school that year, registering nearly 30% of the undergraduate student body to vote in Williamsburg…a sweet success indeed.

Having been personally disenfranchised, it's an especially sweet experience for me to join Rock the Vote's effort this year to register 2 million young voters. Disenfranchise this!

Want our presidential candidates to protect our right to vote? Join Zach, me, and the thousands of other young voters who are rocking the vote. Sign on today.