Since my high school days, I’ve worried that young people my age or younger – and I’m not even considered “young” by most people – aren’t getting involved in the political process. And I’m not even talking about campaigning, which I’ve done since I was 10 years old. I’m talking about simply registering to vote and actually showing up to cast a vote.
Usually when I go to fundraisers, or other civic-focused events like rallies and workshops, I see very few young people – which I’ll define in the broadest sense as anyone under 35. This even happens when I go to cast my vote at the polling place. As I’ve been campaigning for almost 20 years, I’m used to being the youngest one at an event. But as I get closer to 30 and continue to be one of the youngest people there, my concern has increased steadily.
But I may have been wrong to worry so much. On Tuesday, I worked at the polling place helping my fellow citizens vote. And one of the other precinct officials, “AJ” is a vibrant, intelligent, 20-year-old college student who also worked with us during the Primary Election back in September. She reminds me of myself, actually, as she has worked from a young age to get others registered to vote. She also sported a vertical “VOTE” shirt from DeclareYourself.com. And she may not be alone – thankfully. In fact, we were joined by another college student – “Rick” – who wanted to work the elections for the experience and to help his club with a fundraiser (he donated his stipend for working to his club). We all were impressed by the large number of first-time voters; one was a younger woman probably in her mid-20s who actually skipped to her car after casting her ballot, the other was a grandmother in her 80s who wondered aloud why she hadn’t voted before. Better late than never!
Maybe politicians are seeing the youth segment as an untapped resource. So even if the youth of today aren’t going out of their way to get involved, many others are trying to get them involved! Ask Obama on MTV actually reminded me a lot of President Clinton’s 1992 appearances on MTV and Arsenio Hall. My old college newspaper shared some political social networking sites, exposing college students and others to some of these resources. And former Advertiser reporter Kim Fassler wrote about politicians being our friends on Facebook. I’m even Facebook friends with Congressman Neil Abercrombie, my old boss.
One day, my jaw dropped when I saw Congressman Abercrombie on Twitter! As he said in his session at PodCamp Hawaii, he is an amateur, but he has truly embraced new social media and how it allows politicians to connect to their constituents and voters – and I dare to say a younger voter. His experience reminds me of one of my co-workers, a grandmother, whom I got to join Facebook…and I’ll get her to start a blog, too! (MJ, I’m talking to you.)
One person who never doubted the power of young people is President-Elect Barack Obama, who even referenced us in his victory speech, saying about the movement to elect him:
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy.
Such powerful words from a great orator. Check out some of Kim Fassler’s photos of all the young people taking to the streets in Washington, DC, for once not to protest, but to celebrate this victory. The lessons here are that you are never too old to be on Facebook or other new/social media and you are never too young to get involved in the political process! Either way, more participation in the political process, whether you are young, old, or somewhere in between, is a good thing. Don’t you agree?
Mahalo!
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