We all know the importance of targeting and engaging young voters. In addition to well-established approaches – you know, like actually talking to young voters about issues we care about and using peer-to-peer outreach to do that – we have seen a number of successful non-traditional outreach methods. One of those tools is community service.

Young people volunteer for community service at much higher rates than they volunteer for traditional political activities. There is a culture of service in the Millennial generation that is rooted in the belief that community service is an effective way to solve important issues, locally and nationally. Our friends at Democrats Work are harnessing that passion for service and linking it to politics.

As many of you know, Democrats Work connects grassroots Democrats to community service projects. Through this service-based approach, Democrats Work is moving politics onto the turf of young voters, making community service an integral part of political activism. Their latest efforts to build the “politics of service” movement is an innovative contest with General Wesley Clark.

The “Serve with the General” will send General Clark to a competitive Congressional district to do a Democrats Work community service event helping returned veterans, painting a public school that needs it, supporting our troops, cleaning up a neglected part of town. We have a chance to send Clark to a district where a youth-friendly candidate is running for Congress.

You can vote to send General Clark to a Congressional district where the candidates are already making young voters a priority. I want to point out a few: Darcy Burner (WA-08), Bob Lord (AZ-03), Ashwin Madia (MN-06), Gary Peters (MI-09), Dan Seals (IL-10), and Gary Trauner (WY-AL).

Take a look at these districts when deciding where to send General Clark. You can cast your vote here: www.democratswork.org.

P.S. We hope to have a candidate or two here in the next few days talking about how his or her campaign is targeting young voters. Stay tuned.

Young people voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama in Pennsylvania with 61% going for Obama and 39% voting for Clinton. The trend of a generational divide in the voting patterns continues. Younger voters go for Obama, while older voters went for Clinton.

While we are still waiting for the raw turnout numbers of voters in Pennsylvania, the youth share of the overall electorate was 3% points above the average share for 2004. This number is consistent with the increased turnout in other states and an increased share compared to the last two general elections.

Obama reaffirmed his commitment to young and first time voters saying during his speech tonight, “It is those new voters who will lead our party to victory in November.”

The Young Voter PAC calls on the Democratic Party as well as the Obama and Clinton campaigns to continue to invest more resources in the youth vote. Young voters will change the face of elections and will help bring Democrats up and down the ticket to victory in 2008. But only if we invest real resources in order for the energy and voting to transform into lasting votes for Democrats.

Additionally, there have been reports of newly registered young voters receiving incorrect polling locations by the State election board. We will follow these stories and post any information from groups like Common Cause as we get updates.

The Young Voter PAC and Young Super Delegates want all young people to be able to run in their state’s delegate races. While we understand the rules affirm campaigns can cut their lists to the minimum amount required by the rules (which we post below), we still believe it is critical, in order to continue to build the Democratic Party and secure the youth voting bloc, that young people be given the opportunity to run and that young people be considered for “At-Large” or “PLEO” delegate spots.

Since this is the first time so many young people are running as delegates, making sure young people know the rules so they have the best possible shot at getting elected to represent their candidates as a delegate in an important role for everyone involved in the Democratic family.

There are some things you can do as a young person in order to get elected in your state to be a “pledged delegate” for your candidates of choice in Denver, CO at the DNC’s National Convention.

It should be noted, that we are talking about pledged delegates. There is no room (this time around) for you to become an “unpledged delegate” at this point in the process because those slots are given to your State Party leaders, state DNC Members, Democratic Congressional Members and Distinguished Party leaders. But, if you are looking ahead to 4 years from now—you can and should try to become a DNC member in your state.

If you have any questions, please email info@youngvoterpac.org or visit www.youngvoterpac.org.

General Tip

Get known by all the decision makers and opinion leaders. Being known is critical. Do NOT be humble in this process. Create a Facebook or MySpace page making the case for your delegate status, talk to the campaign, write letters to your DNC members especially the Chair (and share a copy of the letter in the resources section), write letters to your elected officials…reach out to folks and make the case. Read the rest of this entry »

Young people continue the trend of increased turnout and preference for Democrats in the primary elections. For stats, stories and other information on the elections please visit our “News” section. You can even sort by the news by “Presidential” just to see stories and stats on young voters so far this election cycle.

On behalf of the Young Voter PAC, we applaud the California Democratic Party, young leaders and the Obama campaign for standing up for the youth vote.

While we understand the political reality that the Obama campaign made earlier this week to cut some potential delegates off of the list in California, we along with the California Party and young leaders voiced our concerns to the campaign in hopes they would change their mind and allow all potential delegates to run as delegates to the National Convention at elections taking place this Sunday in California.

Young people, in particular, are energized this election cycle doubling and tripling their turnout numbers in the primary elections and caucuses.

“Any action to try and squelch young peoples’ enthusiasm and most importantly the drive to not just be voters and volunteers but leaders within the Party should be called out by all youth vote leaders. For too long young people have not felt welcome or seen the Party structure as a place for change,” said Jane Fleming Kleeb, Young Voter PAC Director.

In the Obama campaign’s official statement on the delegate issue in California, they reminded potential delegates of both their desire for a unified National Convention and for patience this Sunday at the caucus locations, “we are confident that delegates elected from this pool will reflect the Senator’s commitment to a diverse and unified delegation at the National Convention. An overwhelming number of supporters have signed up to run for delegate, so there will likely be lines and tight space at the caucus locations. We ask for everyone’s patience and cooperation.”

“Young people continue to show they are not apathetic, that they are engaged at all levels of our Party,” said Jason Rae, a young Superdelegate from Wisconsin. “We are looking forward to the continued trend of young people helping Democrats win up and down the ticket this November.”

The Young Voter PAC hopes the Obama campaign’s encouraging decision will translate to all other states and that the Clinton campaign will follow this decision as well so that all potential delegates will have the opportunity to run as Delegates to the National Convention in Denver, Colorado this summer.

Amber Goodwin, a Young Voter PAC volunteer, potential delegate and Texas Young Democrats activist stated, “This incident reminds us of the power of the youth vote and the power of having young committed staff inside the Party and leading youth groups that understand the value of the youth vote and that won’t stop until their power is recognized and appreciated.”

The Young Voter PAC is based on a simple idea; politics is better off with more young people involved. We are dedicated to helping Democrats win with the youth vote through candidate endorsements, on-the-ground support, training, strategy, media, and money. The youth vote (18-35 year olds) has emerged as a critical base of support for electoral success. We work on a national and local level to help guide candidates, State Parties and allied organizations in their youth voting plans so they can secure this bloc of voters and build long-term infrastructures in their communities and states. www.youngvoterpac.org

Overall young Democrats are still outnumbering young Republicans by at least a 2 to 1 margin. Young people again voted for Obama overwhelmingly over Clinton.

OH

* Young people were 16% of the overall vote on the Democratic side.

* Young people were the only age group to give Obama a margin of victory in Ohio.

* 17-29 year olds voted 35% for Clinton and 61% for Obama (compared to 60+ year olds voted 70% Clinton and 26% Obama and the overall win in Ohio was 56% Clinton and 42% Obama) .

* Republican young people only made up 13% of the overall vote on their side.

* Candidate choice on the Republican side for the youth vote was not available with CNN’s exit polls (perhaps due to sample size).

* Raw numbers: 277,045 young Democrats compared to 111,600 young Republicans.
RI

* Young people were 13% of the overall vote on the Democratic side.

* Young people were the only age group to give Obama a margin of victory in Rhode Island. 17-29 year olds voted 47% for Clinton and 53% for Obama (compared to 65+ year olds voted 70% Clinton and 29% Obama and the overall win in Ohio was 58% Clinton and 40% Obama) .

* Turnout and candidate choice on the Republican side for the youth vote was not available with CNN’s exit polls (perhaps due to sample size).

* Raw numbers: 23,541 young Democrats (CNN did not have exit polls for Republicans).

TX

* Young people were 16% of the overall vote on the Democratic side.

* 17-29 year olds voted 42% for Clinton and 58% for Obama (compared to 60+ year olds voted 64% Clinton and 33% Obama and the overall win in Texas primary/not caucus was 52% Clinton and 48% Obama) .

* Republican young people only made up 13% of the overall vote on their side.

* Candidate choice on the Republican side for the youth vote was spilt between Huckabee and McCain, 43-44%.

* Raw numbers: 449,172 young Democrats compared to 171,211 young Republicans.
VT

* Young people were 11% of the overall vote on the Democratic side.

* Obama carried every age demographic in Vermont. 17-29 year olds voted 31% for Clinton and 64% for Obama (compared to 65+ year olds voted 41% Clinton and 58% Obama and the overall win in Ohio was 38% Clinton and 60% Obama) .

* Turnout and candidate choice on the Republican side for the youth vote was not available with CNN’s exit polls (perhaps due to sample size).

* Raw numbers: 14,346 young Democrats (CNN did not have exit polls for Republicans).

This is cross posted on mtv.com

There is a lot of talk about young voter turnout and about Superdelegates these days. Young people have emerged as a critical bloc of voters. The media, candidates and many naysayers of the youth vote are finally giving them and the issues they care about attention on the campaign trail.

It got me thinking—are the young Superdelegates following the trends of young voters and how much has the youth vote increased this year?*

I decided to take a look at all the primary and caucus states that have voted so far in order to get a good sense as to the young voter trends—increase in turnout, preference of candidate, preference of Party—and then compare that to the Superdelegates under 36 that have come out as “pledged” to a certain candidate.

Trends of Party Preference: The Shift to Democrats

Young people are overwhelmingly going for Democrats this election cycle, following a trend since 2000. Mike Connery, a blogger over at Future Majority, put together this nifty graphic that shows the growing Democratic advantage among young people.

As you can see, already in 2008, young people are voting 65% for Democrats and only 34% for Republicans (it’s actually up to 68% now since a few more states have come in after Mike created this graph as you will see later in this post).

Democrats have a 31% vote advantage headed into the Presidential elections not to mention all the down ballot races for Senate, House of Representative, Mayor, etc. this will affect.

While this is great news for the Democrats, it is not so good news for Republicans. But–and a big but at that–Democrats should be forewarned. Republicans had the youth vote during the Reagan years. Almost 60% of the young people then voted for Republicans and continued to vote for Republicans as a bloc of voters.

However, Republicans stopped talking to future groups of young people and it shows now in their numbers. If Democrats want a lasting majority, they need to continue targeted programs at young people or risk losing a big chunk of the electorate in the future. While young people make up about 21% of the electorate now, they will be 30% of the electorate by 2012 and that is a bloc of voters that can very easily swing elections.

State by State Breakdown: Over 4 Million Strong and Growing

Across the board young people have increased their votes in almost every state except in NY there was no increase. The average number of young people voting in a state in 2004 was 46,373. The average in this election cycle is 174,646. That is more than tripling the number of votes cast for 18-29 year olds. This is remarkable since many youth voting experts could have predicted a 15-20% jump, but no one predicted a 200% plus jump.

Young Democrats are outnumbering young Republicans at the polls, except in Oklahoma and Utah. The total number of votes cast so far by young people in 2008 is 4,016,875. Of that number, 2,756,722 voted for Democrats and 1,269,821 voted for Republicans.

In 2008, the average Democratic turnout among young people per state is 114,863 compared to 57,719 for Republicans. In essence, young Democrats are almost doubling the turnout number of young Republicans.

If these trends continue, knowing the enormous size of Millennials which is 44 million eligible to vote in 2008, the Republican Party would be wise to step up their young voter outreach programs.

Here in Nebraska, no exit polls were taken and the Party is still tabulating each precincts caucus results so we don’t have an age breakdown for Nebraska. However, from first-hand accounts many County Chairs and Precinct Leaders all raved about the large number of young people not only showing up to caucus but also running as State Convention delegates.

Delegates 101: Who are They and How do They Get Chosen

Both the Democrats and Republicans have complicated calculations as to how many delegates each state has, if it’s a “winner take all” state or proportional, if it’s a caucus or a primary, etc. Way too much nitty gritty for this blog post, but Vote Latino does a great job of explain some of the delegate process as does Convention Watch, Politico and CNN.

I do my best to give a 101 on delegates below thanks to some work online, information gathered in my role as the DNC Youth Council Co-Chair as well as an invaluable source of information on rules and bylaws from Chris Gallaway, the former YDA President and former Executive Director of the Kansas Democratic Party.

Delegates—both on the Democrats and Republican sides—are in two broad categories:

1) Delegates won through the process of regular voters on the day of the caucus and primaries.

2) Superdelegates who can decide how to pledge their vote and theoretically not base it on anything but their personal preference.

The delegate count is what gets a person elected for their Party’s nomination for President of the United States. In a “normal” election year, the delegates at the Party Convention don’t really “matter” in the sense that a candidate is usually already decided before the Party’s Convention happens and the delegates are usually nothing more than a “rubber stamp.” Not this time around, well at least not for the Democrats.

The last time a contested election for the Party’s nomination on the Democrats side was 1952 and for the Republicans it was 1976.

Since the Superdelegates are a focus in the Democratic election, I thought it was important to see just how the Superdelegates under 36 are pledging their delegate vote. While Republicans have Superdelegates, they are less of a focus or issue since McCain has the vast majority of delegates already shored up.

The Superdelegates fall into three broad categories and will make up 20% of the vote at the Democratic Party Convention as to who the nominee for President is and since the regular delegate count is so close, the Superdelegates may just decide who is the nominee:

1) Elected Federal Officials and State Governors: This group is all of the Democrats that are either serving in the United States House of Representative or Senate as well as some retired public officials, called “distinguished party leaders” like former Presidents and former DNC Chairs.

2) State Elected DNC Members: Each state has a certain amount of members they have who are elected on a state level by members of the State Party that include the State Chair, DNC Committeewoman, DNC Committeeman among a few other titles.

3) Constituency DNC Members and Add Ons: These delegates are NOT elected by their state to represent their state, but rather are elected or appointed by a constituency group or the DNC Chair. Big national Democratic groups like the Young Democrats of America, College Democrats of America, Democratic Governor’s Association and the National Federation of Democratic Women all get a certain amount of Superdelegates. These also include individuals that the DNC Chair, in this case Howard Dean, selects in our order to give the DNC a broad reach and balance among constituency groups.

Young Superdelegates: Their Pledge to a Candidate

There are only 19 young Superdelegates out of 797, or another way of looking at it is only 2% of the Superdelegates are young yet they have made up about 16% of all Democratic voters so far in the primary season. The number of young Superdelegates is a far cry from a good proportional amount to the youth population active in the Democratic Party, but we will leave that for another story.

Since looking at the national average of who young people are preferring in the Democratic Party, it is very clear they prefer Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton with a margin of 26%. I understand if a young Superdelegate is elected by their state to serve as a DNC member that they will vote the way (or I would hope) the majority of people in their state did, or at the very least the Superdelegates within a state all get together and decide on the percentage each candidate got in the primary vote or caucus and match that with the Superdelegates.

However, five of the 19 young Superdelegates are on the DNC not because they represent a state, but because they represent a constituency group–young people who are Democrats. The Superdelegates that represent young people are from the Young Democrats of America and the College Democrats of America. Those are the only two “youth based groups” that get Superdelegates on the DNC.

This is where it will get interesting from a young voter’s perspective. You would think all of these Superdelegates would be pledging their vote to Obama since he has the majority of the youth vote. That is not how it is lining up so far, and that is probably a good thing…for now since not all the states have had their say yet and there is always a chance Clinton will start to edge Obama’s lead with the youth vote.

One of the five Superdelegates has pledged to Clinton. All the rest are “uncommitted” so far. If the trend continues to where young people are voting roughly 60% for Obama and 40% for Clinton then we should see the Superdelegates that have their status because they represent young people pledge in that ratio or even side completely with Obama since the majority of young people seem to be doing that in the states that have vote so far.

Young Superdelegates and young voters both have a responsibility this election cycle and that is to prove their generation is voting. Even more than that, young people must be a key group that elects the next President or the naysayes will once again come out of the woodwork and we will be back to square one where issues young people care about do not get any attention and where young voters are left out of the political process.

*In this blog post, young voters are categorized in 18-29 year olds since census and CNN exit polls categorize young voters with these breakdowns and young Superdelegates are individuals under 36 since this is how the DNC categorizes ages.

Young people in Wisconsin continue the trend of turning out in large numbers for Democrats.

Young people turning out for Democrats in Wisconsin almost doubled. In 2004, 91,120 young people voted in the Democratic primary compared to 175,841 who voted for Democrats in the 2008 Wisconsin primary.

Young people also increased their share of the Democratic vote from 11% in 2004 to 16% in 2008.

According to CNN exit polls, 70% of young people voted for Obama and 26% vote for Clinton.

Additionally, young Democrats continued their trend of outperforming young Republicans. In fact young Democrats almost quadrupled the young Republicans turnout in Wisconsin with 175,841 young people voting for Democrats and only 44,363 voting for Republicans.

Young Democrats Once Again Outperform Young Republicans

Washington, DC— Young people continued the trend of increased turnout and preference for Democrats in the South Carolina Primary. Young people almost tripled their turnout numbers from 2004 and almost doubled the turnout numbers of young Republicans.

“Young people in South Carolina continued to carry the torch of this generation,” said Jane Fleming Kleeb, Executive Director of the Young Voter PAC. “While the race for President turned to gender and race this past week, young voters focused on turning out in high numbers and they represented strong at the polls for Democrats.”

Young people are successfully breaking through race and gender boxes that their parents and grandparents first faced and fought against. Barack Obama got over 50% of the young white vote, the only non-black age group to overwhelmingly vote for Obama. Young Democratic voters were once again decisive with their choice. Over 67% voted for Barack Obama versus on the Republican side the vote was split among Huckabee and McCain (35% vs. 28%). A generational divide also continues, while 67% of young people vote for Obama only 32% of 65 and older voted did and the majority of that older age group, 40%, went for Clinton.

Pundits and Democratic insiders are beginning to take notice of young Democratic voters as a powerful voting bloc. Once the results were in for the South Carolina primary, Tim Russert on MSNBC noted, “If you are going to be a successful candidate in November as a Democratic candidate you cannot win with just hard core white Democratic voters. You need young voters to come into the Democratic fold to transform states like Florida…or Ohio. You need to broaden the base of the Democratic Party.”

Initial Youth Vote Statistics from South Carolina*:

Young people were 9% of the overall Democratic primary vote in 2004 and increased that to 14% in 2008.

Young Democrats continue to outnumber young Republicans at the polls continuing a trend in every state since Iowa.

Obama continued to secure the youth vote getting 67% of the overall youth vote, the largest percentage of voters among all ages (i.e. other ages broke down for Obama as follows, 62% of 30-44, 55% of 45-49, 38% 60 and older).

In raw numbers, there were 291,000 overall Democratic voters, of which 26,000 were young people in the 2004 SC primary. Compared to 2008, the overall number rose to 507,352 voters of all ages and 74,245 young people voting in the Democratic primary, young people almost tripled their 2004 turnout numbers.

As a comparison to Republicans, their total was 442,918 and only 44,291 young people showed up, a decrease from the last Republican primary when over 55,763 showed up to vote.

*Numbers cited in the release come from CNN exit polls and CIRCLE, a respected source on young voter data.

Press Contact: Jane Fleming Kleeb, jane@youngvoterpac.org, 202-445-5263

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Hope to Turn Out the Youth Vote and Provide a “Meaningful Relationship with Democracy”

Las Vegas, NV—Three Democratic youth groups—Democrats Work, Young Voter PAC and Young Democrats of Nevada—are teaming up in Nevada to let young people know they need to caucus for Democrats on January 19th, but they don’t want it to be a one night stand.

“The lesson of Iowa and New Hampshire is that if you connect with young people in meaningful ways, they get involved,” said Thomas Bates, executive director of Democrats Work. “Our mission at Democrats Work is to engage young people in a new kind of politics – a politics of service – that blends community service and political action to make sure they stay involved after Saturday. Helping to turn out the youth vote on Saturday is the first step. With community service projects, Democrats will make sure that we don’t wait until November to engage young people again.”

Using a creative message to get young people’s attention and using non-traditional outreach in high school parking lots, bars and coffee shops, the three Democratic youth groups are hitting the streets to get their peers to the Nevada caucus and to provide opportunities all year long for them to stay involved in Democratic politics.

“Since August, the Young Democrats of Nevada have been aggressively educating young voters about the caucus process at high schools, colleges and communities around the state,” said Jason Fromoltz, President of the Young Democrats of Nevada. “We have seen firsthand the excitement among Nevada’s youth that has been generated by this campaign season and know that the youth vote will play a crucial role in deciding the winner of the Nevada Democratic Presidential Caucus.”

All three groups will remain active in Nevada after the caucus is over. Through community service programs, Young Democrat chapters and supporting candidates who target young people, the groups offer a wide range of activities young people in Nevada can do to have a “meaningful relationship with Democracy.” Research shows that with continued involvement more young people will show up for Democrats on Election Day in November.

“Young people showed up strong for Democrats in both Iowa and New Hampshire, now all eyes are on Nevada,” said Jane Fleming Kleeb, the executive director of the Young Voter PAC. “Nevada young people increased their voting in 2004 by 13% and we know if candidates and youth groups target young people they will turn out again.”

More About the Groups:
Leaders of the groups quoted in this release, and featured below, will be in Las Vegas and are available for interviews. Press is also welcome to come with the volunteers to bars and other spots around Las Vegas.

Democrats Work is a national organization that mobilizes Democratic volunteers to do community service projects. Last year, DW partnered with Democratic organizations and elected officials in Nevada to paint out graffiti in Las Vegas and build trails and cleanup parks in Reno. Democrats Work was founded by Bates and his college roommate, Jason Carter, who is the son of 2006 U.S. Senate candidate, Jack Carter, and a grandson of former President Jimmy Carter.

Young Voter PAC, a national group that helps Democrats win with the youth vote, is based on a simple idea…that politics is better off with more young people involved. The youth vote has emerged as a critical bloc of voters for Democrats in recent years and the Young Voter PAC helps Democratic candidates, state parties and allied groups with their youth vote strategies.

Young Democrats of Nevada is the official youth arm of the Nevada State Democratic Party. The Young Democrats is the largest youth political organization in the state of Nevada, comprised of chapters from schools and communities from around the state.

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