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Last update: June 26, 2004 at 6:14 AM

Young people urged to vote

Nancy Kelsey,  Star Tribune
June 26, 2004 VOTER0626

Heather Hardy, 19, is not sure that she should register to vote in this November's election.

"I just don't know who to vote for," she said. "If I registered to vote, then didn't vote, then there's no point."

She is among the half of voters between 18 and 25 who are eligible to vote in Minnesota but do not, and her attitude about voting is not that uncommon.

On Friday, two national organizations -- one paddling down the Mississippi River and the other making its way across America -- met up at Boom Island in Minneapolis in an effort to motivate young people to vote. The nonpartisan event attracted about 100 people.

Paddle for the Presidency, a group of 20 youths canoeing from Lake Itasca to New Orleans stops at cities to register young voters. Members hand out pledge cards that urge signers to get friends registered, said executive director Kerri Kuhn, 22.

The second group, Mobilizing America's Youth, began in San Francisco. Their two RVs are traveling in a "March Across America." They will stop in 15 cities to "raise awareness and demonstrate our generation has political power," said board member Scott Beale.

This year, voting seems to be an easier sell, both in Minnesota and nationally, observers say. As of Thursday, 390,000 people aged 18 to 25 have registered to vote in Minnesota. That number is much higher than in years past and it is only June, said Kent Kaiser, communications director for Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer.

In addition, the state's young adult voter turnout is usually higher than the national average, Kaiser said. The 2000 election attracted 348,081 young registrants in Minnesota.

There's also an increase in the number of young people registering to vote, said Tom Patterson, director of the Vanishing Voter project at Harvard University.

"Their involvement in the election is up 50 percent from 2000," he said. "It's pretty hard to see an explanation for it outside of Iraq and 9/11."

Recent college graduate and registered voter Eric Dayton, who attended Friday's rally, said the war in Iraq is the main reason young people will vote.

"To think there's kids our age there gets people's attention," he said.

In 1972, when 18-year-olds first gained the right to vote, about 50 percent registered nationally, resulting in the highest young voter turnout ever, Patterson said. It's been declining ever since, with the exception of 1992, 2000 and this year.

Dan Glickman, director of Harvard's Institute of Politics, said the issues in the forefront this year -- gay rights, affirmative action, the economy and health care -- have led to the increased registration. These are not partisan issues to the young voter, he said.

"Students are so largely independent," Glickman said. "Neither political party has captured them. If the survey is accurate and a million more vote this year, it could be a big swing factor."

But will the young people actually hit the polls?

Jed Ipsen, 28, a University of Minnesota senior and an event-organizer, called it a "very vicious cycle."Those running for office don't speak to young people because young people don't vote ... and young people don't listen to politicians anyway."

Nancy Kelsey is at nkelsey@startribune.com

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