Caucus training sessions planned on campuses
Colorado is considered by some public-interest research groups as a
key state in this year's presidential election, and they say a high
number of eligible college-aged voters here could help break national
records for turnout among 18- and 19-year-olds.
Student branches
of Colorado's Public Interest Research Group, or CoPIRG, are planning
caucus training sessions in hopes of getting young people out on Feb. 5
-- when the state holds its caucuses.
Although details of the
sessions haven't been finalized, Cory Nadler, CoPIRG's campus organizer
at the University of Colorado, said CU's training will probably be held
the week before the caucus.
"The goal is to teach them how to be an effective caucuser," Nadler said. "It's a lost democratic art in our community."
Volunteers
will call apartments and residence halls to notify CU studentsabout the
importance of caucusing and the available practice rounds, Nadler said.
If this summer's youth voting initiatives are any indicator, he said,
the caucus practices -- and the real thing -- will be well attended by
young people.
A summer push to encourage youth voting invited
young people to candidate events, where they were encouraged to ask
tough questions of the 2008 presidential hopefuls. Nadler said never
before has there been such a good showing among young people.
"I think Feb. 5 will be a meaningful day in the political landscape for this country," he said.
So
far, in the nation's first caucuses and primaries, young people have
been much more dominant than in the past. In the New Hampshire primary
Tuesday, 53,000 more voters under 30 turned out than in 2004.
Colorado
has about 303,000 college students and about 637,000 eligible young
voters, according to 2006 statistics from the CoPIRG.
"I think
we have a very young, and up-and-coming state," Nadler said. "We've
been working since August to register more than 3,000 students to vote."
Nadler cites several reasons why he thinks 2008 will be the election of the young.
The race is wide open -- no incumbents are vying for the post, and no clear nominees have been identified in any party.
"Change"
has become the buzzword for most candidates, and young people
historically have been much more open to change than their elders,
Nadler said.
"And, we are the second-largest voting block in the
country," he said. "In 10 years, we'll be the largest, so it's
imperative that the candidates pay attention to the issues we care
about."
Dozens of CU students have linked candidate Web sites to
their Facebook pages, adding comments about how their hopeful "rocks"
or how the polls are the "place to be."
On the CU-based Facebook
group page titled, "Voter Registration Drive," one student commented:
"i think i speak for every girl in the entire world when I say guys who
register to vote are (expletive) sexy."
According to the New
Hampshire Public Interest Research Group, young people on a national
level comprise a fourth of the U.S. electorate.
"Students on
campuses from California to Colorado, Florida to Wisconsin, and New
Mexico to Pennsylvania are working with the student PIRGs to mobilize
young people through tested peer-to-peer registration and 'get out the
vote' drives," said Sujatha Jahagirdar, a spokesperson for the New
Hampshire group.
The student branch of that national research
group has launched a New Voters Project, and that's become the
country's largest youth voter mobilization program -- registering more
than 600,000 young people since 2004.
