Something big is happening in our democracy – young people are voting. Already, young people turned out in record numbers at the nation’s first caucus and primary contests of 2008.  The youth vote almost doubled in New Hampshire, tripled in Iowa and quadrupled in Tennessee. 

Right here in Ohio, the youth vote almost doubled – from 259,960 young voters (18-29) in 2000 to 479,418 in 2008.  (Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.)

For 25 years, OhioPIRG and our sister Student PIRGs across the country have worked to mobilize young voters to the polls to reinvigorate our country’s democracy.   

Our efforts have spanned the state, working with students at Capital University, Case Western Reserve University, Kent State University, Ohio State University, The University of Cincinnati, Miami University, Oberlin University and the University of Toledo.  The non-partisan project has been endorsed state legislators, local businesses and campus administrators.  

Since 2004 alone, we have registered more than 8,000 young 18-30 year old Ohio voters to vote and made thousands more Get out the Vote (GOTV) contacts via phone or face to face to encourage young people to vote.

The project works. In part due to our efforts, youth voting rates in the state have increased significantly.  According to CIRCLE, in 2004 Ohio’s youth vote increased by 14 percent over 2000.  An analysis of turnout figures in 14 student-dominated Ohio precincts targeted by Ohio PIRG in 2006 found that the overall number of votes cast in those precincts increased by about 50 percent over 2002.

2008 is no different.

In the days leading up to the March 4th primary, Ohio PIRG organizers showed up at campus hockey matches, basketball games and concerts to mobilize the youth vote.  At Miami University in Oxford we stopped students on their way to class and asked them to pledge to vote, then text five of their friends a get out the vote reminder.  In just two hours, 80 students texted their friends to vote.  Partnering with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Spike TV, we urged 15,000 young fans to sign a pledge to vote at a Columbus match the weekend before the primary.

Youth vote way up in Ohio, Texas

Group tries to get youth to vote - March 4, 2008

Read more about our work in Colorado and across the country to turn out the youth vote in the election so far and our plans for the coming months here.