Every 4 years, it seems to be a new voter slogan comes out to entice young voters to vote. We’ve come from “Rocking the Vote” to “Vote or Die” to “Yes We Can!” to “Shut Up & Vote”. However with each voter slogan comes opportunist’s willing to gain a profit because of good old capitalism. Now I’m all for capitalism and for making a profit but what affect if any has any of these movements had on youth voting outside of the Yes We Can! 2008 was a rare occasion not expected to repeat itself this year because many millennium voters have become discouraged over the past 4 years due to what they see as a lack of change or progress.
Thus the real question is why youth voters just can’t tell each other to vote because elders marched, fought and dead just for us to have a right to vote. Why can’t youth voters just tell each other to vote because it’s the cool thing to do, it’s the new "it" trend, and it will be all anyway talks about on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and any other social network site on Tuesday, November 6, 2012? We don't need anyone to tell us to rock a vote when the vote won’t be rocked in no shape or form unless every single American in this nation actually votes in an election. Simply having youth vote more won’t rock the vote but it will tip the scale of balance from more attention being paid to the elderly and middle classes to perhaps the millennium voter in future elections.
When P.Diddy or Diddy, whatever he goes by today launched the whole “Vote or Die” campaign in 2004, it was cool, trendy and thought provoking. Many youth across America sported the shirts and others who didn’t sport the original sported knockoffs. Nonetheless, the message on the shirt at the time was never questioned. However I’m going to question it because actual people actually dead trying to vote when they weren’t allowed to vote but in 2004 was that the case. Nobody’s life was in danger in 2004 by casting a vote, in fact, no one would die by simply voting at the time of the slogan debut. Still 8 years later and Diddy still a millionaire with a trademark on “Vote or Die”, has not been actively involved in the political process the last 8 years whatsoever. In fact, more “Vote or Die” t-shirts are being sold yet alone the slogan is not even been mentioned until I just brought it up.
We all know what happened in 2008 where there was a spike in the millennium voting with the “Yes We Can!” slogan. I don’t have the actual statistics but last I checked at The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE)—http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/FactSheets/FS_08_exit_polls.pdf—estimated that youth voter turnout rose to between 52 and 53 percent, an increase of four to five percentage points over CIRCLE’s estimate based on the 2004 exit polls. However 2004 was considered a large turnout for youth compared to 1996 and 2000. However the 52-53% is almost identical to that of 1992. Even further research shows just how much the youth vote changed in 2008:http://www.civicyouth.org/quick-facts/youth-voting/.
As we approach the 2012 election season and I look on my twitter feed and see Shut Up and Vote, I have to question does that mean if you don’t vote you have to shut up or just vote and shut up. Either way I have to question, does that mean everyone who was eligible to vote in previous mayoral elections, state elections and so on have to shut up since they didn’t vote in 2011, 2010, or 2009 since they have been eligible to vote. How does telling someone to shut up and vote encourage anyone to vote when voting is about exercising a right and it is a freedom of expression? Therefore if we truly believe in the voting process than we couldn’t want to be disrespectful by telling people with different opinions than us to shut up and vote especially if you want that person to vote for the candidate you like. I’m just saying. Nonetheless while the slogan looks good on a t-shirt, it doesn’t push the needle to get youth to vote.
If we truly want the youth to vote than why not have a discussion with all your friends and you all encourage each other to not only register to vote but to vote not in just this election but every election. If people are serious about voting and not just selling slogans on t-shirts what about telling people to vote and they will get a free t-shirt at certain polling stations. If people are serious about getting the youth vote out than what about have a party on college campuses or at clubs near universities and colleges that offer discounts to those sporting I voted stickers or if you have the sticker stub from your ballot.
The truth is youth have voted in a decent amount in Presidential elections since 1972 (40% or above) and at almost the same rate of (20% or above) in every midterm election since 1974—http://www.civicyouth.org/youth-turnout-about-20-comparable-to-recent-midterm-years/. So why do the news media and everyone like to make it seem that we as youth aren’t voting. While the truth is, those of us between 18-29 years of age, make up one of the largest voting blocs yet we are not one of the most sought after votes because we don’t vote consistently in every election. If we as youth voted more constantly and could be depended on to vote in every election from mayoral, county, state legislature, U.S. Congressional and Senate races as well as Presidential and ballot proposals than perhaps more ads will be geared toward us similar to how campaigns gear campaign ads toward the elderly in Florida or Hispanics in Texas, Florida, New Mexico, etc.
So until we as youth reach that point of just vote, we need to stop with the gimmicks on t-shirts as if they are actually going to persuade someone to vote. Simply having the discussion of voting in one’s vocabulary is the first step to getting the vote out. Just tell people to vote but not who to vote for.
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