A national group has launched a campaign to register 5,000 new Arizona voters aged 18-24 and get them to the polls on Nov 2.

At a press conference in the Secretary of State’s Office on Aug. 16, Amy Temple, state director of the New Voters Project, said only 25 per cent of Arizona’s 18 to 24 year olds voted in the 2000 election. That’s short of the national average of 36 per cent. In contrast, she said, more than 70 per cent of citizens over 60 vote.

“The goal of this project is to reverse the decline in youth voting by partnering with colleges, universities, business and community groups to talk one-on-one with young adults about voting,” she said.

The project is endorsed by Secretary of State Jan Brewer who said, “Getting more Arizonans registered to vote has been a goal of my administration from the very beginning.”

Three lawmakers spoke at the press conference. Rep. Tom O’Halleran, R-1, said he is 58, and policy decisions made now will affect him for perhaps the next 30 years. For people 18 to 24, policy decisions will affect their lives for 60 years. “They need to understand this and they need to understand that their vote counts,” he said.

Rep. Meg Burton Cahill, D-17, recalled that Aug. 26 will mark the 84th anniversary of the formal ratification of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote. She exhorted young women to “honor their grandmothers’ commitment to the struggle for equality and exercise their right to vote.”

Sen. Marilyn Jarrett, R-19, said has been part of electoral reform legislation for many years. She said she is particularly proud of sponsoring S1075 last year to help Arizona comply with the federal Help America to Vote Act. That legislation allows the state to qualify for federal money to purchase optical scan voting equipment and, she said, Arizona now enjoys “the most accurate form of vote-tallying equipment available.”

Ms. Temple said that $40 million has been raised nationwide to increase voter registration and voter turnout among young adults. She said the New Voter Project is working with organizations such as Rock the Vote, founded in 1990 by recording industry executives; Smackdown Your Vote, sponsored by World Wrestling entertainment; and MTV’s Choose or Lose Campaign.

The New Voters Project is sponsored by the State Public Interest Research Groups with a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts to the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. —