I and II
I. Project Vision
The YES campaign is designed to register 18 and 19 year olds to vote while educating them on the voting process and the views of each political party.
II. Importance of Project
After meeting with various leaders in my community, Senator Joel Lourie, and the staff of ETV-SC, I realized that a major need in my community as well as in the state of South Carolina as a whole was increased voter turnout.
Upon researching voter registration and voter statistics, I found that only a small percentage of 18 year olds are registered to vote. It is important that this age group is represented and engaged in the political process, as they are our future leaders. As a group they would have a huge impact on the way that our government works. To have an equal democracy, everyone must exercise their right to vote. My program encourages eligible youth to register and in doing so, inform them of the United States political process and the importance of voting.
In the 2004 presidential election, 34 million people reported that they were not registered to vote. Of these people, 15 million reported that they were not interested and 6 million missed the registration deadline. An astounding 1 million people aged 18- to 24-years old reported that they either missed the registration deadline or did not know where or how to register to vote. These statistics clearly show that there is a need for programs encouraging youth to vote while providing them with information needed to produce educated and well-founded decisions.
During the 2004 election, in South Carolina there were 3,128,000 people eligible to vote (that is, they were aged 18 and older). However, only 2,047,368 of those people actually registered with only 1,116,936 of those registered actually voted. They say that the power is in the people’s hands, but what you don’t know is that it is only in the hands of about 35% of the people. In Dorchester County, there are about 28,000 people aged 18 to 21 years old. Of these numbers, only 3,542 were registered to vote in 2005 with only 1,905 actually making it to the polls.
Because of these shocking numbers, I felt the need to create a program designed to reach the nearly 24,000 18 to 21 year olds in my community. Focusing even more on the 18 and 19 year olds who are new to the experience and concept of local, state, and national voting. By reaching these voters young, we can create a foundation for them to politically grow and continue their voting experiences!
The YES campaign is designed to register 18 and 19 year olds to vote while educating them on the voting process and the views of each political party.
II. Importance of Project
After meeting with various leaders in my community, Senator Joel Lourie, and the staff of ETV-SC, I realized that a major need in my community as well as in the state of South Carolina as a whole was increased voter turnout.
Upon researching voter registration and voter statistics, I found that only a small percentage of 18 year olds are registered to vote. It is important that this age group is represented and engaged in the political process, as they are our future leaders. As a group they would have a huge impact on the way that our government works. To have an equal democracy, everyone must exercise their right to vote. My program encourages eligible youth to register and in doing so, inform them of the United States political process and the importance of voting.
In the 2004 presidential election, 34 million people reported that they were not registered to vote. Of these people, 15 million reported that they were not interested and 6 million missed the registration deadline. An astounding 1 million people aged 18- to 24-years old reported that they either missed the registration deadline or did not know where or how to register to vote. These statistics clearly show that there is a need for programs encouraging youth to vote while providing them with information needed to produce educated and well-founded decisions.
During the 2004 election, in South Carolina there were 3,128,000 people eligible to vote (that is, they were aged 18 and older). However, only 2,047,368 of those people actually registered with only 1,116,936 of those registered actually voted. They say that the power is in the people’s hands, but what you don’t know is that it is only in the hands of about 35% of the people. In Dorchester County, there are about 28,000 people aged 18 to 21 years old. Of these numbers, only 3,542 were registered to vote in 2005 with only 1,905 actually making it to the polls.
Because of these shocking numbers, I felt the need to create a program designed to reach the nearly 24,000 18 to 21 year olds in my community. Focusing even more on the 18 and 19 year olds who are new to the experience and concept of local, state, and national voting. By reaching these voters young, we can create a foundation for them to politically grow and continue their voting experiences!
posted by Sean at 7:01 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home