New Report: Young Voters and the Web, Lot of Work to Do

CIRCLE just released a new report that analyzes the variety of web sites on the ‘net focused on youth and politics and getting young people to vote. I recommend reading the executive summary, which is a few pages. The bottom line is this: elected officials and candidates still have a long way to go to provide tools and resources to engage youth in the electoral process at a comparable level to the way other groups are targeted (e.g. senior citizens). This problem stems from the bigger issue that people 18-25 are for the most part not voting. And it’s proven that when you don’t vote when you’re young, you usually don’t vote when you’re old. While many people got fired up after Dean’s internet-emphasized campaign, the sad statistics still stand that the internet resources for young people to “plug in” to current affairs and participate in the democratic process are weak.