This Wednesday Rock the Vote will launch its 2010 voter registration and civic engagement campaign in Orlando. Similar efforts will also be launched this week in Colorado, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Central Florida Future reported on Sunday that “the event will gather volunteers to be part of campus and community street teams that will register voters for the upcoming elections.”
The organization’s website states:
Rock the Vote’s mission is to engage and build political power for young people in order to achieve progressive change in our country.
Over the last two decades, Rock the Vote has registered more young people to vote than any other organization or campaign, and we intend to register and turn out millions more in 2010 – and to be the best-informed place online where young people can find out what they need to know before casting a ballot.
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, more than 50 percent of the 18-to-34-year-old demographic was registered to vote in 2008. In Florida, more than half of youth in the 18-to-24-year-old age range registered and almost 700,000 (44 percent) actually voted.
U.S. Census Bureau reports show that youth voter registration and participation for congressional elections declined from 1966 through 1998 but as of 2000 youth voter registration and participation have shown increases for general election years, with a noticeable increase for the 2008 presidential election.
Organizations like Rock the Vote, Campus Compact, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and 18 in 08 target youth civic engagement and voter registration in various campaigns and programs throughout the U.S.
