Don’t Give Up on Young Voters

To the Editor:

One couldn’t find a better example of that old kindergarten lesson about viewing the glass as half empty than Leslie Lenkowsky’s pessimistic prediction about youth voting (“Voter-Turnout Efforts Won’t Pay Off on Election Day,” Opinion, September 30). If we accepted Mr. Lenkowsky’s dour assessment, we might as well throw up our hands and walk away while participation in the most fundamental act of democracy continues to plummet. That is simply unacceptable.

Mr. Lenkowsky’s prescription to remedy low youth-voter turnout is to just “wait” until young people get older. Unfortunately, voting rates have dropped so low that we can’t expect that age alone will improve things — in 1972, 52 percent of people 18 to 24 voted, while in 2000 only 36 percent did.

More likely, today’s young nonvoter will become tomorrow’s adult nonvoter — and democracy will suffer. Further, why would our great democracy accept a situation in which the views of an entire generation are disregarded? From the war in Iraq to the cost and quality of education, young people bring concerns to the public agenda and these should be heard.

There is good reason to be optimistic. In a recent poll, 6 in 10 young people said they were certain to vote on November 2 and 74 percent think this is one of the most important elections in their lifetime. The New Voters Project funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts has already registered more than 300,000 voters, and their work has helped put the power of youth voices and votes on the radar screens of the presidential candidates, political parties, the media, and young people themselves.

Already, these preliminary outcomes represent substantial progress and are good news for the long-term health of American democracy.

Rebecca W. Rimel
President
Pew Charitable Trusts
Philadelphia