Youth turn-out in record numbers

More young people voted in Tuesday's presidential election than voted in the last election four years ago, but an overall spike in voter turnout among all ages may have skewed the perception that youth turnout was a disappointment compared to past elections.\nExit polls conducted Tuesday night showed that voters in the 18- to 29-year-old demographic accounted for roughly 17 percent of all voters, about the same percentage young people made up in 2000.\nBut the raw numbers of voters showed youth turnout jumped dramatically compared to past elections. The percentage of eligible young people who voted Tuesday increased nine percentage points compared to 2000, and an estimated 20.9 million Americans under 30 voted this year, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement.\n"This is phenomenal," CIRCLE director William A. Galston said in a press release. "It represents the highest youth voter turnout in more than a decade."\nGalston said this year's election surpassed the youth participation peak of 1992, when Bill Clinton, then the governor of Arkansas, defeated incumbent President George H.W. Bush. Young people passed the 1992 numbers by an estimated four percentage points this year.\nThe higher levels of young participation may be obscured by a surge in voter turnout across the board, said Cate Brandon, spokesperson for Rock the Vote, a non-profit organization that encourages youth participation in the political process. \nConsequently, the focus may be erroneously placed on the statistic that the overall percentage moved little. \n"The percentage as a part of the electorate is about the same," Brandon said. "All voters surged to the polls, and young people kept pace with the increased voting that happened across the board."\nWith 99 percent of nationwide precincts reporting, figures tabulated Wednesday by The Associated Press showed that 114.3 million people voted this election. \nAn estimated 120 million people cast ballots, including 5.5 million to 6 million absentee and provisional ballots that have yet to be counted.\nExit polls also showed that young voters strongly preferred Sen. John Kerry over President George W. Bush, 54 percent to 45 percent, and the only age bracket the Democratic challenger captured was voters 18 to 29.\nDespite a larger turnout among young people, voters under 24 still only accounted for one in 10 voters.\nBrandon said Rock the Vote will regroup following the election and focus its priorities on educating students on their rights as voters, expanding options to vote and making sure polling places are accessible. She said the group is concerned in motivating politicians to pay attention to the needs of younger voters.\n"I think what we need to look at is what are young people voting for, and ultimately it's whether the politicians are speaking to young people and speaking to the issues that are important to them," Brandon said. "That's what we need to work on: getting politicians to speak to young people."\nMany polls indicated a growing interest in politics among young people this year. A study conducted by Harvard University's Institute of Politics found that 62 percent of students enrolled in colleges and universities said they planned to vote this year.\nThere is no conclusive word yet, however, on how many students attending colleges across the nation actually made it to the polls.\n-- Contact senior writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.