State Profile: Turning out California’s Youth Vote on Super Tuesday

In the days leading up to Super Tuesday, CALPIRG students and staff took California campuses by storm to register and mobilize students to the polls.

Youth organizers at the University of California campuses, Los .Angeles Community Colleges and the University of Southern California registered thousands of students to vote in the days leading up to California’s voter registration deadline.

As February 5th approached, we pounded the pavement and tapped into the increasingly wired world of the young voter to turn out the youth vote on Super Tuesday.

	At the University of California, Davis students used Facebook to organize a ‘Get out the Vote’ flash mob.
	After invading classrooms and exhorting their peers to show up on Election Day, volunteers at the University of California, Berkeley asked students to put down their pens, pick up their cell phones and text friends in their phone books a ‘get out the vote’ reminder.  Young Voters are Stoked, Feb 2, ‘08
	Student leaders also dressed up in costume, organized ‘get out the vote’ carnivals, and ‘debate tailgates,’  to call attention to the importance of the youth vote and urge students to show up on Election Day.
	Last Minute Rush to Register - January 22, 2008
	How to turn out young voters - February 6, 2008
	How to Turn out the Youth Vote - January 11, 2008
	Students Organize to Overcome Obstacles to Voting - January 24, 2008
	In a tribute to Mardi Gras, which fell on Super Tuesday, students at the University of California organized a ‘Happy Super Fat Tuesday’ event on campuses, in which students on their way to class played a ‘toss the beads on the life-sized cardboard candidate’ game and were urged to sign a pledge to vote.   Students Turn Out for Registration Week - January 24, 20

'Text out the Vote'

On the eve of Super Tuesday, CALPIRG students launched massive phone banks across the state to urge young voters to the polls.  Leveraging technology, we also partnered with Credo Mobile and the One Campaign to send text message vote reminders to thousands of students in California and other Super Tuesday states.

Internet political buzz super for democracy - February 6, 2008

Mobilizing the Youth Vote on Super Tuesday - February 1, 2008

Ultimately, CALPIRG’s efforts on college campuses across the state helped propel a statewide surge in the youth vote of almost 50% and generated local, state and national media coverage.

Student Leaders with CALPIRG’s New Voters Project

	Sarah Dobjensky, 19 – After spearheading a 1,500-student voter registration drive in the 2006 mid-term elections, Dobjensky went on to lead a campus effort to educate fellow students about student debt issues and the need to reduce college costs. This primary season she also mobilized groups of students on campus to attended events fundraisers, town halls and photo-ops organized by presidential candidates to ask about issues important to youth.  The effort, part of CALPIRG’s What’s Your Plan? Campaign talked to all the major candidates more than 100 times.
	Tracey Zheng, 20 – A sophomore and Student Senator at the University of California, Zheng serves as CALPIRG New Voters Project’s campus campaign coordinator.  This year she spearheaded a voter registration and mobilization drive that registered 1,500 students to vote and turnout thousands of students on February 5th.
	Valerie Johnson, 21 – student at Los Angeles Valley Community College, Johnson organized a ‘Get out the Vote’ concert last semester and this year ispearheaded a voter mobilization effort on her campus, organizing classroom announcement blitzes and registration tables on campus.  Deeply concerned about issues about hunger and homelessness in the Los Angeles area, she has also organized campus fundraisers for local food banks and other non profits.
	Mike Reagan, 21 – In the 2006 mid-term elections, Mike lead one of the largest voter registration efforts that the University of California, Davis had ever seen, registering 1,500 young people to vote.  A college senior, Reagan was energized after testifying this fall before Congress regarding the threat posed by global warming to his generation.   This primary season he helped lead a voter registration and mobilization effort  on campus that will use registration tables,  classroom ‘text out the vote’ announcements, web ‘flash mobs, ’ costumes and other visibility stunts to register students and build a voting ‘buzz’ on campus for February 5th.
	Daniel Teplitz, 20 – A sophomore at the University of California, San Diego, Daniel worked in partnership with the campus student government to organize ‘classroom registration blitzes’ and other voter registration events on campus. Daniel also spent the summer working on a grassroots Environment California campaign to increase the use of renewable energy in the state.
	Jenn Engstrom, 20 – A sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley, Jenn has actively worked to mobilize campus support for high-speed rail between Northern and Southern California, federal clean energy policy and stricter textbook price disclosure laws.   This primary season she worked to mobilize students to register and get to the vote by organizing classroom registration blitzes and campus visibility events.
	Ruchika Gupta, 20 – A junior at the University of Southern California, Ruchika is working with the USC’s Undergraduate Student Government and the Political Student Association to organize a campus ‘Get out the Vote’ concert in the days before the primaries.  She also worked with the CALPIRG chapter on campus to organize classroom registration blitzes, tables and plaster the campus with reminders to register on January 22nd, the day of the California Primary registration deadline. Ruchika also helped lead the CALPIRG’s What’s Your Plan? campaign on campus, organizing students to appear at candidate events hosted in the area to ask about issues important to young people.