Contact: 

Sujatha Jahagirdar (323) 309 6120 (cell)

Since 2004, Ohio PIRG’s New Voters Project has been among the state’s leading non-partisan youth voter mobilization program.  Founded with the goal of increasing youth political participation, we believe that these increasing young voter rates bode well for democracy for three key reasons. First, young people are the generation that will be most impacted by our most pressing issues – such as global warming and health care – and by engaging them now, it’s more likely that they’ll be a driving force towards the solutions to these issues. Second, youth are a big and growing portion of the national electorate (25% by 2008) and as such have the potential to make big impacts on these issues.  Finally, youth voting habits are formed early - getting more young people to vote now results in a more active citizenry in the future.

Mobilizing Young Voters

Ohio PIRG’s New Voters Project has used tested methods at an unprecedented scale and rigor to register more than 8,000 18-30 year olds to vote and made thousands more Get out the Vote (GOTV) contacts via phone or face to face to encourage young people to vote.

Since 2004 our efforts have spanned the state, working students at Capital University, Case Western Reserve University, Kent State University, Ohio State University, The University of Cincinnati, Miami University, Oberlin University and the University of Toledo.  The non-partisan project has been endorsed state legislators, local businesses and campus administrators.  

The project works. In part due to our efforts, youth voting rates in the state have increased significantly.  According to CIRCLE, in 2004 Ohio’s youth vote increased by 14 percent over 2000.  An analysis of turnout figures in 14 student-dominated Ohio precincts targeted by Ohio PIRG in 2006 found that the overall number of votes cast in those precincts increased by about 50 percent over 2002.

Protecting Student Voting Rights

Leading up to Tuesday’s primary and on Election Day, on-the-ground organizers with Ohio PIRG will work in student-dominated precincts to make sure that student voters are fully informed about their voting rights and are afforded full access to the polls guaranteed by the law.

Building a Culture of Civic Engagement

Since 2004, young voters in the United State have been turning out in increasing numbers.  The first contests of the 2008 presidential elections have seen dramatic surges in the youth vote, with young voter turnout tripling in Iowa, doubling in New Hampshire and increasing significantly in key Super Tuesday States. 

As such, the 2008 elections present an opportunity not only to keep driving up the youth voter turnout, but also to establish and significantly boost our student organizing network. So Ohio PIRG is working hard to make 2008 a pivotal year in youth voting by executing a strategy that will not only boost youth voting in Ohio, but that will also result in new permanent, self- funded civic engagement infrastructures that will allow us to run bigger voter mobilization drives, recruit and train the next generation of leaders, and create even more social change in the years to come

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Ohio PIRG is a student organization that works to solve public interest problems related to the environment, consumer protection, and government reform. http://www.ohiopirgstudents.org/.  Since 2004, we have registered more than 8,000 young Ohioans to vote.  An analysis of turnout figures in 14 student-dominated Ohio precincts targeted by Ohio PIRG in 2006 found that the overall number of votes cast in those precincts increased by about 50 percent over 2002.