Voters program provides information about election
Record lows in voter turnouts spark program designed to inform new voters.
By Brian Schneider
Skiff Staff

Erin Wall, a junior psychology major, didn’t know who she was going to vote for Tuesday until she found out about the Young Voters program.

“The information on the Web site has given me a more confident feeling about who to vote for,” she said.

Wall may be like many other university students.

TCU and Fort Worth have been selected to host a new Young Voters program, which provides accurate and unbiased information to help young people make decisions about voting, said Charlotte Townsend, the Fort Worth program manager.

The program is part of Project Vote Smart and has been working since Sept. 1 to inform TCU students and Fort Worth’s 18- to 25-year-olds with factual information about candidates, issue positions, voting records and other information.

The program is part of Project Vote Smart, a research library serving people with information about more than 40,000 candidates and elected officials, said Adam York, assistant media director.

The Young Voters Program consists of a Web site, voter’s research hot line and voter’s self-defense manuals to help increase awareness among 18- to 25-year-old voters.

Recent voter turnout among young people has reached record lows. Studies have tied young people’s lack of interest to the lack of accurate, abundant, information relevant to their own concerns during political campaigns, York said.

Townsend said Fort Worth is one of a few select cities participating in the program, which also include San Jose, Calif., Colombia, S.C., Lincoln, Neb., Tampa, Fla. and Indianapolis.

“Six cities were selected to start the grassroots efforts based on strong local ties and contacts with media and a large population of 18- to 25-year-olds,” Townsend said.

Rachel Chutchian, a junior English major, said she appreciates the nonpartisan research that the Vote Smart Youth Web site has to offer.

“The Vote Smart Youth Web site helps me compare candidate issues,” she said. “It’s difficult to know all of the facts on various candidates but Project Vote Smart offers a lot of information to make my decision easier.”

Townsend, is working with civic leaders, local media and youth-oriented organizations to distribute banners, posters and brochures that direct young people to project vote smart’s Web site and hot line, York said.

The Young Voters Program is also being conducted at the national level through partnerships with such organizations as Rock the Vote, the Youth Vote Coalition, Campus Compact, World Wrestling Entertainment, MTV, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the YMCA, he said.

The project is funded by a $500,000 grant from Pew Charitable Trusts and is a collaboration with the Fort Worth Public Library, the Mary Couts Burnett Library, other area college libraries and local youth and news organizations, he said.

Following Tuesday’s election, young people in each of the six cities will be surveyed and interviewed to measure any changes in their voting behavior that may be related to their ability to instantly access information relevant to their own unique concerns, York said.

“If the study finds that young people have become disenfranchised due to the lack of information provided to young citizens by candidates, news organizations and potential political parties,” York said, “the program will be applied nationally in the 2004 presidential race.”

Brian Schneider