Voter Registration in South Florida

One high school could have chosen the US President in 2000. Could yours in 2008?

Don’t think your vote counts for anything? I submit to you the story of one Andrew Blasi, and how he turned the epically close 2000 Presidential Election results in Florida into a comprehensive civic engagement/education endeavor. In Andrew’s own words:

“Growing up in South Florida during the 2000 Presidential Election granted me the opportunity to witness what was one of the most defining moments in world political and electoral history. The leader of most powerful nation in the world was determined by that of 537 votes from an election in which over 100 million were cast. This election opened my eyes to the true power voting can have, but even more so, it revealed to me how the power of just one voice could have been enough to tip the balance in one direction or another.

“So began my desire to launch a community effort in mobilizing fellow students to not only register to vote, but to understand many of the necessary responsibilities associated with the power of voting. So began my desire to be one such voice in a small suburban community that narrowly determined the world’s fate over the past eight years.

“Launching this grassroots campaign with a few close friends on all sides of the political spectrum, we registered 506 high school students to vote in 2005 and 508 in 2006. In our Florida hometown of just 22,000 residents, we registered nearly double the amount of students to vote than the Presidential margin of victory in 2000. Our campaign, based on unwavering passion and commitment, made our purpose not just about registration but education. One such means of education was holding our high school’s first Political Forum in the spring of 2006 ahead of municipal elections.

“The response was extraordinary, as over 700 registered high school juniors and seniors attended the forum to listen and watch candidates discuss their issues and platforms. In the municipal race that followed just one week later, there was a 23% rise in the number of citywide votes cast from the previous election of spring 2004. City population growth was less than 7% over the same two year period. It was also of no coincidence that the two youngest candidates in the race were the ones elected for the two contested council seats.

“As I learned and experienced firsthand, rocking the vote is far more encompassing than simply registering people to vote. If young people hope to expand their influence and importance in the political process, they must directly engage in that process through education, keeping an open mind, and above all else have a sense of understanding that your newly acquired power of one vote represents an very real and equally proportionate ownership over the most powerful military, economy, and emergence of culture the world has ever known.”

Wanna be cool like Andrew? Co-brand your own voter registration with Rock The Vote at http://www.rockthevote.com/act-out/logo-request/ today!

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 11:20 am and is filed under Florida, voter registration, young voters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.