Over the last several weeks, thousands of young ‘Power Vote’ leaders around the country have been working around the clock to make sure their peers turned out in record numbers to vote for clean energy and green jobs creation. Figures on voter demographics won’t be out for some time, but indications from yesterday’s voting suggest that groups like Power Vote may have helped the youngest voter demographic finally achieve its long-hoped for potential.
Power Vote is a national, non-partisan campaign that has been active over 300 campuses and communities around the country. Young Power Voters got more than 300,000 young people to commit to voting for clean energy and green jobs and had a presence at every Presidential and Vice Presidential debate, as well as at countless campaign and candidate events around the country.
For the last few days, Power Voters have been organizing green concerts, festivals, and rallies, ‘dorm storms,’ bike blitzes, phone banking, and good old fashioned door knocking and canvassing to ensure that the youth vote was big this year.
In St. Louis, MO students held a "Metrolink Prom" on Saturday to help raise awareness about a local public transportation proposition. On Friday in Virginia, students held a statewide "Hallow-Green" Day of Action to show youth voter support for clean energy. Hundreds of campuses also participated in Trick or Vote activities in "climate costumes."
"Young people understand that their future is at stake in this election," said Jessy Tolkan, Director of Energy Action Coalition’s Power Vote campaign. "Our generation is not only committed to voting on November 4 but is also actively engaged in the democratic process. We have had enough of dirty energy politics and are doing everything we can to make sure this election is the beginning of a clean energy future for America."
Throughout the weekend, Power Voters talked to hundreds of thousands of their classmates and peers in-person, on the phone, and through Facebook to make sure they had all the information they needed to vote.
On Monday there were huge youth vote rallies in Ohio and Virginia. Massive synchronized ‘dorm storms’ were carried out throughout the night in nearly every state. Yesterday students in New Hampshire and Florida marched to the polls together, and in other states, students participated in critical mass bike rides to the polls.
In North Carolina, free bio diesel bus rides were arranged to get every last voter to the polls. In anticipation of long lines, students in many states gave street theater performances and threw ‘Polling Parties’ to keep people entertained as they waited to vote. And as the results rolled in, green election watching parties took place across the country.
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