ONE YEAR FROM ELECTION DAY, DECLARE YOURSELF ISSUES VOTER REGISTRATION CHALLENGE TO 18-TO-25-YEAR-OLDS - Challenge Aims to Register 300,000 New Voters Before 2008 Presidential Primary Season and Two Million New Voters Before Election Day.
Declare Yourself, the nonpartisan, nonprofit youth voter organization founded by television pioneer Norman Lear, issued a challenge to 18-to-25-year-old Americans to claim their political power by registering to vote before the 2008 presidential primaries.
“Nearly one year before the 2008 presidential election, and only weeks before the accelerated primary schedule, we are challenging young adults to step up and play a leading role in this presidential election,” said Norman Lear, founder, Declare Yourself. “Our goal is to register 300,000 new voters before the 2008 presidential primary season and two million new voters by the 2008 presidential election.”
Declare Yourself registered 1.2 million young voters in the 2004 campaign, helping raise participation from 18-to-25-year-olds by 11 percent over the 2000 election. Still, in 2004, only 47 percent of 18-to-25-year-old citizens voted, compared to 66 percent of citizens over 25.
“As the largest generation since the Baby Boomers, the 18-to-25 year olds have the potential to move political issues and change policy if they act—and the first step is registering to vote,” explained Marc Morgenstern, executive director, Declare Yourself. “We use the power of youth culture — especially young celebrities and viral videos - to draw attention to the voting gap. We then provide the latest Internet and mobile technology to make it as simple as possible for young adults to register.”
Declare Yourself Partners To support its Registration Challenge, Declare Yourself has enlisted its partners to provide extra support in the days leading up to primary registration deadlines in December and early January. Yahoo!, MySpace and Google will be highlighting Declare Yourself’s online registration tool on their Web sites. Presenting sponsor Cricket Wireless will be sending special messages to its user base, and Clear Channel radio stations will be offering public service announcements. Other partner commitments will be announced soon.
About Declare Yourself
Declare Yourself is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to empower and encourage every eligible 18-year-old in America to register and vote in the presidential primaries and 2008 presidential election. Using the power of strategic media partnerships, celebrity spokespeople, the sports arena, and most importantly, mobile and Internet technology, Declare Yourself's campaign blankets the landscape of popular culture, as well as universities and high schools, with a simple, clear message: REGISTER and VOTE!
For the 2008 primary season and general election, Declare Yourself is enlisting an unprecedented array of partners including Cricket Wireless, Yahoo!, MySpace, Google, Evite, UWIRE, Good Magazine, Clear Channel, Comedy Central, American Eagle Outfitters, HarperCollins, Starbucks, and Voto Latino. Easy registration is available through www.declareyourself.com or by texting VOTE to 55355 on your mobile phone.
For Immediate Release Contact:
Nick RagoneKetchum
646/ 935-4046 (work) 201/ 388-0898 (cell)
nick.ragone@ketchum.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
LinkWithin
