Make Your Voice Heard this Election!

It's no secret that the mainstream media has counted out young people as an influential voting block this election. We are viewed as 'surge voters' who ran to the polls in droves in 2008 because of an exciting candidate. 

It's up to you to prove them wrong! How you may ask?  It's easy:

Write a letter to the editor!

USSA has 3 pre-written, editable letters for you to send to your local paper; send one, two, or all three! It's up to us to tell our communities that young people care about government and are expressing that passion through the ballot box!

LTE 1: Youth Engagement

LTE 2: College Costs on the Rise

LTE 3: The DREAM Act

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Vote! 

Of course, the best thing you can do on November 2, is VOTE!

Not sure where your polling place is located? Go to the USSA homepage to find out!

Questions about voting? Click here to for answers!

Enter USSA's Vote Photo Competition!

The photo competition seeks to uplift amazing photos from college campuses across the country where students are engaged in electoral action.  Whether your an amateur or professional photographer, journalism major, or just interested in snapping photos, be sure to keep the camera clicking during your campus' vote work and submit the pictures to the USSA photo competition.

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Generational Alliance Voter Guides Available!

On November 2nd, the midterm elections will be held all across America. You will decide who will represent you in Congress and in your State Capitol. Do you know who is running to represent you? Do you know what issues are on the ballot that will affect your everyday life? If not, don't worry... we got your back: Members of the Generational Alliance are partnering with Cuentame and VotoLatino to release "Our Voter Guide!" for the 2010 midterm elections!

This voter guide tells you what you need to know before you step in the voting booth. We got all the info you need to get out and vote this election because too much is at stake to just sit this one out.

Our work begins now!

Pitted against high-priced lobbyists and those in power reluctant to sacrifice bottom-lines for college affordability, students must turn to the ballot box to exercise power.  From the DREAM Act facing one of its most heated fights since being introduced a decade ago, to need-based financial aid facing a slew of cuts from institutions on up to state legislatures across the country, to university regents and trustees raising tuition and fees as if there was no consequences for individuals, students and families must take a stand at the ballot box this November!

To effectively organize this effort, students must engage in peer-to-peer vote work that educates, mobilizes, and actually gets student out to vote! 

Click here to read about why some of the USSA Board of Directors members are excited to work on the Students Vote 2010 campaign.

Click here to sign up for USSA studentsVOTE! 2010 campaign and join in the fight to make education a right through the vote box!

Click here to download the USSA studentsVOTE! 2010 toolkit and begin mobilizing your campus today!

With the toolkit, find out how to:

• Build diverse, effective student vote coalitions on your campus to ensure your work lasts longer than you do.

• Amplify your voice by developing effective messaging tactics.

• Develop leaders on your campus to sustain electoral action beyond the 2010 election.

• Access sample media items such as press releases, opinion editorials, and letters-to-the-editor

• And much more! 

Additional materials for your student vote coalition:

• Tracking Forms
• Campaign Backwards Plan
• Vote Pledge Cards
• Leadership Development Plan
  

 StudentsVOTE! 2010 campaign video

Find out why the USSA Board of Directors members are excited for StudentsVOTE! 2010

Building Diverse Student Vote Coalitions

Do Something Bigger — in forming a coalition, you can accomplish more than you could alone. Doing large-scale voter registration and GOTV activities is a tremendous task. To do it well, we need to form strong campus vote coalitions. 

Increase Power — a coalition earns more respect and has more power than a single group. The university administration will take notice when the black student union and the environmentalists team up to do vote work.  

Increase Resources — each group offers something and together it’s a lot. 

Broaden the Scope of the Work — through vote coalitions, you can involve groups that have never gotten involved in the political process before. Also, by creating a diverse vote coalitions, you can talk about issues that you wouldn’t have included before and broaden your audience.

Diversify -- different backgrounds and viewpoints bring in new ideas for organizing. Plus, people are more likely to register and vote if a friendly face asks them. The best way to engage students from all communities on your campus is to create a coalition made up of student leaders from different student organizations and groups.  

Institutionalization: How to Make Sure Your Vote Work Lasts Longer Than You Do 

Tons of campuses have run amazing vote drives, but with the high turnover rate of students, often the knowledge and the students themselves are gone by the next election cycle and other students have to reinvent the wheel. That slows the student vote movement down and keeps us from shifting the balance of power. Tried and true methods of directly engaging your fellow students and asking them to vote are the most effective way to increase voter turnout, however, we need to take it to the next level. We need to get our universities to become our partners in this vote work. Imagine what a powerful force youth civic engagement could be if we get our administrations on board. If they provide us with increased funding and access to classrooms, dorms, and both academic and non-academic departments, we can dramatically increase the number of students who register and turn out to vote. Check out our Institutionalization Guide to find out how.

Electoral Action Trainings

The United States Student Association and Campus Camp Wellstone have teamed up to offer a comprehensive training to give students the skills to register, educate and mobilize their campuses for the 2008 election and beyond. With a combination of workshops, exercises, and discussions students will be equipped with tried and true electoral organizing skills (plus creative new tactics) and a sophisticated understanding of student power.  

The EAT trainers are seasoned USSA student organizers and experienced professional Wellstone trainers from around the country who teach by using their own personal organizing experiences.  
 
At the EAT, you will learn how to:

• Increase the number of registered students on your campus
• Increase student voter turnout on your campus
• Develop a strategic plan for your electoral campaign
• Overcome lack of participation on campus
• Develop effective student leaders
• Create a persuasive message
• Build powerful coalitions

Want to know more about the EAT?  Check out a sample agenda or download the EAT brochure. 

Email USSA Training Director Danny Montes to bring an EAT to your campus

2008: Youth Voter Turnout Soars

For years, we’ve been talking about the power of peer to peer student electoral organizing and the potential of young people to shape our country’s political future. Finally the media and political establishment is taking some serious notice of young voters. And it’s all because we’ve built a youth voting bloc and have taken it to the polls. Repeatedly.

The dramatic increases in the youth vote in the caucuses and primaries so far this election cycle is astounding. In the Iowa caucuses, the youth turnout rate rose to 13 percent in 2008 from 4 percent in 2004 and 3 percent in 2000, according to CIRCLE (The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement). In New Hampshire, the youth vote soared to 43 percent, up from 28 percent in 2000. In fact, 18-29 year old voters made up a larger share (18%) of New Hampshire’s Democratic primary vote than either 30-39 year olds (15%) or 65 and over voters (13%) did, according to CNN. This staggering increase in the youth vote is in line with recent trends in youth voter turnout in the last major election cycles. In 2004 youth voting surged by 11% and in 2006 two million more young people voted in that election than they did in the previous midterm election.  

With the youth voter turnout we’ve seen this primary season, there is reason to be hopeful that the 2008 election will be the third consecutive major election in a row with strong young voter turnout. Of course, we can’t assume it’s inevitable. If it happens it will be the result of all of our hard work on our campuses. Vote coalition by vote coalition we will turn out more students than have ever been turned out before!

2006 Election Results

In 2006, the number of young voters (18-29) increased for the second major election in a row. Ten million young voters cast a ballot. The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) estimated that 22% to 24% of young voters voted in 2006 compared to 20% in 2002. Voter turnout rates averaged 46% on 24 selected campuses in six states where USSAF worked, more than double the national average! Together, we registered nearly 44,000 students.  

For more information contact:
Monique Teal
USSA National Field Director
od@usstudents.org
(202) 640-6570