Countering both midterm and special election trends of young people voting in small percentages, 75 percent of Clinton School students had voted in the 2010 general election.
In the 2002 midterm elections only 22 percent of young people voted and 26 percent voted in 2006. In Arkansas, the 2006 turnout of youth voters was 21 percent.
In the 2009 special election for Virginia governor only about 17 percent of young voters went to the polls. Nineteen percent voted in the election for New Jersey governor in 2009, and only about 15 percent voted in the special Massachusetts U.S. Senate election earlier this year when Scott Brown was elected to the open seat created by the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy.
Clinton School student Julie Meyer, a Wisconsin native and graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, conducted an anonymous survey of Clinton School students and found that they were far more engaged in the political process than their peers across the country.
“The large majority of Clinton School students believe voting is both a personal and public responsibility,” Meyer said. “Since Clinton School students come from all over the country, some of them voted by absentee ballot, others went home to early vote and some are voting today.”
Meyer noted that polls showed 80 percent or more of young people believe they can change the world.
“If young people throughout America voted at or even near the rate of Clinton School students, we could do just that,” Meyer said.
The average overall voter turnout in a non-presidential year is about 40 percent compared to an average turnout in a presidential year of 55 percent. Older people tend to vote at a higher rate than young people.
Clinton School Dean Skip Rutherford, who teaches a class on the 2010 elections at the school, said he was encouraged by the high voter participation of his students.
“Elections are all about public service,” Rutherford said. “That’s what our school is about too.”
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