Power Vote

Saint Mary's students attend, speakers include Lt. Governor
By: Ashlee Johnson
Posted: 11/4/08
San Francisco State University held the California Student Sustainability Coalition (CSSC) 2008 Fall Convergence from October 24 through 26. The CSSC included student organizations from all areas of the state of California who work together to promote a healthy environment.

Students from around the country, including some from Saint Mary's went to the event to support the enviromental cause.

The weekend was split up into three sessions per day. Each day was packed with workshops, speakers and a lot of organic meals. The workshops touched upon a broad list of subjects having to do with sustainability from topics such as "Millenarianism, the economy, and the environment 2009," to "Bringing Sustainability Education to your Campus."

By: Dan Josephson / The Daily Cardinal - November 5, 2008

The students on campus have completely silenced any doubt regarding their commitment to activism with the overwhelming political presence during the pre-election cycle

Approaching City Hall this past Monday to vote early in this year’s presidential election, I was initially repulsed by what I saw. Foolishly thinking that going at 3 p.m. would rid me of the early voter rush due to classes, I was unpleasantly surprised to see the line snaking outside to the bottom of the steps.

My impatience grew quickly, and I could not erase any hint of irritation as I slowly treaded through each section of the municipal building. This feeling of boredom and threat of doom that I would never get out of Madison City Hall alive suddenly vanished, though, when I thought of what such a crowd implied.

Over the course of the fall semester, sophomore Rachel Young, president of the environmental organization Students Engaged in Eco-Defense, has been talking with hundreds of her peers about clean energy solutions and asking them to consider making the issue a priority in their voting decision this November. Those she has been able to persuade have signed cards reading, “I pledge to vote for clean and just energy. Her efforts are part of PowerVote.org, a non-partisan campaign to engage millions in seeking political support for wind and solar power, efficient buildings and sustainable transportation.

At the end of October, Young had gathered more than 750 signatures, putting Lewis & Clark in the top five among colleges with the highest percentage of student participation.

Why did you take up this project ?

For Immediate Release:
November 6, 2005

Contact:
Brianna Cayo Cotter, Energy Action Coalition/ Power Vote, (415) 305-1943

Washington, DC- Hope for a stronger economy, clean energy, green jobs, and improved health and security for our nation, drove youth voters to the polls in record numbers on November 4. Preliminary CIRCLE projections show show the turnout for young Americans (ages 18-29) is higher than in 2004, a year of significant increase, and is much higher than it was in 2000 and 1996. About 22-24 million young Americans voted with exit polls suggesting historic increases in the youth vote precinct by precinct, as young people stepped up and into the political stage to demand real solutions to our current economic, environmental, and energy crises.

65-70 percent of registered voters may have cast ballots; long lines are few
Kristin Collins and Jay Price, Staff Writers Comment on this story
Record levels of early voting made for an election day mostly free of long lines, even as historic numbers of North Carolinians voted.

State elections director Gary Bartlett estimated that about 4.2 million people, between 65 and 70 percent of the state's registered voters, cast ballots by the time polls closed.

That's well more than the 2004 record of about 3.5 million voters. About 42 percent of the state's registered voters cast ballots early this year.

Across the state, polls were crowded when voting began, but lines dwindled quickly in most places.

November 4, 2008

CBNNews.com - From the looks of it, young voters are turning out in record numbers for Tuesday's historic election.

The number of voters under 30 in the 2008 primaries and caucuses is nearly twice what it was eight years ago, according to the L.A. Times.

At Virginia Tech's campus, over 700 voters stood in line - and still more youth continue to swarm the polls.

"The long lines in Blacksburg clearly illustrate how important the issues at stake in this election are to young voters," said Tom Owens, a Virginia Power Vote organizer in Blacksburg.

"Every one of the hundreds of people currently waiting in line are excited to cast a vote about the issues that matter most to them like clean energy and the economy," he said.

The story was the same at George Mason University a long lines of pajama-wearing undergraduates piled into line before dawn Tuesday to cast their votes.

Well before outcomes in many races were clear Tuesday night, an awakening among young voters in Leon County and beyond was an established fact.

Turnout was heavy in university precincts in Florida's capital, said Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho. At the Florida A&M University Grand Ballroom precinct, he said, more than 1,200 students turned out.

It was foreseeable — but no less exciting.

On Aug. 26, the day of the primary, Mr. Sancho said more university students came to Salley Hall at Florida State University to register to vote than actually voted that day. They wanted to be sure they could cast their ballots on Tuesday.

The high interest among Tallahassee's collegians wasn't unique. A University of Florida precinct reported a turnout of 85 percent.

"All over the campuses, it's just electrified," said Bessie Schwarz, a 22-year-old organizer for Florida Power Vote, a nonpartisan initiative focused on clean energy issues.

Power Voters -- and Obama -- make their final appeal to get out the vote
Posted by Kate Sheppard at 11:18 PM on 03 Nov 2008

In the sea of 85,000 Virginians gathered at the Manassas Fairgrounds to see Barack Obama's final campaign event Monday night, there were a good number of green "Power Vote" and "No Coal" stickers in the crowd, thanks to the efforts of the Power Vote campaign.

A small gaggle of volunteers for Power Vote -- from the Energy Action Coalition, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network -- milled through the crowd gathering signatures for their Power Vote pledge, part of a nonpartisan, nationwide effort to mobilize a million young people to vote on the issues of climate change and clean energy.

"Are energy costs important to you this election?" Brianna Cayo Cotter, communications director for the Energy Action Coalition, asked Janet Spencer and her sister Sharon Jackson as they signed the pledge.

Nov 3, 2008

Reporter: Julie Montanaro

Young voters are expected to turn out in record numbers for this election and some say it could make all the difference in Florida.

In Leon County alone, one in four early voters was under the age of 25.

It was a gauntlet of sorts at the FSU student union Monday as McCain supporters cheered those who took stickers, and boo-ed those who didn't.

Obama supporters handed out stickers and signs just feet away and young people on both sides of the aisle say they're making history.

"Once a generation you have a candidate like a Kennedy or a Roosevelt and I think that this is ours," said Joseph Sweitzer with Seminoles for Obama.

"We've been named and dubbed the selfish generation if you will and I think it's more that we want to have a voice, we want someone to listen to us," said Jocelyn Kozlowski, Chair of Noles for McCain.

Students wait in line yesterday to vote early for today’s presidential election.

Published: Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Rebecca Black

Ohioans are taking advantage of early voting and traditional absentee voting in record numbers, said a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office.

Almost 8,000 people in Athens County have turned in absentee votes since Sept. 30, which includes both early voting in person and traditional absentee votes, said Debbie Quivey, director of the Athens County Board of Elections. There are 50,186 registered voters in Athens County.

“We’ve never had this many (absentee voters),” she said.

About 640 people voted at the Athens County Board of Elections office on Court Street on Friday, and 200 more voted between 8 a.m. and noon on Saturday, Quivey said. The board of elections processed 50 early voters per hour yesterday, she said.

Ohio University students were just some of these early voters.