The Arizona Student Vote Coalition, a group comprised of the Arizona
Students Association (ASA), Arizona Public Interest Research Group
(Arizona PIRG), and the state’s university student governments, held a
news conference today to launch their statewide effort to increase
youth voter turnout. The event, which took place at the State Capitol,
was organized by the student-led coalition to highlight students
leading the way in registering and encouraging their peers to vote.
Representatives from Arizona Public Interest Research Group (Arizona
PIRG) and the Arizona Students Association (ASA) were in attendance,
along with the student body presidents from both ASU at the Tempe
campus and ASU at the West campus.
Across the country, voter turnout among people aged 18-24 increased 11
percentage points between the 2000 and 2004 elections, while the
overall electorate showed only a 4 percentage point increase. In
Arizona, the 2004 turnout among 18-24 year-olds increased 17 percentage
points over the 2000 elections. This year, the Arizona Student Vote
Coalition hopes to increase youth vote turnout over the last midterm
election, which was 11% in 2002. “Students really could have an impact
on the election. Politicians should see us as a viable constituency,”
stated Imran Kirkland, an ASA Board Member and student at ASU West.
Ross Meyer, student body president at ASU at the Tempe campus stated
that, “Students need to make sure other students are voting. This year
we have a great opportunity to register more students than the state
has ever registered, especially here at ASU Tempe. Registering and
turning out ASU students to vote can help to ensure that our state
makes education a top priority for the next state legislature.”
The Arizona Student Vote Coalition aims to educate and register
thousands of Arizona students before the registration deadline of
October 9 th at midnight. Additionally, the coalition is working to
turnout over 10,000 students to the polls this November. The
coalition’s registration efforts are concentrated on reaching students
at Northern Arizona University; the University of Arizona; and the
Tempe, West, and Polytechnic campuses of Arizona State University.
“Students
from across the state formed the Arizona Student Vote Coalition this
year to make sure that students—and the issues we care about—receive
attention during the 2006 election,” said Isaac Kimes, campaign
representative for Arizona PIRG and student at ASU Tempe. The
non-partisan coalition is comprised of the Arizona Students’
Association (ASA), the Arizona Public Interest Research Group (Arizona
PIRG), and the University student governments.
