The youth vote was a no-show

Was it rock the vote or mock the vote?

Forgive us, but wasn’t this going to be the breakout year for young voters to finally grab their rightful share of the electoral pie? Wasn’t this the year that cellphone-toting youths would flummox the pollsters and have a real impact? Wasn’t this going to be the year that justified lowering the voting age to 18?

Sure, as MTV’s Web site points out, young voters turned out in record numbers on Tuesday. Problem is, voters in the other age groups were even more motivated. The result is that the proportion of voters 18-24 was no higher than it was in 2000, which was a record year for apathy.

Organizations that pumped up the youth vote this year should be encouraged to keep up the good work, but they have a long way to go. Predictions that young voters would surge to the polls got the attention of candidates, who tailored some messages in an effort to capitalize. With the war in Iraq, expanding deficits, rising college tuitions, retiring baby boomers and an uncertain economy, there were plenty of issues to motivate young voters.

But because other age groups voted in greater numbers, they will get the lion’s share of attention from officeholders. If you were a politician and knew that people age 45 to 59 were much more likely to vote than those 18 to 29, wouldn’t you do the same? That group of middle-age people made up three out of every 10 voters on Tuesday. Voters between the ages of 18 and 24 made up one in 10 voters.

The youngest voters should take their cue from the oldest voters: You can’t rock the vote without, you know, voting. As a group, the elderly in this country have gone from the most impoverished segment to the most comfortable. Part of the reason is that they vote, and that equals clout. Medicare and Social Security are practically untouchable, and a prescription drug benefit was just added to Medicare.

Conversely, many young people are underemployed, priced out of a college education and are being set up as the recipients of a huge bill as federal debt mounts. And if payroll taxes have to be raised to buoy Social Security and Medicare, guess which group will bear the greatest burden?

Before the election, strategists noted that eligible voters under the age of 30 could be the deciding factor in numerous close races. As it turned out, that demographic had the least amount of influence. Such voters say they’re disenfranchised and that’s why they don’t vote. They have it backwards. They’re ignored because they don’t vote in sufficient numbers.