Mccain, Kerrey Ask Young People To Vote Program Taps Strong Volunteer Spirit, Hopes To Link It To Voting

Republican John McCain and Democrat Bob Kerrey, both U.S. senators and both former presidential candidates, Tuesday endorsed a new program to get young people to vote while bringing the issues that young voters are interested in to the attention of candidates.

Youth Service America, which encourages young people to volunteer, launched its newest project, ServiceVote 2000, at a news conference with McCain and Kerrey. According to organizers, the primary goal is to make the connection between volunteering and voting in the minds of young people. McCain said youth today are doing more service in their communities than any other generation, but are less likely to vote.

McCain said young people are choosing to volunteer instead of vote for three reasons: They don’t feel informed about the candidates; they don’t think their votes make a difference; and they don’t think that the candidates are listening to them.

A Medill News Service poll found that 75 percent of people 18 to 24 years old volunteered in the last year. It also found that 46 percent said voting has little to do with how decisions are made in Washington.

Steve Culbertson, president of Youth Service America, said young people are making a choice to volunteer instead of vote, but that the two activities are an essential part of the “cycle of civic participation.”

“If you choose to volunteer and not vote as an 18- to 24-year-old,” Culbertson said, “20 years from now your children will be cleaning the same dirty rivers or tutoring in the same underfunded school systems where you spend your volunteer time today.”