Multi-faceted program to encourage young people to vote

By Charleta B. Tavares

Democratic Secretary of State nominee says falling voter participation in Ohio; calls for educating young voters.

July 1, 1998

COLUMBUS July 1, 1998 - Last year, more Americans watched the Super Bowl than voted - and that's a "pretty sorry commentary on the state of our democracy," State Rep. Charleta B. Tavares, the Democratic nominee for Ohio Secretary of State, said today.

To address the issue of rising voter apathy and falling voter participation, Tavares told a Columbus news conference today she would, as Secretary of State, institute a series of initiatives designed to educate young people about the importance of voting and participating in the democratic process.

"Only 65 percent of Ohioans who are eligible to vote are actually registered," Tavares said. "And in May's primary election, only 27 percent of the registered voters actually came to the polls. That means only 17 percent of eligible voters -less than one in 5 took advantage of their right to vote."

Tavares also noted that voter participation is lowest among Ohioans in the 18 to 35 year-old age group. "That does not bode well for our future," she said.

Tavares used the occasion of the upcoming Independence Day holiday - the nations 222^nd birthday - to announce she would put her "highest priority" on encouraging young Ohioans to vote, through what she called the Secretary, of State's Schools and Community Voter Education Program. The program will include:

• A monthly "road trip" in which she will literally move the Secretary of State's office to a school, community center, or youth organization outside of Columbus, "to let people see up close how their government operates." Tavares said she would ask members of Congress and the General Assembly, local officials, school and community leaders to help plan and participate in the visits, which she said would "bring state government directly into Ohio's neighborhoods."

• A 'Civic Action Project' competition in which young people would be asked to develop -on their own - programs to make their communities better places to live. Tavares said the projects could range from environmental programs to improving recreational opportunities for youth to solving pressing local problems. She said she would ask Ohio's state universities to choose regional winners, and will encourage the business community to provide funding so that winning projects can actually be carried out.

• There are several special features on her previously announced Secretary of State's website, which will give Ohioans easy access to complete information. Tavares said the website would include a 'Kid's Page' developed in conjunction with educators; a special page for teachers which would provide resources tying voter education to a variety of academic subjects; and a Chat Room where once a month she would go "on-line" with young people to discuss issues of the day and answer their questions about go government and the democratic process.

• A series of focus groups 18-to-35-year olds throughout Ohio to determine why people in this age group aren't voting

• A legislative initiative to actively involve young Ohioans in the upcoming 50^th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "Voting Rights, after all, are one of the key elements of the struggle for human rights here in the United States and around the world," Tavares said. "We can use this anniversary to make a strong, lasting impression on our young people of the importance of human rights ... and the importance of citizen participation in that process."

Tavares, who invited students, teachers, and parents to join her at the news conference, said that fewer Ohioans had voted in each of the state's last five election cycles.

"To put that in perspective," she said, "in the recent elections in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, nearly 100 percent of the eligible voters participated. In India and South Africa, citizens have waited in line for days just to exercise their right to vote. In El Salvador and Chile and other countries, people literally risk their lives to vote,"'

Tavares, D-22, currently serves as Minority Whip of the Ohio House of Representatives. She was nominated to be the Democratic candidate for Secretary of State in the May primary.