MONROVIA – In the 2008 presidential election, young people came out in droves to vote, many for the first time, many driven by a desire to take part in history.
Attracting young voters to the less glamorous world of local-level politics can be a harder sell.
But as the City Council election approaches on April 12, a new five-member youth committee has formed to launch Monrovia’s version of “Rock the Vote.”
“It’s a lot more difficult without the grandeur of the presidential election,” 18-year-old committee member Davis Newton said about the generally low level of interest in local elections.
“But my next guess is that (young people) don’t know the issues very well,” Newton said. “Everyone knows what the national issues are, but few know them on the local level. They don’t know what their vote means, or where their tax dollars are going.”
Ulises Gutierrez, who works at the Monrovia YMCA with Newton, enlisted him to help reach the youth vote in Mayor Mary Ann Lutz’s re-election campaign.
When no challenger emerged in the mayoral race, Gutierrez said the youth campaign switched its focus to ramping up young people’s interest in local politics.
“Since we didn’t have to run a heavy campaign, and since we’d pulled together a group of college-age young adults, we decided to reach out to young voters, bring them into the conversation, getting out the vote,” Gutierrez said. “A lot of them are not even registering, and we’re trying to establish a three-year plan. This is the first year of action, and we’re planning mixers, backyard barbecues for this age-group, and having an actual person there with forms to register to vote.”
The committee’s first effort to bump up the level of interest is to have a special State of the City presentation for students 17 to 24 on Wednesday.
“It’s the first time, and the great part about it is that the idea came from the youth,” Lutz said.
Involving young people in local politics “isn’t just something that popped up in this election,” Lutz said.
“I’ve been very involved in getting youth involved in government for some time – I think it’s important if you have a society and a country and a city that continues to grow and progress,” she said. “It really needs all our citizens to be part of the process, and it doesn’t happen by osmosis – it takes a passion, and someone who tells young people why they should be passionate.”
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