Youth vote Proves Critical In Iowa - SCDLC Builds ON momentum with launch of Youth04

Charleston, SC - As young voters showed up in droves for the Iowa caucuses, the South Carolina Democratic Leadership Council (SCDLC) announced its sponsorship of Youth04, a national organization launching from South Carolina aimed at empowering 18-25 year olds in the 2004 elections.

Youth04 uses innovative ways of reaching youth that relies on the Internet, viral volunteering, and the cooperation of restaurants, universities, and community technology centers.

“Too many young people think our political system is broken, and so Youth04 is one of our initiatives to help them fix it,” said SCDLC President Phil Noble. Youth04 is part of the SCDLC’s Democratic Digital Dialogue, a series of events and activities to use the Internet and new technology to get more people involved in the upcoming presidential primary. “The turnout of young voters in Iowa shows that given the right tools, such as the Internet, they’ ll show up and fix it,” said Noble.

MTV's Rock The Vote reports that an amazing 17 percent of Iowa caucus attendees were between 17 and 29, up significantly from 9 percent in the 2000 Iowa Caucuses. This age group turned out to vote at a higher rate than the 30-44 year olds, which was 15% of voters.

With a competition between Clemson and Carolina and two new letters of support from Democratic presidential candidates General Wesley Clark and Senator Joseph Lieberman, the group has set the stage to boost enthusiasm of young voters in the state and throughout the country.

Playing off of the statewide rivalry, Youth04 chapter leaders from Clemson and USC have launched a competition between the two schools for bragging rights on which can get the most students to get involved in the Youth04. Chapter leaders from smaller schools plan to hold similar competitions with their respective rivals.

Youth04 is also pioneering a new idea by partnering with local restaurants that offer discounts to 18-25 year olds who express a commitment to talk about politics and express their ideas and values on the Youth04 website. The opportunity allows youth to get involved on their time in a comfortable atmosphere. Clemson claimed bragging rights by picking up the latest partnership from the local favorite, Todaro Pizza.

The Youth04 launch corresponds with the national release of its booklet Youth04: Young Voters, the Internet, and Political Power designed to help college professors in political related courses.

Find Youth04 on the web at: http://www.youth04.org/states/sc/
SCDLC: http://www.scdlc.org/