Faculty Colleagues,
All the polls indicate Prop. 30 will be a nail-biter. By ensuring all of our students vote, we really can influence the outcome of this election.
Here’s why:
The latest polling shows the 19-29 age group with the highest percentage of support compared to any other age group–62.5% of 19-29 year olds would vote YES on Prop. 30.
Now here’s the problem. Historically, this same sage group has one of the lowest turnout ratios–in the range of 18%-22%. So you can see that increasing turnout even slightly among this cohort of young voters can make the difference between Prop. 30 passing or failing.
And here’s how you can help move that small percentage:
Simply forcing voters to think through the logistics of voting has been shown, in multiple experiments, to increase the odds that someone will actually cast a ballot.
Please ask your students the following questions:
a) How many of you are planning on voting? (show of hands)
b) If you are voting by mail, how many of you have already mailed in your ballot? (show of hands)
c) If you are voting at the polls, how many will be driving to the polls? Walking to the polls? (show of hands)
d) What will you be doing right before you vote? (have them write down the answer to this question to help cement it in)
e) What will you be doing right after you vote? (have them write this one down as well)
Inform them that you will be asking for a show of hands of who voted after the election day. This is important so they know they are going to be held “accountable” for their actions.
Yes, you really can make a difference in the outcome of this election. It’s that close.
Thank you for all of your support!
Jim
P.S. If they don’t know where their polling place is, have them go to http://tinyurl.com/MyPollingPlace2012