The 18- to 24-year-old age group, an often underrepresented demographic in voting booths, has been targeted by a team of young people who will paddle the Mississippi River this summer with hopes of recruiting young voters.
The group of Colorado College graduates, led by Kerri Kuhn, has created Paddle for the Presidency and, like the early explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet, is going to be paddling its canoes down the Mississippi River.
Paddle for the Presidency is hoping to address and reverse the voter apathy.
"It started with myself and four other CC students who graduated last year," said Michael Goldstone, head of finance for the Paddle for the Presidency. "We are all big outdoor enthusiasts and when we graduated we knew that we wanted to do something with an outdoor component but also involved helping others. We were all concerned with the upcoming election and decided to take it from there, and we created the Paddle for the Presidency."
The group plans to leave Lake Itasca in June and paddle to Louisiana by August. They will be stopping in every state along the Mississippi River, holding rallies targeting adolescent Americans with the hopes of obtaining some candidates to volunteer and speak. According to Goldstone, the program has already received letters of support from Howard Dean and John Kerry.
"We basically chose the Mississippi River because it is just amazing and the heart of America," Goldstone said. "The states along the Mississippi also have been known to have a low voter turnout amongst its youth."
According to Goldstone there are four "battleground" states along the river whose election outcomes could be greatly affected by increased participation among its young adult voters. Those states are Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri.
"Our goal is not just to get kids to vote," Goldstone said. "We want to get people to take an interest in the political process. There have been programs before that get the youth to register to vote, but they don't actually end up voting. We are going to be taking down names and numbers and will be calling these contacts to encourage them to do so when it comes closer to election time."
One way the organization plans to interest young Americans to get involved with the democratic process is to contribute to the Young American Bill of Rights.
"This bill contains issues that plague our generation and need to be focused on," said Katherine Engelman, a senior history major at Colorado College who is also volunteering for the program. Issues the group finds important are the environment, education, equality and general politics.
Along with the rallies Paddle for the Presidency plans to hold in each state, it is also going to team up with an organization called Living Lands and Water. The groups plan to schedule river cleanup days to keep the Mississippi litter-free from the voyage.
According to Goldstone, 2,500 people have already signed onto the Paddling for the Presidency newsletter and at least 30 people have signed up to paddle on the program's Web site, paddle4president.org.
Paddle for the Presidency is a non-partisan group that will not be campaigning for any particular candidate or party, according to Goldstone. Its main objective is to inform, not preach.
"It is time for this slump to end," Engelman said. "By not having our voices heard we are contributing to the deterioration of the issues that pertain to us."
