by Ruby Henley
September 25 was National Voter Registration Day, and there is a massive movement underway to secure the youth vote in America. It involves the founder of National Voter Registration Day, Matt Singer and even some Fortune 500 companies.
Matt Singer is a partner at Impactual, a social impact firm advising companies, nonprofits, and philanthropists on ways to increase engagement. He is also the former executive director of the Alliance for Youth Action.
The Left and the Tech Companies are reaching out to the youth of America. It is positive to see American youth participating in the democratic process, and none of us should be concerned that they are being led by the Left. Should we?
Matt Singer has been at this for quite some time. He says, “Young people absolutely believe that there’s a role for government.”
Singer founded Forward Montana, a left-leaning though officially nonpartisan group, that seeks to engage young people in politics. That is how he began his voter outreach program, and he has moved forward without looking back.
It is a massive movement, and we can only hope Matt is sincere and benign. I have to say this has occurred under the radar, but I think we all should keep our eyes on this massive movement to influence the votes of the American youth.
I am quoting Matt Singer taken from the article below.
QUOTE –
In 2012, I wanted to change this system, so I worked with friends and a bunch of young folks at nonprofit organizations or running social responsibility programs at big companies to create a voter registration holiday so people would never miss the deadlines again. Since then, we’ve registered over 1.5 million people to vote; recruited Fortune 500 companies to promote voter registration; and made a huge splash in the media every fourth Tuesday of September. Thanks, young people!
Since then, young people in Oregon and Alaska and elsewhere looked at this broken system and demanded changes, passing laws to create the first Automatic Voter Registration systems in America. In just three years, similar laws have passed in fifteen states and DC. As these laws are implemented, we’re seeing much more complete and more accurate voter rolls. Thanks, young people!
Registration, though, is only half the battle. Helping new voters learn the basics of where and when to cast a ballot and how to research their choices is key. A wave of smart new nonprofit tech startups are solving these problems for voters — folks like the Center for Technology and Civic Life, Democracy Works, Vote.org, Ballot Ready, and more. College students, recent graduates, and community members are pivoting universities and other major institutional players to engage their communities through efforts like the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge and Students Learn Students Vote. This high-tech and institutional hustle is being matched by a more traditional grind of engaging new voters one-on-one, face-to-face by organizations like NextGen America and the Alliance for Youth Action. Again, thanks, young people!
Young people are also doing this work in communities where too many politicians have intentionally tried to exclude voices. Americans charged with a crime (but not convicted) are presumed innocent, even if held in pre-trial detention. Last year, the young people of Chicago Votes launched a new program to register and turn out Chicagoans held at the Cook County Jail, America’s largest single-site jail. They’ve engaged thousands now and they’re helping inspired efforts across the country go into more jails. In California, the member groups of AAPIs for Civic Empowerment (AAPI FORCE) are working on groundbreaking new digital strategies to engage eligible voters in their native Asian languages, ensuring that our democracy is welcoming to all eligible participants. Thanks, young people! END OF QUOTE
Kanye West is a force to be reckoned with, and he has chosen to support President Donald Trump. Hopefully, West will influence the youth in America to cast their votes for Trump in the coming Presidential Election.
Kanye made it very clear in a tweet how he felt about Barack Obama, and the Democrats went wild.
Obama was in office for eight years and nothing in Chicago changed.
— ye (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018
“Obama was in office for eight years and nothing in Chicago changed,” he wrote.
One person reacted to Kanye’s tweet by saying, “you’re an entertainment icon who hobnobs in Hollywood. You can’t criticize the nation’s first black President! Liberal elites aren’t going to have any of that. “
Liberals told him to shut up and get back on message. Kanye only spoke louder and more often in defense of President Trump.
Kanye continued to get tweets like the following, but he did not let it stop him from supporting President Trump.
I will never buy another @kanyewest album ever again. I think this publicity stunt of his support for Trump is downright despicable. Kanye can go to hell.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) April 26, 2018
The youth vote is the grand prize that the Democrats and the Republicans are competing for. The winner takes the lead, as there are untapped natural political resources in America’s youth. Look at the traction the Democrats got with David Hogg, the Parkland school shooting survivor, who traveled around the Country on his soapbox as a Second Amendment destroyer.
There are more eligible voters under age 30 than over 65, but turnout among the younger set is uncertain. One-third of college students who registered in 2014 actually voted, so the trick is to actually get them out on voting day.
According to post-election polling in 2016, the youngest voters nationwide, less than half believed that public officials cared about what they thought. Most of us, young and old, can identify with this feeling.
If this Country can encourage its youth to become involved in politics it is a winning accomplishment for both Republicans and Democrats.
Big tech is not on President Trump’s side, and his war on these giant manipulators of the Internet is ongoing. Steve Bannon had this to say about Trump and Big Tech.
money.cnn.com/2018/08/30/media/reliable-sources-08-29-18/index.html
QUOTE –
Asked about Trump pushing misleading info to advance a war on Big Tech, Bannon said, “The president often times sees information and thinks it ought to be in the public dialogue.” Bannon said the “direction” of Trump’s rhetoric is “correct” and that his tweets on issues often help get things “into the conversation.”
>> Bannon said Big Tech’s data should be seized and put in a “public trust.” Specifically, Bannon said, “I think you take [the data] away from the companies. All that data they have is put in a public trust. They can use it. And people can opt in and opt out. That trust is run by an independent board of directors. It just can’t be that [Big Tech is] the sole proprietors of this data…I think this is a public good.” Bannon added that Big Tech companies “have to be broken up” just like Teddy Roosevelt broke up the trusts.”
>> Bannon attacked the executives of Facebook (FB), Twitter (TWTR) and Google. “These are run by sociopaths,” he said. “These people are complete narcissists. These people ought to be controlled, they ought to be regulated.” At one point during the phone call, Bannon said, “These people are evil. There is no doubt about that.”
>> Bannon said he thinks “this is going to be a massive issue” in future elections. He said he thinks it will probably take until 2020 to fully blossom as a campaign issue, explaining, “I think by the time 2020 comes along, this will be a burning issue. I think this will be one of the biggest domestic issues.” Bannon said the “#MeToo movement has brought the issue of consent front and center” and argued that “this is going to bring the issue of digital consent front and center.” END OF QUOTE
I agree with Bannon. Big tech will definitely be a campaign issue, and these companies will have something up their sleeves to combat voters siding with President Trump at the voting booth. But why would any voter be on the side of Big Tech companies who exploit them?
On the other hand the youth of America don’t care if their data is being used by Facebook, Google, or any Tech company for that matter. Nor do they care if they are being tracked, as they only care about owning all the new gadgets big tech has to offer.
It appears to me that Big Tech/Leftists have the youth vote, as they supply what they thrive on. But we all thrive on that, don’t we? We all thrive on the Internet, on our Smart Phones, and all the gadgets which make life more enjoyable and efficient. I imagine that will not change until it is forced upon us, which could be any day now.
Here is a video from Google on Voter Registration Day.