The League of Women Voters, NAACP, as well as service, trade, and professional unions are a few of the traditional organizations that are working to get out the vote for this election. In recent years, a number of organizations, such as MTV, Rock the Vote, and the WWF, have devoted themselves to increasing youth involvement in elections by addressing their interests and issues.

For example, wrestlers, The Rock and Chyna, from the Worldwide Wrestling Federation made brief appearances nationally to speak about the importance of voting.

And, in a video clip available on the WWF Web site, a WWF official, Linda McMahon, said she wants to, "Let all of the fans of he WWF know that their vote counts. They have a freedom of choice…they need to exercise it because they can make a difference."

She continued, "There are 14M eligible voters who watch our programs every week, and we want them to stand up and be counted because we think it's important."

After reading this list, you can see that there are times when your vote may count even more than it normally does. In view of this, why don't more people vote? Follow the links to articles that discuss voter turnout. 

Issue Brief: Voter Turnout http://www.bettercampaigns.org/documents/turnout.htm

Issue Brief: Youth and Politics  http://www.bettercampaigns.org/documents/youth.HTM

Activity 1: Think about what you've read. Discuss the issues associated with voter turnout. For example, who is it that's most likely to be a voter. Why? Then give 6 reasons why people vote, and 6 reasons why they don't vote.
 

Activity 2: You want to convince a friend that she should vote. She says that as a single parent she's too busy with her job, her GED classes, and raising her three school age children (ages 7, 12, and 16) to have time to give to thinking about the election. In addition to this stressful situation, one of her children has a chronic illness, and the family's medical insurance doesn't cover all the procedures and medications the child needs. What would you say to her? What kinds of issues might motivate this woman to vote? Send an e-mail message to your teacher with the arguments you might make to your friend.

Activity 3: There are many Web Sites devoted to informing the public and increasing voter participation.

Go to at least one of the three sites listed below to evaluate it.

After visiting your site, answer some questions about it by going to  http://www.quia.com/session.html 

Use the session name, web site review 1

Type your first and last name

Answer each question

Click on "Submit answers" button when you are done

If you'd like, use the form to evaluate another of the Web sites.

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MTV's "Choose or Lose" Web site has information about the candidates and offers a "Debate Prep" page that tells voters what to look for, and what to ignore in the presidential debates. This site also provides a "Speak Up" link where opinions are posted. http://www.mtv.com/nav/intro_chooseorlose.html

• YouthVote2000 is another Web site devoted to increasing political awareness among US youth. They say they hope to "reconnect young Americans with the political process by creating a new model for providing news on issues they care about in a manner they can relate to." http://www.yvote2000.com/

• Project Vote Smart is a comprehensive voter information site. In addition to major candidates and issues information, here you will also be able to learn about elections in your state. http://www.vote-smart.org/

Go to Quia.com to play a game of Hangman (recognizing names and words related to the election). Have fun!    http://www.quia.com/hm/23252.htm

• Go to Quia.com to play some games of names, words, and dates related to elections. http://www.quia.com/jg/68451.html 

• Take a voter information quiz!
• Go to FunBrain http://www.funbrain.com/quiz/index.html
• Enter the Student Login Secret Word, civicsquiz
• Enter your first and last name
• Take the quiz titled, "Massachusetts Election Information" based on information found at the MA Secretary of State's Web site http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/sec/ele/