2 ms·

What would "improve" youth voter turnout would be activism and the resulting peer group pressure.

• PaulHoule 3y ago
  Depends on the kind of activism. When I showed up in Ithaca I joined the Democratic Socialists of America and they sent me down to the Democratic Party headquarters to do a lit drop, I met a lot of people who seemed to think I was some official as opposed to just some rando who showed up. Later on I was an activist in the green party and I would twist people's arms to run for office and then go out and gather signatures and run a web site and put up yard signs, etc. That involvement in electoral activism means I definitely turn out and think hard about questions like "When the race for senate is completely safe should I vote for the one third-party candidate on the ballot even if they are a LaRouchite? Should I write in Howie Hawkins for governor even though he isn't running?" (In either case the Democrat would have had my vote if they needed it but they didn't) Then there are other kind of activism that breed more radical attitudes, like the time Michel Camdessus came to town and they made a big deal that anybody who made trouble would be kicked out so I shouted him down 5 minutes in and walked out the door. My radical friend the next day said "I wish I was as brave as you were!" and I told him I had to be somewhere 30 minutes after the talk started so it was no loss to me. People who make a habit of doing that sort of thing are likely to be too radical to vote. That is, the "anti-fascist" probably thinks that Joe Biden is a fascist since he white, male, cis, started him campaign reading Clifford to kids at the firehouse, etc.