Reply #28: Youth Movement: Local and national politics seeing a rise in teenage participation [View All]

[tbyg52]

This fall, Utah County voters will rely on the political expertise of a handful of teenagers who have inserted themselves into a small group that gets a first crack at candidates.
The likes of 17-year-old Hannah Lockhart and 18-year-old Tony Cortese were elected as county delegates earlier this year and helped narrow the Republican field for the general elections in November. Delegate seats are normally won by core members of the party, those who make time to show up at the neighborhood caucuses in March.

But Lockhart, Cortese and others like them are among the vanguard of a new youth movement in the political process.

Participation in politics for 18-24-year-olds bottomed out in 2000, but the thinking now is, "Holy cow, every vote does count, every vote does matter," says Dan Shea, a political-science professor at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. Shea, who focuses primarily on youth participation, said there are a number of reasons for the increase, including the glut of information available online and the ability of teens to pass it along at previously unheard-of speed.

More:
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/268554/17/