Young people ready to cast first ballots

North Carolina counties register throngs of new voters

RALEIGH -- ******

CLARIFICATION

A front-page item Wednesday that included the state's April 11 deadline to register to vote in the May 6 primary omitted a provision in state law that allows people to register to vote after that date if they go to a designated One Stop Voting site set up for absentee voting.

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North Carolina election workers are bracing for a wave of new voters -- many of them young people casting their first ballots -- who may inundate polling places during the May 6 primary.

"We are going to be registering new folks the likes of which we have never seen before," said state elections director Gary Bartlett. "I've not seen this level starting out of the gate."

Bartlett recently cautioned county election workers that they need to be ready for a turnout that could top 50 percent if the Democratic presidential contest between Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is still alive when North Carolina holds its primary. North Carolina typically sees a top turnout of about 30 percent in primaries.

State voter registration is going up among all demographic groups. But the increase has been especially marked among blacks, Democrats and unaffiliated voters.

Among the vanguard is Morgan Bowles, an 18-year-old Apex High School senior, who recently registered so she can vote for Obama. She has discussed current events in class and watched the debates at home.

"So many teenagers go around and say their vote doesn't count," Bowles said. "We get caught up in the small things. What is important is to be informed about the real issues that matter, like war, gas prices and the economy."

Young people have traditionally been underrepresented in voting. But so far this year, voter registration in North Carolina is up sharply from 2004 among people aged 18 to 24, according to incomplete statistics kept by the State Board of Elections: 200 percent among unaffiliated voters, 176 percent among Democrats and 126 percent among Republicans.

Based on the experience of other states that have held primaries this year, the number of young voters is likely to continue to grow in the run-up to North Carolina's primary in May. Most experts attribute the increase, in part, to the appeal of Obama.

"Most states are tripling the turnout compared to the 2000 primaries, which we pick for comparison," said Peter Levine, director of the University of Maryland's Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, which promotes civic and political involvement among young people.

Levine said a marked increase in young voters, sometimes called Generation Y or the Millennial Generation, began in the 2004 elections and in 2006.

"There are two reasons -- the kids and the candidates," Levine said. "Young adults are different from Generation X that preceded them. They're more engaged, more idealistic and more involved."

Several studies of the Millennial Generation, those born between 1985 and 2004, found them to be more engaged in their communities, more involved in civic matters, more turned off by partisan bickering and less tied to political parties than their predecessors were.

Polling and focus groups show young people are driven by the same issues as their elders, with economy and health care heading the list.

Jackie Bowden, an 18-year-old senior at Southeast Raleigh High School, said she is interested in issues such as poverty, health care and abortion.

"I want to have a voice in the stuff that goes on around me," Bowden said. "I want a voice in who is the next president. Obama or Hillary. Something new."