It's Which Young Voters, Not How Many

There are so many young people eligible to vote.

So many "experts" predicting a record turnout if they do, too.

But this new generation of voters is a diverse group, just like every generation before them. What may matter most is which of these young people will vote.

I've met a lot of young voters who are working full time for presidential campaigns. So many are taking time off from college or jobs, and the vast majority of them are toiling away for little or no pay. They are true believers, and their commitment is inspiring.

Most of them, though, get to do this because someone else thought they should have an adventure and could foot the bill. I've met a lot of these benefactors, and they're usually called Mom and Dad.

There are plenty of other young people who'd like to feel they can make a difference in the world, but they are hourly wage earners who can't take time off to join a campaign. Try telling the foreman at the factory that America needs you. There is no leave of absence from the diner or the fast-food joint. You leave, you lose your job, no matter how hard you promise the boss you'll be back right after Election Day.

A lot of kids are still first-generation college students, and they come from parents sacrificing their own dreams so that their children never will carry a lunch pail. Those kids aren't joining a campaign anytime soon, either.

Last Friday, I was invited to speak to more than 400 high school seniors in Hudson, Ohio. The idea was to encourage 18-year-olds to vote, and it made my heart swell to see so many students stand when asked who among them was registered to vote.

My excitement waned a bit, though, by the time the assembly was over.

Hudson is a town where almost everybody is the same. The median sale price in 2007 for a home there was $309,328. Mayor William Currin said 66 percent of the adult population has at least a bachelor's degree.

The sprawling public high school telegraphs a community's every hope and dream for its children.

The majority of the students at Friday's assembly were respectful and quiet. A sizable number, though, mostly boys, seemed mighty impressed with their ability to disrupt and erupt.

I sat among the students while a naturalized citizen spoke about the thrill of becoming an American, and I could barely hear him over the cackles and the chatter. This continued for every speaker. I found it rude, as did several other visitors I spoke to afterward, but to be fair, Currin disagreed with us. He did not think noise was a problem.

What gnaws at me most are the few questions the students asked. Three young men asked about a military draft that does not exist:

What is a legal way for a guy to avoid the draft?

Why don't girls have to register for the draft?

Why do guys have to provide their draft numbers when they apply for financial aid?

I assured them that there is no draft and that only volunteers are fighting in a war they clearly fear could interrupt the trajectory of their lives.

On my return drive from the high school, I started thinking about the conversations I've had during this campaign season with students in some of the poorest neighborhoods of Cleveland.

They are quiet when it is their turn to listen, and they have a lot to say when it is their turn to speak. They talk about parents who have no health care or how they've lost their jobs, their homes. They rattle off the names of friends and relatives fighting in Iraq. Most of them dream of going to college "someday."

Who's going to solve all these problems? That's what they want to know.

Here's what I want to know: How many of these kids would stand when asked who among them is registered to vote?

How many of them think the rest of us even care?

It's time to tell them we do.

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and the author of two books from Random House: "Life Happens" and "… and His Lovely Wife." To find out more about Connie Schultz (cschultz@plaind.com) and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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