Whether it’s the Congressional elections of every two years, or the Presidential election every four, Americans are used to seeing heavy voter registration efforts on a cyclical basis. And the reason is pretty clear: a whole new crop of voters are routinely coming into the system every couple of years and each time out, they need to be reminded of the central role that voting plays in a democratic culture.

Lots of groups attempt to get those young folks hooked into the process, through all kinds of means: from door-to-door work, to targeting areas like malls or clubs, where youth voters might congregate.

An organization with regional tentacles, the Youth Voter Collective, is one of the many voices in Missouri attempting to sign up voters in advance of the August cut-off date for voting in this November’s general election. And Jack Buthod is one of the prime organizers in Eastern Missouri for the YVC; info for which can found at: youthvotercollective.org.

We recently caught up with Buthod and discussed issues relating to his work this year and the appeals that he feels work in attracting new voters. And, as he notes, the YVC’s hope is that these voters become more-and-more actively involved in the civic process once they’ve cast their first ballot.

Without further qualification, here’s our conversation:

How did you personally become involved with YVC? What aspects of their work did you find especially compelling?
 
I started working with the Youth Voter Collective at the prompting of some activist friends of mine who were already involved in it. It seemed like a really good organization, as it existed to provide outlets and training for young people to get politically active. I loved that the YVC focused on advocating for issues that are really relevant to young, working class people, like addressing the of violence among urban youth, affordable education and jobs that pay living wages.

How is the YVC structured nationally? And how much of the work done locally is done via a national approach or template?
 
The YVC is made up of a network of local hubs (in St. Louis, Chicago, New York City and Milwaukee), with the national HQ in Chicago. The national approach is to offer broad-based training to help people start their own local YVC clubs. While national HQ sets the tone for our work, each local YVC club carries out its work pretty independently based its own local context and political scene. Still, the focus is always on increasing civic engagement among working class youth, particularly youth who have been historically under-represented in politics.

What are the voting numbers for young people in our area and our state? Do we rank lower or higher than national averages?
 
Looking at CIRCLE's (the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) numbers for the 2008 Super Tuesday primaries, Missouri had a youth (18-29 year olds) voter turnout of 21%. There was a greater percentage of youth who turned out to vote in Missouri than in 11 out of 14 other Super Tuesday states. Still, Missouri's youth voter turnout is lower than it is for other age cohorts.
 
What issues resonate with young people, when you're convincing them of the importance of voting? Is there anything unique to our region in making people see the light on voting?
 
People really respond to our focus on working class issues like advocating for affordable education through the university level and for jobs that pay living wages.

Is their a cycle involved in your work? Would it be correct to assume that you'll be busier and busier between now and the final day of voter registration?
 
There is a cycle in the type of work we do more than the amount of work we do. In the run up to the August 5th primary and November 4th general election, we are and will be working primarily on talking with and registering young voters and getting out the youth vote. But our effort to get out the youth vote, though important, is not merely an end in itself. We treat our electoral work as a means of getting youth more involved in politics in general. Through our elections work, we train ourselves and build youth political organizing infrastructure that can continue advocating and working for our interests through the elections and beyond.