Voter Registration Drive at CNM Finished

I want to thank all of the volunteers that registered people over the last two days at Central New Mexico Community College. They spent three hours of their valuable time reaching out to college students to encourage them to vote for the first time. I also want to thank Judge Elizabeth Whitefield and Judge Carl J. Butkus for dropping by our table. Judge Whitefield is running for reelection and Judge Butkus is running for retention. Both are true assets to our local district court system. We are lucky to have them working hard in Bernalillo County. We should look to doing more of these drives before the November election.

I remember when I turned eighteen that I could not wait to walk down to the local courthouse to register to vote for the first time. Jimmy Carter was elected president the year before I turned eighteen and I was completely heartbroken that I was too young to vote for him. I had helped my parent’s campaign for John (Jay) D Rockefeller., IV for Governor of the State of West Virginia the year before I turned eighteen. He along with President Jimmy Carter was the reason that I became a democrat. Both men cared greatly about education and honesty. In a red area like southern West Virginia I knew very few democrats. I saw the dishonesty of the Republican Party first hand during the sixties. My mother a long time republican and activist for that party was not thrilled about my announcement that I had registered as a democrat but over time she learned to live with the fact that her only daughter was an outspoken democrat. My older brother blames it on the fact that my parents took me to meet President John F. Kennedy when I was a baby. My brothers were left at home with the nanny.

This is the first year in many years that I see younger voters excited about voting for a candidate. The Republican Party has decided to target young people in order to get them to vote and stay with their party. We in the Democratic Party should be doing everything we can to get young people excited about our party. I have heard the old cynicism about young people not voting. We as a party can not afford to write off an entire generation of voters because they are reluctance or shy about stepping up for their rights to vote.

Students need to stand up for their rights to an affordable education, low interest loans, and the funding for local colleges. It is in their best interest to show government leaders both local and federal that they care about policies that affect their ability to advance in the job market. With John McCain wanting a 100 year war they need to stand up for peace or they may ended up being drafted to fight in the Bush-McCain 100 year war. It is up to the State and County Democratic Party to educate High school and College student about what our party can offer them that the Republican Party is either unwilling or unable to offer.