Youth turnout is trending up.  At this point, I hope that is a given.  When we talk about those turnout numbers, frequently they are discussed in the context of national turnout or Presidential elections.  But what does it mean at the local level?  How does this play out in a Senate or House race? What about gubernatorial bids and state legislative races?  

In last year's midterms, 58 federal elections, and 80 state level races were decided by easily surmountable or razor thing margins.  Breaking those numbers down, five U.S. Senate and three gubernatorial races were decided by less than 50,000 votes; 35 House races by less than 10,000 votes and 18 by less than 5,000 votes; and 77 state legislative races were decided by fewer than 100 votes.

In almost all of these races, the margin of victory was less than the turnout increase among young voters in that state.  

A combination of three factors drove the increase in turnout: highly competitive races, in which the potential value of a single vote is recognized by formerly disenchanted young voters; non-partisan voter registration efforts aimed at youth; and partisan outreach to young voters by campaigns.  Two of these factors are outside the control of a candidate and his/her campaign.  But the third is something we can study and replicate to help drive progressive youth turnout and increase our majorities in 2008.

A new report by Young Voter Strategies provides a road map to do just that.  The report features a series of case studies on how campaigns- Democrats AND Republicans - reached out to young voters to create victory in '06.  Below the jump I've pulled out and summarized some of the more interesting case studies, and noted some best practices that have emerged - some of which are smack on the head obvious (but still aren't utilized by most campaigns), and others which go against conventional wisdom.  This is required reading for all Democratic campaign staffers.  

There's more...

As of 6:00 PM EST, still a few hours before the close of polls, a growing number of youth-dense precincts have already surpassed the final turnout numbers in 2002, with students still streaming to the polls. Youth-dense precincts in Ohio, Colorado, Michigan and Maryland show youth turnout already exceeding 2002, the last midterm election.

These early reports signal a third straight year where youth voter turnout increased.  In 2004, 18-24 year old turnout surged by 11 percentage points, three times the rate of the general population.

I work with the Student PIRGs' New Voters Project, one of the nation's largest nonpartisan, youth-led voter mobilization campaigns working to turn out the youth vote.  Through our efforts, students are conducting Get Out the Vote activities on 80 college campuses in 15 states. Earlier in the fall, these students registered over 75,000 new young voters, and in the past week those same volunteers have been working around the clock to contact and remind their fellow students to cast their ballots.

There's more...