The Importance of Young Voters

GREGG COUNTY - Young people are the future of America, making up twenty percent of the voting population.

And like every election year, several campaign adds and commercials target young people.

That's why the presidential candidates know how much of an impact youth have.

Gregg County Republican Chairman, Keith Rothra said, "John McCain actually relates with those youth people...the Republican Party is really reaching out and youth are coming to work with the Republican Party this time."

While Democratic Chairman, Juneau Embry said, "In the primaries, the youth vote is the reason Barack Obama was nominated as the Democratic candidate...they made a strategic decision, his campaign to target that group."

Both Senator McCain and Senator Obama have reached out to young Americans in different ways.

For starters, they both have Myspace and Facebook pages and we all know how much of an impact these two sites have on young people today.

Twenty-year-old, Holly Cox said, "The candidates are targeting the younger voters and it's great the they have Myspace pages and Facebook to get kids politically involved."

Regardless of what each candidate is doing to draw in votes from young adults...its working!

In 2004 only 47 percent of people between 18 and 24 showed up at the polls.

Versus this year, 78 percent of that age group are registered to vote.

Twenty-year-old, Lawrence Thomas said, "We make up a large percent of voting population and if young people don't vote then the future is up in the air."

And other young voters like Cox, know the importance of making young voices heard.

Cox said, "If somebody gets into office you don't like, you can't complain because you didn't vote for them."