Organization Profile:

Declare Yourself

            According to its website (www.declareyourself.com), Declare Yourself is “a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to empower and encourage every eligible 18 year old in America to register and vote in the presidential primaries and 2008 presidential election.”  This mission is attained using popular culture and media, including mobile and internet technology, to spread the word.  In the 2004 and 2006 elections, 1.2 million young people registered to vote through Declare Yourself, which was founded in 2003 by Norman Lear. Lear, a television producer and philanthropist, was inspired to motivate specifically young people to vote after purchasing a rare, original copy of the United States of America’s founding document, Declaration of Independence. 

Declare Yourself started as a conclusion his two year long Declaration of Independence Road Trip that was designed to encourage and inspire young adults to practice their civic duty by voting.  Norman Lear says, "When I first looked at the Declaration of Independence, my eyes welled up. I thought - this is our nation's birth certificate, the people's document, and it should visit Americans, rather than sit somewhere on a wall waiting for Americans to come to it, as a reminder of the freedoms we all cherish."  In the 2004 presidential and 2006 midterm elections, young voters turned out in record numbers, proving that Declare Yourself’s strategy to use popular culture and media is effective.

            Targeting college students and young adults, Declare Yourself promotes the get out the vote movement by hosting star-studded events, partnering with educational organizations to provide voter initiative education programs, launching public service announcement campaigns, and selling www.DeclareYourself.com t-shirts.  Celebrities included A-listers Leonardo DiCaprio, Reese Witherspoon, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Andre 3000, David LaChapelle, Christina Aguilera, Ben Affleck, Zach Braff, Sarah Silverman and more.  Along with partnering with popular celebrities, Declare Yourself has teamed up with national and international companies and brands such as Yahoo!, MySpace.com, Comedy Central, Google, Evite, Good, American Eagle, Starbucks, Uwire, Harpers Collins Publishers, and Voto Latino.  All businesses and organizations whose services appeal to the young voter population (ages 18-25).  Also, about two dozen highly visited and civically conscious websites advertise Declare Yourself on their sites.  With spokespeople actresses America Ferrera and Hayden Panettiere, and Advisory Board members like producer and American Idol judge Randy Jackson, co-chairmen of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio Ben Silverman, and Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, Norman Lear has established diverse sources of power to educate and motivate young people to vote. 

            According to their website, Generation Y voters, people born between 1980 and 1995, will make up one third of the Electorate by 2015.  This generation has grown up with information and entertainment constantly at their finger tips thanks to the internet, cell phones, satellite television, and computers; and in less than ten years, they will be the highest percentage of voters in America.  Pennsylvania State Senator, Rob Wonderling discussed voter turnout in 2006 on his webpage stating, “Research shows that while outreach to young people using cell phones, the Internet and e-mail was effective, it also demonstrated that peer-to-peer efforts on college campuses and reminders to vote on Election Day were successful in getting out the vote. Clearly, these so-called Generation Y voters are responding to voting mobilization efforts.”  The proof is in the statistics, which show that from 2000 to 2004, voters under the age of 25 turned out the vote eleven percent more, while the overall percentage of voter turnout only increased by four percent.  This was the highest turnout for that demographic since the1972 elections.  Technology has been an important factor in recent elections, and it will continue to be.  Thus, Declare Yourself has created an extremely interactive, informative, easy to access, and clear website that is full of informative, humorous, and motivational links and multimedia.

            The website answers questions ranging in topic from registration information, primaries and caucuses, election day, voter eligibility, absentee voting, and more.  There is an entire page devoted to multimedia: celebrity videos and testimonials, clips from popular television shows, celebrity-filled skits, and photo galleries.  All are designed to encourage young people to vote using humor, personal stories, and music.  Along with multimedia releases on the website, Declare Yourself also has a page dedicated to press releases.  This page provides links to articles and press releases on other websites, as well as links to surveys and statistics related to voters under the age of 25.  One of these surveys was conducted by the Pew Research Center entitled "How Young People View Their Lives, Future, and Politics: A Portrait of 'Generation Next'” (“Generation Next” is synonymous with Generation Y). 

            The research provides an overview of this generation’s outlook and concerns, describes how technology has shaped their values, outlines political trends such as party affiliations and voting turnout, and concludes with the key values and views on hot topics including abortion, racial issues, stem cell research, and traditional values.  It overviews the demographic saying, “In their political outlook, they are the most tolerant of any generation on social issues such as immigration, race and homosexuality. They are also much more likely to identify with the Democratic Party than was the preceding generation of young people, which could reshape politics in the years ahead,” (Pew Research Center 1).  Declare Yourself has been able to use this information to tap into this generation’s values using media and technology.

            In order to spread the word, Declare Yourself allows users to sign up for alerts and reminders.  The options are text message alerts, e-mail newsletters, a downloadable button to place on your website advertising Declare Yourself, and a button to share the website with your friends via e-mail.  Clearly, all of the options to spread the word and get people to vote are aimed at the technologically dependent and savvy Generation Y’s.  These resources are improving voter turnout.  In a survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for Declare Yourself, found that of the 1.2 million young adults who registered to vote through their website, 83 percent actually cast a ballot.  Declare Yourself also succeeded in getting first-time voters to vote.  Of the 83 percent who registered through Declare Yourself and voted, 72 percent were first-time voters. 

            The services provided by Declare Yourself and Norman Lear’s vision have increased young voter turnout in the past two elections, and it continues to increase faster than any other generation. With an estimated 50 million Generation Y Americans eligible to vote in the upcoming 2008 presidential elections, turnout is a vital factor in their future and America's future.  Being the youngest generation able to vote, their futures are the most affected.  They are the next leaders of America; therefore, today’s president will set the stage for their leadership tomorrow.  According the Pew Center research, 77 percent of this generation is interested and cares about politics.  Declare Yourself is helping the future of our country by informing and encouraging young people to vote.  With young voters being educated on the complexity of the American voting process and the key issues of the elections, Norman Lear and Declare Yourself are reminding and empowering people of their freedoms that make this country such an amazing place to live.