The low voter turnout in last week’s municipal election in Springfield has civic leaders scratching their heads….and wondering how to reverse the trend. One suggestion; revive a get-out-the-vote campaign targeting youth.
While other cities in western Massachusetts reported turnout ranging from 35 to 52 percent, less than 17 percent of Springfield voters went to the polls on Election Day.
“It was shocking,” says Linda O’Connell, who is heading up the effort to revive the Springfield branch of the League of Women Voters. “There’s a large proportion of Springfield voters who feel completely disconnected from the political process,” she says.
Springfield City Councilor Kateri Walsh says one way to re-connect voters could be through their children. She says back in the 1990’s, the League of Women voters helped sponsor a program in the local schools called Kids Vote.
“They got all the children in the schools involved, and they had mock elections at City Hall. I think something like that generated excitement,” says Walsh.
“I personally remember taking my 4th graders down to the city hall to participate in a voting rally,” says Sue Majka, Director of Social Studies at the Springfield Public Schools. She says grant funding for the project eventually ran out, and for years has only existed online and at the discretion of individual teachers. However, Majka says the League has teamed up with a teacher at one local high school to register students nearing voting age. She says more than 400 have signed up so far, with plans to expand the program to every high school in the city. The hope is that more families will go out to vote because their children want to.
“When we can provide students with the knowledge of what’s happening and this is something you can talk to your parents about, or your guardian about or someone you live with about, and maybe can you take me to see what voting is all about, maybe it …will rub off,” says Majka.
The League of Women Voters says it will also start sponsoring pre-registration sign-ups for 16 and 17 year olds, which will be allowed by Massachusetts’ new voting law. And in an effort to really get teenagers’ attention, the group will sponsor a contest where high schoolers can produce a 30-second video on voting. Winning entries will air on television and be posted on social media. They also come with cash prizes.
