New Voters Project coming to Green Bay By Anna Krejci News-Chronicle A get-out-the-vote campaign targeted at people in the 18- to 24-year-old age group is coming to Green Bay. The New Voters Project, a new, nonpartisan grassroots project aimed at increasing the number of voters in the age group considered least likely to head to the ballot box, is making plans to establish a campaign office in the Green Bay area. The project is targeted toward 2 million members of that age group living in Wisconsin, Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, Nevada and Oregon. According to a December release from the project, which is run by the states' public interest research groups and the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, citizens in the 18-to-24 age group comprise a voting block of 23.9 million potential voters. "We are going out there and asking our peers to join in this important endeavor," said Jessy Tolkan, Wisconsin state campus director for the New Voters Project. Wisconsin, compared with the other five states involved in the project, has the largest population of 18- to 24-year-olds, she said. Canvassers will approach people in person and via the telephone and Internet to encourage voter registration. The voting drive will not be directed solely at college students. Tolkan said Census data shows two-thirds of young people in the targeted age group do not live on college campuses. Melissa Froemming, state field director for the New Voters Project, is in charge of organizing tactics to reach potential voters who live off campus. "We're going to where they are," Froemming said. She predicted that Green Bay's campaign office will open in mid-March, but voter mobilization activity in the area likely will begin before then. New Voters Project volunteers and organizers will go to concerts, bars and sporting events to register voters, Froemming said. And according to a December release from the New Voters Project, appeals will be made through MTV and World Wrestling Entertainment. She said the Green Bay canvassers hope to visit area businesses where 18- to 24 year-olds typically work, including retail, food service and factories. Similar campaign offices are located in Madison and Milwaukee. According to Scott Furlong, associate professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 18- to 24-year-olds are not likely to vote partly because candidates do not effectively reach them. As members of that age group turn older and obtain steady jobs and are paying taxes, they become more politically active, he said. "The issues become applicable to them," Furlong said. He cited John F. Kennedy's administration in the 1960s as being effective in stimulating young people through the Peace Corps. Furlong said he believes young people today are more politically active than are their parents - while not necessarily voting - possibly because high schools require community service hours for graduation. Young adults are finding other avenues for showing political views, Furlong said. "We used to think the easiest way of expressing opinion was voting," he said, but added that individuals now can post their opinions on organizations' Web sites or sign electronic petitions. Politicians pay attention to those venues, just as they pay credence to opinion polls. Kim Biedermann, legislative affairs director for student government at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, said she believes citizens in the targeted age group will be more politically active this year, given the state of public opinion surrounding President Bush. "We have a very polarized population right now," she said. The New Voters Project officials anticipate increasing voter turnout among 18- to 24-year-olds from 40 percent in 2000 to 45 percent in the six target states. Project organizers plan to register more than 265,000 voters in the targeted demographic for the November elections.