ICYMI: Refinery29: Who Says Young Voters Are Apathetic? What You Should Know About This Brand-New Initiative

By Natalie Gontcharova

 

With just a few weeks to go until Election Day, November 6, 2018, Democrats aren’t taking the youth vote for granted — especially because only 30% of young women said they will “definitely” vote in the midterms, according to a recent poll by Refinery29 and CBS News.

 

That’s why, especially with the party newly fired up after Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, more initiatives are springing up to get out the vote among youth. The newest one is New Blue Crew, which aims at engaging and mobilizing young voters to elect Democrats, who have recently lost ground with millennials, some of whom are gravitating toward groups like the Democratic Socialists of America.

 

The program is focused on recruiting volunteers on college campuses to “organize for big days of actions around events like school move-in days, homecomings, classics, and the final days leading up to the 2018 election,” according to the Democratic National Committee. Youth leaders receive training, support, organizing tools, and merch from the DNC. Since September, New Blue Crew has launched in 33 states and held voter registration drives on more than 150 campuses. (Click here if you’re interested in joining.)

 

“Young Americans know that with the power of their vote, they can help decide whether the country goes forward or backward on issues like college affordability, immigrant rights, access to quality and affordable healthcare, gun safety, and a woman’s right to choose,” Democratic National Committee women’s media director Elizabeth Renda told Refinery29. “Across the country, we’re seeing that students are fired up and ready to organize to defend those Democratic values. New Blue Crew is leveraging that student-organizing capacity and creativity by providing an additional outlet for activists and volunteers on campuses across the country to get in the game, get involved, and organize to elect Democrats up-and-down the ticket.”