As the election draws nearer it’s becoming more and more important to encourage everyone to vote this go around.

In regards to the youth vote, The Nation has an interesting piece up about the influence of Rock the Vote on the election this year:

While RTV held the biggest name brand in youth politics, youth turnout declined in 1996 and 2000, and a lot of political minded folks concluded that Rock the Vote wasn’t getting the job done. As described in [the] book, Youth to Power, the vacuum left in youth organizing by the failures of Rock the Vote in part inspired the boom in youth organizing that occurred between 2003 and 2007.

Since then, Rock the Vote has struggled to revitalize itself but there’s been some hype that this year we would finally see a more effective organization. What that would look like, exactly, was always been pretty vague, but it’s now starting to come into focus. Here’s the latest on what a newly energized Rock the Vote is up to in 2008: [The Nation]

To learn more about the history of Rock the Vote and to see what they’ve been up to in 2008, takepart to read the rest of the article.

And on that note, another voting initiative that seem to be after the youth market is Participant Media’s (us!) I am Voting Campaign, whose videos we have featured on the blog.

Combine that with Obama’s “Yes We Can” celebrity filled video and endorsements for John McCain from reality star Heidi Montag and it seems undeniable that many out there are working to court the youth vote and encourage it.

How will it all turn out? Hopefully better than it did for Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick in Election: