Growth of the Party: For Many California Young Democrats This Will Be First Convention

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Excitement about doubling of youth vote in California and candidates speaking to them about issues that matter

By Rocky Fernandez
National Committeeman
California Young Democrats

The California Young Democrats are traveling in droves to San Jose this weekend for the California Democratic Party State Convention. For many Young Democrats, it will be their first convention.

There's never been a better time to be a Young Democrat.

The Presidential Candidates are taking the youth vote seriously and investing resources to talking to young voters about our issues. Due to this and a lot of hard work by the California Young Democrats, the California College Democrats, and the Young Democrats of America, young voter turnout is rising.

In the February primary, youth turnout doubled from the 2000 and 2004 elections. Most of the turnout was for the Democratic candidates. Young Decline-to-State voters picked up Democratic ballots and took their first step towards becoming lifetime Democrats.

So we arrive at the state convention with a lot of momentum. We're looking at the trends in primaries and caucuses across the country and see similar increases in turnout. We know that with more hard work, we can get our peers to vote and in doing so win a lot of elections for Democrats.

We're making that commitment and intend to make 2008 the "Year of the Young Voter."

Among this weekend's activities is the Youth Vote Panel on Friday. Experts and leaders in the Young Voter movement will be discussing how we got to a point of increasing youth turnout, what we've learned already from the 2008 election, what to expect in coming months, and what all of us can do to increase young voter turnout in November.

You'll also see us on the convention floor throughout the weekend. We'll excuse ourselves from the convention hall for a very special lunch on Saturday, where we will hold our officer elections and recognize outstanding leaders and chapters with our annual awards ceremony. Then it's back to the action, with general sessions and additional trainings for our membership.