Layze Bone and other Hip Hop stars such as Master P, Ice Cube, Scarface, Reverend Run, Doug E. Fresh, Jermain Dupri and more, encouraging young voters at Houston Summit.

photos by Rahav Segev/Retna ltd.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Republican National Committee (news - web sites) volunteers flooded the Daytona International Speedway on Valentine's Day in an effort to register new voters during the Daytona 500. NASCAR drivers Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliott and team owner Chip Ganassi stopped by the RNC's huge "Race to Victory" motor coach to encourage NASCAR fans to register to vote as Republicans.

Click on pics to read essays submitted for PeprallyUSA.com's 2003 Contest.

Not long ago I turned 18 and got a few presents in the mail. One was shaving cream and a razor from a company that manufactures both. The other was a card from the government, telling me to register with the Selective Service. Luckily, since registration is required by law, the process is pretty easy: Either go to the Selective Service website, or mail the card back with some personal information. While the prospect of potential military service can be pretty harrowing, what alarmed me was the card I didn1t receive, still haven1t, and never will: One telling me to register to vote.

That I was asked to register for the Service but not to register to vote might be a distressing insight into our nation1s priorities, but more likely it1s just a reflection on the decentralization of the voting process; every state has its own registration form. Even the National Mail Voter Registration Form, the 3one document that allows you to register to vote from anywhere in the United States,2 isn1t accepted in two states (not including North Dakota, which doesn1t have voter registration), and only if printed on heavy card stock in six others. It comes with a sixteen page instruction booklet, since each state likes its registration form filled out differently (Hawaii wants your social security number but not your ethnicity, Nebraska doesn1t want either, and South Carolina wants both).

Even with these little eccentricities, registration is relatively straightforward. And, most states have motor/voter registration available. In other words, if you go to your local motor vehicle department, you can register to vote in just minutes. If you remember to do it.

Historically, most people who register to vote end up voting in presidential elections. During the 2000 presidential election campaign Harvard University's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy carried out the most comprehensive study ever of citizen involvement in an election campaign. They reported that in Y2K, only 51 percent of those eligible to vote, did so. Compare this to 1960, when 63% of eligible voters cast ballots in the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon contest.

Many of today's silent voices are young Americans (between 18 and 24 years old), of which only 51% were registered and fewer than 36% reported having voted in 2000, according to the US Census. This has to change.

The Harvard study reported that one factor that adversely affected voter turnout was the registration process. I would call it a registration crisis. The Harvard study showed that in states where voter registration could take place up to and including Election Day, the turnout was an average of 15% higher than in states that did not permit registration after a certain date.

Voter turnout may well be high for the 2004 election. After the Florida electoral debacle it became clear that every vote was important. And while the last presidential election may have been characterized by uninteresting candidates and uninspiring issues the next election will take place in an America charged over Iraq, terrorism, civil liberties and the poor economy. Additionally, since he took office Mr. Bush has polarized the country; there are few people whose opinion of him can be described as moderate or lukewarm.

However, unless more is done to register new voters, many of todays youth will find themselves unable to vote on Election Day 2004.

I only remembered to register because a friend reminded me.

So, I believe, along with a selective service postcard, or as part of it, a young man should be invited by his country to register to vote. Young women should get similar cards. Without that other card in the mail, America1s young people are ready to defend their country-- but not its democratic ideals.

Author Steven Higashide is 18, a freshman at NYU, and a PeprallyUSA.com Contributing Writer. Address any comments you might have on his essay to editorinchief@peprallyusa.com.

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