From the “Rock the Vote” campaign in Washington, D.C., to young Christians involved in politics in Seattle, six young European journalists are exploring what it will take to get more young people involved in the political decision-making process in their countries.
And they are finding out that U.S. politics is very complicated, said Erina Khanakwa, 22, of Pride Media in London.
“I think it’s the size of your country,” Khanakwa said, adding she views the tour as a “brilliant opportunity to get deep insight into the American electoral system.”
She and the five others spent 90 minutes with Snohomish County Auditor Bob Terwilliger on Friday, learning about voter registration, permanent mail-in voting, the controversy over the now-extinct blanket primary and other election topics.
It’s part of a U.S. State Department-sponsored program to acquaint European journalists with politics and social issues in the states, said Elaine Papazian, with the department’s National Press Center in Washington, D.C.
The State Department picked the topic, and all the journalists on the tour are interested in reporting on young people in politics. All of them work for newspapers or radio stations.
The 10-day trip will take them from Washington, D.C., to Seattle, Minneapolis and Boston.
The Seattle area was chosen because “we wanted to see the political situation and process on the West Coast, far from Washington, D.C.,” Papazian said. Snohomish County was chosen as a tour stop because of the county’s touch-screen voting machines, which have been in use since 2002.
The young journalists were told that the vast majority of mail-in voters cast ballots in every election, and one asked how young people are informed about becoming permanent absentee voters, something that might make them more likely to cast ballots. They’re told about it when they register to vote; political parties push absentee voting and there are groups that focus on getting that message to young people, Terwilliger said.
Some were surprised that the fact a person voted – not how he or she voted – is a matter of public record and can be obtained easily.
From what Khanakwa’s seen, young people don’t readily see the relationship between political choices and things that affect them, such as jobs.
It’s not unique to the United States, Khanakwa said. “In Britain we have the same problem.”
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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