Speech delivered by Sonny Patten, Student at Texas Tech University, Lubbock Texas, on the occasion of launching a campus wide

campaign to close campus on election day.

The Youths Voice Matters More Than Ever.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I would first like to thank you for the opportunity you have given me to speak before you today. I can see by the turnout here tonight that you all understand how important it is for the youth of America to be involved in the election process. It is more important than ever to get todays youth to participate in their civil duty and vote. The decisions that are made by todays youth on election day will effect this entire country for the next four years. And that is something that should not be taken lightly. Tonight I am not lobbying for just another campus closure, or day off for the students, I am lobbying for an opportunity; an opportunity that only comes around every four years. The bright young minds at this great institution should be given every opportunity to shape the future they want by exercising their right as an American citizen and electing the officials they support into office. According to The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, young people aged 18 to 29 are

the most likely group to remain undecided about their voting intentions until election day. Not only do students need more opportunities to exercise their right to vote. They need to be afforded time to weigh the extremely important choice regarding who to vote for. According to a 2008 exit poll conducted by Carnegie Mellon University, between 22 and 24 million young Americans ages 18 to 29 voted, resulting in an estimated youth voter turnout of between 49.3 and 54.5 percent. Half of this nations youth showed up on election day to cast their vote. This same study then declared that this is the second largest turnout for young people ever on that day. As great as that may sound, we still only have close to have of all of todays youth out there voting. Every young person has the right to vote and every young person should be out on that day making a difference for this country. We cant stop at half of the youth, we should settle for anything less than all, 100 percent of todays youth ladies and gentlemen; and we can only achieve this through more and more opportunities. I hope that tonight everyone in this room will feel as strongly as I do about how pivotal the nations youth can be on election day. I hope you all understand that there does not need to be any excuse they can give to not be involved. And I hope

you all will not take my side on this issue, but recognize its not an issue at all. Recognize that it is a necessity, a requirement, and something we have to do to create the best future for the promising young achievers of this institution. Thank you for your time, and as a student I hope to see you all out there on election day.