How do we engage the unengaged? Karen Moore Chief Executive Officer Baldwin EMC
Board of Trustees Peggy Vanover Barnes President District 6
Tommie Werneth Vice President District 4
Jimmy LaFoy Secretary/Treasurer District 7
Chad Grace District 1
Joe Coleman District 2
I
n March, Harvard University’s Institute of Politics conducted a poll among young adults aged 18 to 29, a demographic commonly referred to as Millennials. Here are just two of the more troubling statistics to come out of their survey: • M ore than a quarter of these young adults said they were not registered to vote, or weren’t sure if they were or not. • W hen asked if they were politically engaged or active, 70 percent said they were not. By 2019, Millennials are expected to surpass Baby Boomers as the United States’ largest percentage of living adults, and could soon become the biggest percentage of Americans eligible to vote, according to the Pew Research Center. So let’s interlace these two chunks of data. Pretty soon, Millennials will be the largest group of American voters. And yet, almost two-thirds of the adults in this age group aren’t politically active.
Aubury Fuller District 3
YOUR
Robert Kaiser District 5
M AT T E R S
Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this combination? I’ve never been one to jump on the Millennial-shaming bandwagon. In fact, after meeting Baldwin EMC’s latest group of delegates for the Rural Electric Cooperative Youth Tour, I think young adults might deserve a better reputation than we tend to give them. However, it’s obvious we have a disconnect in America. Somewhere, somehow, young people in our country are losing the connection to democracy that was so heavily instilled in their parents and grandparents. I’m not sure what we’re doing wrong, but I do have a few ideas of what we can do right.
We can help them get registered to vote. Registering to vote is a fairly simple process in the state of Alabama. When your kids, grandkids, or any up-and-coming young adult in your life turns 18, hand them the voter registration forms and offer to mail them in. You can access the necessary forms by going to www.alabamavotes.gov. Continued on next page
Chief Executive Officer Karen Moore
4 AUGUST 2018
www.alabamaliving.coop