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Facebook valued as new tool in campaigns
Younger voters are using the online social network as a way to generate support for upcoming school levy referendums.
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Follow local news on TwitterOn Election Day, when more than 100 Minnesota school districts ask voters for increased property tax levies or bond money, recent graduates hope their campaigning pays off.
In a dozen districts, young people are trying to mobilize support by turning to the most powerful, and most comfortable, tool at their disposal: Facebook.
On the social-networking website, groups have harnessed hundreds of members, providing information on the referendums, allowing debate on discussion boards and instructing how to vote by absentee ballot.
It remains to be seen how many of the graduates will go beyond the relative ease of computer communication to casting ballots from a distance, but they represent a wild card in odd-year elections with historically low turnout.
The Facebook groups can grow quickly because organizers can easily seek out fellow graduates from among the site's 23 million members.
Adam Berkland, who graduated two years ago from Armstrong High School in the Robbinsdale school district, said he invited 100 alumni when he started a group in August; he received about 70 responses.
The group now has 805 members.
"I'll bet at least 500 were people who heard about it through friends," he said.
A group supporting the Stillwater school district levies has 299 members -- a number equal to more than 5 percent of the voters in the district's 2005 election.
"Alumni always have an interest in the places they grew up," said J.P. Leider, a 2004 Stillwater graduate and the administrator of the district's Facebook group. "If they feel strongly about these issues, it's a lot easier to get involved."
In an odd-year election, traditional logic tells school levy campaigns to forget about people like Berkland. The Boston College sophomore has been away from home for two years, the levy on his home ballot won't raise his taxes and there are no high-profile races to coax an absentee ballot out of him.
But the Facebook groups add to mounting evidence that college students aren't the disaffected youth they're often portrayed to be.
A September study from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement shows that 7 of 10 citizens ages 18 to 29 were registered for the 2004 presidential election -- an all-time high.
And the Higher Education Research Institute's annual survey of college freshmen found that last year's class talked politics more than any in 40 years.
"They have a lot of frustration with a lack of opportunities, so kids are inventing their own," said Harry Boyte, who co-directs the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. "They're looking for connections. It makes a lot of sense they'd go back to their alma maters."
New generation, new tools
Facebook -- as close to a common denominator as there is among college students -- was the obvious place for almost all the groups to start.
Many students use the site to keep in touch with high-school classmates. Once they create a group, they invite friends who can pass the word to others.
"I think it's being acknowledged more and more as a tool, rather than just a casual means of communication," said Phillip Plager, a University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire freshman who is part of the Robbinsdale group. "It's kind of known once you plant a seed, people have contacts and it naturally spreads."
Some of the group administrators were in high school when voters turned down a levy increase in their district. That hit home in the form of higher activity fees, program cuts or the layoff of a favorite teacher.
With that in mind, the members of the Facebook groups are trying to prevent further cuts for future students.
"I have a brother in the district," said Miriam Sahouani, who is running a group in support of a Hastings bond referendum that would be used for school upgrades. "I want to make sure he makes it through in buildings that are intact."
Moment of truth coming
In the few days left before the election, most of the groups are sending last-minute reminders to file absentee ballots. Their creators say they have been surprised with the level of support, but struggle on a couple of fronts.
Some have asked themselves whether it's fair to generate mass support for a referendum among people who will likely never pay the increased taxes. And others are still amazed at the uphill battle to get peers educated about the voting process.
"I've been fairly frustrated with the people on the walls of our group saying, 'I'm in Michigan, I can't vote,'" said Anne Doering, a Carleton College sophomore running a group for the Anoka-Hennepin school district levy. "Something's obviously not getting across."
But Doering and others remain hopeful about how big the impact could be.
"It's typically not a high-turnout election," Plager said. "If 800 people were to put in absentee ballots, it could be a significant chunk."
Ben Goessling • 651-298-1546
Ben Goessling • bgoessling@startribune.com
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