Vitale 1

Christi Vitale

Dec. 12, 2007

Title:Make Our Voice Heard

Specific Purpose:To stimulate the audience’s belief in their power as voters.

Thesis: By participating in elections, we can make a real impact.

Formal Outline of Speech

Introduction:

  1. You’ve heard their names: Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Their cause, likewise, is familiar: suffrage—the right to vote. It’s a dream they never saw realized, as it took 72 years to attain.
  2. And decades later, even after constitutional amendments had outlawed race and sex as a means to keep people from voting, people like Fannie Lou Hamer risked everything to combat the Jim Crow laws so that black citizens would be allowed to vote—a right she finally enjoyed in 1963—about the time President Kennedy was assassinated, and the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan’s show.
  3. We encounter these activists’ names in our history books, but we fail to comprehend what they dedicated their lives to: the recognition that voting is a means to be heard and to make a difference.
  4. As a demographic, our record does little to honor these activists. According to the Center for Information & Research on Civil Learning and Engagement, or CIRCLE, Missouri’s youth voter turnout rate in 2004 was a mere 52% (Lopez, Marcelo, and Sagoff, par. 1).
  5. Even though some may consider this enough, having only half of our generation turn out to vote means falling short of achieving the differences the suffragists envisioned.
  6. Others express even less faith in our generation. For example, Leslie Lenkowski, professor of public affairs at Indiana University, says, “Little can be done about low voter turnout among young people, except to wait until they grow older” (par. 8).
  7. Well I don’t believe it. We are capable of so much more.
  8. [Thesis] By participating in elections, we can make a real impact.
  9. [Preview] In order to impact our nation and become a respected voting group, the youth needs to take part not only in the presidential elections that happen once every four years, but those midterm elections that happen every two years. Let’s examine both, beginning with the one that gets the most attention, electing a president.

Body:

  1. Your participation is important in Presidential elections.
  2. Each vote does count.
  3. “According to a recent poll by Peter Dehart and Associates, only 35% of college students believe that voting for president is ‘a way to bring about a lot of change in society’” (cited in Linkwork, par. 5). Now most of us believe that the president has the ability to bring about change in society, so one must presume that the youth doesn’t believe in the impact of their vote.
  4. It is true that the Electoral College ultimately casts the electoral votes for president and that, according to The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Missouri is one of 24 states that do not require electors to vote according to the popular vote, but we do choose our electors and therefore have influence over their decisions (1).
  5. Each vote adds up.
  6. Perhaps our individual vote will not tip the scale, but if all of us vote, we become a force to be reckoned with.
  7. Director of Young Voter Strategies, Heather Smith states, “At 42 million strong, [today’s young adults] will only grow in importance as more and more vote in each election”(cited in Klein 1).
  8. However, if we do not vote in increasing numbers, elected officials have no reason to pay attention to our concerns and needs.
  9. According to Michael Barone, senior writer for U.S. News & World Report, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both attracted young voters, but despite his efforts, George W. Bush hasn’t had the same luck (par. 1). This has put some pressure on the Republican Party.
  10. According to Research from the University of Michigan, “once voters pick one party in three consecutive elections, they will identify with that party for life, and young voters in 2004 leaned strongly Democratic as well as in 2006 (cited in Sullivan, par. 9).
  11. All political candidates will be working hard this election to appeal to young voters, and it’s important that we respond and show that we are worth the effort.

[Transition: We must make our presence known in Presidential elections, but we must also remember the elections in between—the midterm elections. These impact us a great deal as well]

  1. Your participation is important in midterm elections.
  2. The first reason to vote in midterm elections is to be involved in electing state officials and representatives.
  3. Electing these officials does not involve an electoral college, so each individual vote does count in this case.
  4. The Senate and the House of Representatives make up one third of our governing body and are in charge of making many large decisions, like whether or not to impeach a president, whether or not to pass bills, and they also have the power to override a president’s veto. They can make as much of a difference as the president.
  5. We have seen this historically with President Andrew Johnson’s impeachment and recently with the series of laws passed improving the treatment of veterans.
  6. The second reason to vote in midterm elections is ballot initiatives.
  7. Ballot initiatives are proposed changes to our state’s constitution. According to the Secretary of State’s website, in 2006, Missouri residents voted for a stem cell initiative to regulate stem cell research, against an increase in the tobacco tax, and for a raise in the minimum wage, just to name a few (All races, 27-28).
  8. Initiative petitions are ballot initiatives in the making. Currently, according to the Secretary of State’s website, approved petitions that are circulating in attempts to appear on the 2008 ballot include lowering the legal age of drinking and buying alcohol to 18 years-old, banning affirmative action, and further regulations of stem cell research (2008 initiative petitions, 3-5).
  9. All of these may be issues we could be voting on in 2008, that is, if we show up.
  10. Every two years, not just every four years, ballot initiatives that directly impact our everyday lives are being voted on, and we the youth does not seem to notice.
  11. According to CIRCLE, in 2006 only 25.5% of voters ages 18 to 29 voted as opposed to the 53% of adults over 30 (Lopez, Marcelo, and Kirby, graph 1).
  12. This means that only 11% of voters were 18 to 29 years old.
  13. If we want to make a change, we have to better our odds.
  14. If all of the youth had voted, just look at how we could have tipped the scale; we would make up one third of the voting population.
  15. By not voting, we handed over so much more power to the older generations. Our voice was not heard, and it made their voice that much more influential.

Conclusion:

  1. Participate in elections every two years. Help determine our next presidents, our next congressional representatives, and our state’s laws.
  2. It’s important that we recognize the power of our voice, and how elections provide an opportunity for our voices to be heard. Do we want our generation to remain a dull whisper or do we want to be a chorus rising strong? You determine this when you decide whether or not to show up on Election Day, and you amplify our voice even further if you help bring about a ballot initiative. Give volume to our voice by encouraging your friends to go to the polls and organizing a carpool with a group, club, or team to which you belong.
  3. If you and I take full advantage of our rights as adults in the election process, we can become a force to be reckoned with. Officials will have to listen to our concerns and our ideas for how to make our world a better world if they wish to stay in office.
  4. We have power. The power to decide if we want the first woman president or the first black president, if we want stem cell research banned or allowed, if we want 18 year olds to be able to legally buy and drink alcohol. Don’t fulfill skeptics' prophesies and wait to be the voice of the future, be the voice of the present.

Annotated bibliography

2008 initiative petitions approved for circulation in Missouri. (October 10, 2007) Retrieved November 23, 2007, from This webpage lists all of the approved initiative petitions approved for circulation in Missouri. I will use this article to demonstrate the types of ballot initiatives that may appear in the 2008 elections.

All races. (2007, November 23). Retrieved November 23, 2007, from This webpage provides the election results from the 2006 midterm elections in Missouri. I will use this article to give an example of what types of ballot initiatives are voted on in midterm elections.

Barone, M. (2007, May 21). The contented young. U.S. News & World Report, 142(18) 38. Retrieved November 9, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database. Michael Barone, senior writer for U.S. News & World Report, discusses attitudes of the youth towards voting. I will use this article to demonstrate candidates effort to appeal to young voters and what issues most appeal to the young voters as opposed to what should matter to them.

Klein, A. (2006, December). Activism on the rise. University Business, 9(12) 16. Retrieved November 9, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database. Journalist Alana Klein

Lenkowsky, L. (2004, September 30). Voter-turnout efforts won’t pay off on election day. Chronicle of Philanthropy, 16(24) 57-58. Retrieved November 9, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database. Leslie Lenkowsky, professor of public affairs and philanthropic studies at Indiana University, discusses why, regardless of efforts of nonprofit organizations, young people will not show up to vote. I will use this article to discuss the main reasons why today’s youth does not vote.

Lopez, M.H., Marcelo, K.B., Kirby, E.H. (2007, June) Youth voter turnout increases in 2006. Retrieved November 25, 2007, from htpp:// This article discusses youth voter turnouts in the 2006 midterm elections. I will use this article to show that voter turnouts are significantly lower in midterm elections than in presidential elections.

Lopez, M.H., Marcelo, K.B., Sagoff, J. (2006, September). Quick facts about young voters in Missouri: The midterm election year 2006. Retrieved November 23, 2007, from This article discusses voting statistics of Missouri youth. I will use these statistics to demonstrate the need for an increase in voting youth.

Sullivan, W. (2006, December 4). Generation y takes a whirl with the left. U.S. News and World Report, 141(21) 28-29. Retrieved November 9, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database. Journalist Will Sullivan discusses the increase in young voter turnout and whether or not their choices indicate future party affiliations. I will use this article to show the increase in youth voting and party’s responses and attempts to secure the youth’s vote.

The U.S. national archives & records administration. (2000, November). Retrieved November 23, 2007, from This article gives information on the Electoral College processes by state. I will use this article to discuss the Electoral College in Missouri.