“Monday afternoon Michelle Obama held a conference call with student newspapers and the media to talk about the importance of voting and, of course, her husband. Mrs. Obama started off by saying that students need to vote. This election is going to determine the course for an entire generation, she explained.”
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Monday afternoon Michelle Obama held a conference call with student newspapers and the media to talk about the importance of voting and, of course, her husband.

Mrs. Obama started off by saying that students need to vote.

This election is going to determine the course for an entire generation, she explained. Young people will be dealing with the effects of this election for the rest of our lives.

If young Americans want to have a say in what their future looks like then they need to make their voices heard, she said. They need to do it now and state and declare their values and their priorities.

She proceeded to state facts from the last election, in which only half of those eligible to vote actually did. Out of those that bothered to register, 20 percent never went to the polls.

She believes the reason that younger voters do not vote is because no one has reached out to them.

However, she believes that that trend is being reversed this year because students realize what happens in Washington effects their lives. A great example is student loans.

The average college graduate is weighted down in $22,000 in student loans, she said. Barack and I both experienced that as well because we just paid down our student loans. We were in debt to that sum even greater.

Those reasons, and others, may play part in why many more young adults are getting involved.

The number of young people that have gotten involved with this campaign shocked her.

We would have never accomplished this without the support of students and young voters who have helped make his campaign a true movement for change, she continued. Our work is not over yet, we need all the young people we have to stay involved and stay focused. We need more young people to get involved.

Obama talked about numerous issues that the next president will be facing, including the state of the economy, the war in Iraq and global warming.

The next president will have power to make significant progress in the fight against global warming, she said. Our planet and our neighbors around us have suffered because of our hesitation.

The Obama campaign has taken the first steps in turning around the trend of young voters not voting.

Obama even talked about the Web site that has been set up to help those not registered to vote do so.

Voteforchange.com is a one stop resource for voter registration, she explained. You can register to vote or find out if you’re already registered. You can arrange an absentee ballot and find out where to vote.

She urged all young adults to sign up to vote no matter which candidate they support.

Young people have already made a huge difference in this election, she stated. They can determine the outcome on Nov. 4 but only if they speak out, get involved and only if they register to vote.

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