Having a contested Democratic Presidential Primary caused record new registrations and voter turnout in PA, and 70% of those new voters were between 18-35 years old!

Both parties scrambled and strategized to get their piece of the coveted youth vote pie --  we're proud and happy to have contributed to those totals, and to the education of the youth vote on their candidates -- stick with us as the Youth Vote rules the General Election this November! 

Read the League Election Report
& more on the Youth Vote!

The League of Young Voters Education Fund (our sister organization), teamed up with Van Jones' Green For All, to bring youth from across the country to the League's Tunnel Builder Institute training at the Dream Reborn conference in Memphis, TN, on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hear from some of the trainees in their own words!

As you may recall, the League has been looking for a new Executive Director for quite some time now. Over the past few months, we put together a hard-targeted search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse, and doghouse we came across (…we would’ve made Tommy Lee Jones proud).

Nah, but for real though, we put a lot of thought and consideration into this choice, and are really excited about the results.

We're pleased to announce our new Executive Director, Robert "Biko" Baker!

Read more from the League's out-going Executive Director, Billy Wimsatt...

When MTV set out to do a story about whether Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has tapped into the "creative class" and the "cool kids", you know they had to come to epicenter of the creative cool kids, right?  Check the interview with League E.D. Billy Wimsatt along with photo highlights from the League's online Facebook primary.

Early voting is good.  But putting one early voting machine in the entire county?  Miles away from where most of the traditionally disenfranchised voters live?  In a county in Texas that has a history of voting rights challenges?

Nope.  This is 2008.  That's not going to work.

Check this story of how thousands of Prairie View A&M students marched 7.3 miles to vote and protest the county's decision.

Leadership development, League style.

Check this powerful video from the Ya-Ya Network (Youth Activists-Youth Allies).  It's not the same war the corporate media is showing you...

Maybe you saw the first video installment when Heather went completely bananas after we won $1000 for a one-day challenge.  Now imagine how crazy it was in the office when we pulled in $10,000 for the overall contest!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nZEgv_iuK9I

And please -- tell us who your recruited!!

We know lots of you reached out to your networks to get your friends to donate, and we want to make sure you get the credit for it.  So please scan down this list of wonderful donors and let us know who you recruited. 

Look, we've been saying it for years now, but finally the media and everyone else is coming around.  Young people are paying attention.  We care about the direction of this country and world.  We care about our communities.  And for years now, we've been increasingly turning out to vote.  Y'all only just noticed.  But don't feel too bad -- better late than never!

...

The national results are in from the League of Young Voters Primary on Facebook.  Drumroll please...

Barack Obama 48%
John Edwards 15%
Hillary Clinton 13%
Dennis Kucinich 7%
Ron Paul 4%

That's right, we teamed up with our friends at MoveOn.org Political Action to hold our own primary election.... in every city, town, neighborhood, and school.  And tens of thousands of young people voted.

If you're on Facebook you can also view the results within your networks (city, work, school, etc).  We'll post more network results publicly soon.

Thanks to everyone who participated, and stay tuned for the cool things coming soon through the Facebook app....

We're in the thick of the election season, and in case you've been living in a cave, it's bananas out here.

The Giants upset the Patriots.  Barack Obama won the League's primary election on Facebook by 33 points.  Something huge is happening, and young people are leading the charge.

Real talk, though.  A President can only do so much by him or herself.  Truly changing this country needs to happen block by block, in every city and every town.  So it's time to get off the sidelines and get in the game....

It's that time again...
 
Time to make your local voter guide at: http://theBallot.org
 
Starting now, we will feature local voter guides for primary and local elections throughout 2008. So find out when your elections are and get crackin.
 
If you've never made one before, there are easy-to-follow instructions. You don't need to be part of a local League to make a guide or post it on theBallot.org -we welcome all non-partisan and progressive voter guides.
 
It's not just Presidential elections that matter.  The more local votes you influence, the more likely you are to swing local elections in your town!
 
Ladies and gentlemen start your engines...

The Case Foundation ran a crazy contest on Facebook's Causes app.  They're donating cash to the causes that have gotten the most donors over the whole month.

In the last 30 minutes we almost got knocked off the list, but then a groundswell of support came pouring in from League family around the country who grabbed their friends and family and propelled the League to a huge victory.

And we won TEN THOUSAND SMACKERS!!!  That's on top of $11,600 from the donations themselves and $2000 from winning two one-day challenges.  By now, you math whizzes out there have computed a whopping total of $23,600 from over 600 small donors.  That's mind-blowing.

The League is speechlessly and madly in love with everyone who donated and helped get their friends!

Donations went to the League of Young Voters Education Fund, our sister organization and a 501c(3) non-profit organization, so they are tax-deductible.

If you missed it, it's never to late to show your love:  donate to the League of Young Voters here.

From Khal at rockthedub.com:

Last night, I decided to throw some beats from J Dilla underneath one of the most famous speeches ever, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech, in honor of MLK Day today. I think it came out kind of nice, it's nice to tap your feet while dreaming of a revolution.

You can also check out the video at rockthedub.com

While the media was all caught up trying to figure out what the "youth vote" in Iowa and New Hampshire meant, League board member Jeff Chang was on Huffington Post, cutting straight through the horse-doo as always.

Read it here

Thank you to all of our 2007 supporters.  We could not have done it without you!

View the list of all of our favorite donors.

Read Biko's letter about the League's efforts in Iowa to make sure the presidential candidates hear our issues.

Check out the Maine League's 6-for-6 victory for their endorsed candidates, and listen to the MPR feature below...

Yeah ok, we're excited about the 2008 elections too.  But does that mean we would ignore the elections happening in 2007?  Never.  All year, every year, we just don't stop.

In fact you get some of the juiciest tomatoes in the "off-years."  City councils, school boards, local measures... stuff that directly affects our communities.  Check out some big "off-year" victories from Maine, San Francisco, Albuquerque, and more...

A handful of Leaguers attended the Power Shift 2007 conference, where they were excited and inspired by the incredible movement of young people around the climate change movement, and the push for green-collar jobs.  Read the blog entries by League Executive Director Billy Wimsatt and Pennsylvania League Field Director Mikhail Pappas.