Looking for Voters Who Are, Well, Angry

Two young men dressed in green foam Statue of Liberty crowns Friday in the Plaza passed out a local voter guide designed to appeal to Santa Fe youth. The two, and their colleagues in the Plaza, are loosely affiliated with a national group called The League of Pissed Off Voters, which has created over 40 similar local voter guides across the nation.The league, according to its Web site, is "doing national voter-organizing out of New York City. Our mission is to engage pissed-off 17- to 35-year-olds in the democratic process to build a progressive governing majority in our lifetime." After passing out their "Steal This Voter Guide," the Santa Fe group headed to the County Clerk's Office to cast their votes. Although the group is concentrating on the Nov. 2 election, their greater purpose is to create "community empowerment," and to inspire those between the ages of 18 and 35 to "act directly on our own behalf, and not have our leaders do it for us," said Tomás Rivera, 23, a native Santa Fean and community-college student. "Nothing about us, without us!" is the group's slogan, explained Sam Taub, 23, a Web designer and Santa Fe native. "We want a voice. The government and the politicians, for the most part, are unaccountable and inaccessible," Taub said. Taub and Rivera were active in different community groups before being tapped by the national League of Pissed Off Voters to organize a local voter guide in Santa Fe. After deciding to join the league's effort to engage young people in the democratic process, they got to work creating their own voter guide based on the idea promoted by the league, but "using our own ideas about what made sense in Santa Fe," said Rivera. The group first surveyed their peers to get an idea of what issues concerned them the most. Then they created a questionnaire based on the survey results and sent it to local candidates running for office, said Rivera. "Our emphasis is on local issues because those are what concern us the most," he said. The candidates's responses to the questionnaire and their positions on a variety of issues can be found in the guide. One issue of many that concerns Rivera and Taub is the flight of Santa Fe youth to other places, they said. Rivera blames this on the "criminalization of youth culture." "Youth in the city here have more opportunity to go to jail than to be a part of the community," he said. "They leave and they never come back," added Taub. Rivera and Taub plan on continuing their community activism after Nov. 2 but for now are focusing on the release party they are throwing for the voter guide, which they have been handing out at coffee shops, the Santa Fe Baking Co. and the public library. So far, more than 1,000 copies of the guide have been distributed, Rivera said. The party will be 8-11 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Forum on the College of Santa Fe's campus. There will be a DJ, bands and spoken word poetry. The release party is an all-ages event. For more information on the voter guide or how to obtain one, e-mail Taub or Rivera atlpvsanta@yahoo.comor check out the league's national Web site atwww.indyvoter.org.