With a few spikes throughout the years, the youth vote has mostly dwindled since 1972, and the turnout of people of color has always been less than their counterparts. The traditional voter is typically seen as someone over the age of 60 and White.  

The results of the November '08 election are challenging this traditional view. According to Project Vote, the participation of White and older voters dropped last year, and the number of people of color and voters under 30 increased. In fact, young people of color had the largest turnout gains with an increase of 1.6 million more votes than the 2004 election.

Of course, people of color of all ages rocked it at the polls this year (or via absentee ballot like many of us here in the State of Washington). Of the 5.4 million new voters or folks who didn't vote in 2004, 91 percent were people of color. I see a tide turning!

Progressive Majority has always made it a priority to recruit more people of color to run for office so our elected officials truly represent our increasingly diverse populations. We're thrilled to see that the voting population is changing with the times and coming closer to truly reflecting the make-up of our nation.

You can read more about the findings here.

But if you want the quick run down of some of the other significant changes that took place in last year's elections, read on:

            "... findings are significant in a number of ways:

·         The percentage of African-American eligible to vote who cast a ballot on Election Day (65.2 percent) was within 1 percentage point of the turnout rate for Whites (66.1 percent) in 2008 compared to a 7 percent point disparity in 2004.

·         Americans under the age of 30 - another historically underrepresented population - also experienced a sharp increase in participation in 2008 compared to 2004... Overall, approximately 2.3 million more voters under the age of 30 voted in 2008 than in 2004. The turnout rate for this population compared to the last presidential election increased by approximately 2 percentage points.

·         White turnout in the under-30 age group was essentially unchanged between the two elections, but turnout by African-Americans under 30 increased nearly 9 percentage points, which represents nearly 700,000 additional African-American voters under 30. Asian-American youth turnout also increased by an estimated 9.6 percentage points, and Latino youth turnout increased by 5.2 percentage points."