What Will Turnout Be Like on Election Day?
ZAHN: A huge wildcard in the race for the White House is the hundreds of thousands of new voters both sides claim they've signed up. No one knows exactly how many, but those new voters could be the difference on November 2. And the competition for them is going down to the wire.</s>BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, MUSICIAN: We're here tonight to fight for a government that is open, rational, forward-looking and humane.</s>ZAHN: From rock concerts to county fairs, an unprecedented push is under way to register voters.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anyone need to register for the first time?</s>ZAHN: In 16 states, including crucial battlegrounds of Michigan, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, the registration deadline is today.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's very important to vote. I want my vote to count.</s>ZAHN: As the cards pile in, election officials are feeling the heat, working double shifts and hire extra people to keep up.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anyone want a voter sticker to sign?</s>ZAHN: It is serious business. Democrats and Republicans have spent millions to get out the vote. Take Florida, for example. Since January, nearly 600,000 new voters have registered. Now, remember, Florida was decided by just 537 votes in 2000. And a study by "The New York Times" shows that in Democratic areas of Ohio, new registration since January is up 250 percent over the same period in 2000. By comparison, in Republican areas, it has increased just 25 percent. With just four weeks to go to election day, it is impossible to know just how many new voters there will be and how many of them will actually vote.</s>ZAHN: And one of the blocs of voters up for grabs, young Americans. Our Jason Carroll now on how both parties are trying to win the youth vote.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Choose!</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or lose!</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or lose!</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or lose!</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Choose!</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or lose!</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or lose!</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or lose!</s>JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's politics for the MTV generation. It's "choose or lose." "Vote or Die," if you're P. Diddy.</s>P. DIDDY, ENTREPRENEUR: That's all young people wanted, was somebody to give them to it honestly. Vote or die. People have died for you to have this right to vote.</s>CARROLL: Or check out Drew Barrymore's documentary on voting.</s>DREW BARRYMORE, ACTRESS: Every vote counts. You realize how individual, how equal, how beautiful that is. It is so empowering.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get up and vote.</s>CARROLL: Over the years, rock the vote draped an American flag on a pop star. Now hip-hop summits use rap stars.</s>RUSSELL SIMMONS, FOUNDER, DEF JAM RECORDS: The hip-hop community is going to pick the next president.</s>CARROLL: Lots of optimism and hype, but history shows it takes more than slogans and more than celebrities to get young people to vote.</s>SIMMONS: This ain't 2000.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand that.</s>SIMMONS: I'm just wanting you to know.</s>CARROLL: And politicians know it. And that's why this year Republicans...</s>ALLISON AKELE, BUSH SUPPORTER: I'm Allison Akele. I'm 20 years old and a George W. Bush supporter.</s>CARROLL: ... and Democrats...</s>JANE FLEMING, KERRY SUPPORT: I'm Jane Fleming. I'm 31 years old, and I'm the executive director of the Young Democrats of America.</s>CARROLL: ... have gone back to basics to get young voters.</s>FLEMING: What's going to get young people to the polls is the same thing that gets senior citizens to the polls, right? It's that a politician or another peer talking to them about the issues they care about.</s>AKELE: Just registering to vote isn't going to get you out to the polls, but if we're actively engaging you, and going door to door, and really feeling a reason for the cause, then students are going to start to vote.</s>CARROLL: In the swing state of Pennsylvania...</s>AKELE: Are you guys interested in being College Republicans?</s>CARROLL: ... the College Republican National Committee is at it, both on and off campus...</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you guys registered to vote?</s>CARROLL: ... talking to potential voters one on one.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pennsylvania?</s>CARROLL: Not as sexy or as slick as a celebrity-driven campaign, but it's how think found teenagers like Shawn Flynn.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Originally I was registered in New York and I planned on voting in New York as an absentee, but I felt my vote would count a lot more in the swing state of Pennsylvania.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: College D (ph) down to the R6, and you guys are good to go.</s>CARROLL: Democrats are working the same way in Pennsylvania.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you mind if I ask you who you're voting for?</s>CARROLL: Going door-to-door, selling young people on voting. It's not easy.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to be young. We want to be carefree. We don't want to think about politics, because that means responsibility.</s>FLEMING: Young people don't vote, politicians don't talk to them.</s>AKELE: Politicians ignore the students because they don't vote.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We refer to that as the cycle of neglect, and we're trying to return it to the cycle of respect.</s>CARROLL: Bruce Speake (ph) heads the field office of the New Voters Project in Wisconsin.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's time to go out to our sites here in the United States.</s>CARROLL: They say they are nonpartisan and only interested in getting young people to vote in Wisconsin, another swing state.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a second to register to vote?</s>CARROLL: They're on campuses, at the local Wal-Mart.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't vote, ma'am? Why's that?</s>CARROLL: And shopping malls, where they find many people like Laura.</s>LAURA BLAKE, UNDECIDED: My name is Laura Blake, I'm 20 years old and I'm not too sure if I'm going to vote yet. Our world relies on, you know, who's president and whatnot and I, you know, I just don't follow who's up for what, and who's against this.</s>CARROLL: These three decided they will vote. (on camera) What other issues would you like the candidates to talk about that they're not addressing?</s>NICOLE NELSON, STUDENT: I think it's imperative for them to let us have some reassurance that when we step out of these doors with a degree that we're going to be able to put that into use.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Getting scholarships and grants and things like that, I think that needs to be -- they need to differentiate their opinions more a little bit on that.</s>CARROLL: With youth, there is optimism. Fight the cycle of neglect despite the poor voting record. This election, most young people say they will make a difference. Jason Carroll, CNN.</s>ZAHN: And according to a recent poll by MTV, three out of four young people are registered to vote in November. Eight out of 10 plan to cast a vote. MTV has been working hard to get young people registered. The goal of it is "Choose or Lose." The campaign is to sign up some 20 million young voters. And joining me now is MTV News correspondent Gideon Yago. Good to see you. You look at the numbers, and you can dazzle us with the numbers, but you've got to be realistic. In the year 2000, only 37 percent of kids between the ages of 18 and 24 bothered to vote. Why is it going to be any different this time?</s>GIDEON YAGO, MTV NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, because you have a constellation of issues out there right now that are really directly affecting young people in very powerful, appreciable ways.</s>ZAHN: OK. Explain that to an ancient mother of three.</s>YAGO: Sure.</s>ZAHN: What are they most concerned about.</s>YAGO: You've got -- you've got a kid who's, let's say 18, and the No. 1 employer in this country is the military. Chances are they're fighting in a war that they didn't have a chance to vote for. If they're coming out of college and they have a college degree that you did not necessarily need to get to get a place at the table in the good job market, they're being racked with tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. And then they're entering this soft job market. So it's a lot of things that they directly feel. And they feel directly affected by. And the idea is that there is this perception out there that young people don't vote in large numbers. If we can turn that around, politicians will pay attention to them and start incorporating them a little bit more in the political discourse.</s>ZAHN: But that's a key issue to some, if politicians pay close attention to them. A lot of kids tell me they feel disenfranchised, because they don't think these politicians...</s>YAGO: Sure.</s>ZAHN: ... speak their language. And they're also turned off by the rhetoric of both campaigns.</s>YAGO: Absolutely.</s>ZAHN: They say, quit spinning us. They hate the process.</s>YAGO: But it's also the fact that a lot of politicians, I think, won't take it down to a young voter or a first-time voter's level. Maybe they're not familiar with a way that a candidate voted four years ago or eight years ago or what their stances are, you know, today, in regards to certain policies. They want to be talked to and taken seriously as peers and as equals. And I don't think either of -- either of the candidates have done an exceptional job of sort of bridging that divide.</s>ZAHN: And do you think either campaign has done a very good job of really convincing these kids why they should get out and vote?</s>YAGO: It doesn't matter.</s>ZAHN: And why the vote will make any difference?</s>YAGO: It doesn't matter. The kids have convinced themselves, and I think that's the most important thing, is that this year, you have a situation where it's important for young people to vote, because they feel like if they give it a chance, maybe they'll see a return, maybe they'll see an effect. But right now they're feeling politics affecting their lives and they want to do something about it. And if that breaks that chicken and the egg cycle, then inevitably you're going to have to see politicians come and walk up to young voters and say, "I need you to be a part of my campaign. I need you to throw your support, because I need your muscle," because there's so many of them out there.</s>ZAHN: Well, you certainly have done your part trying to convince young people to vote. Good luck.</s>YAGO: Thank you.</s>ZAHN: I know where you'll be November 2. Gideon Yago, thanks for your time.</s>ZAHN: The candidates are giving it all before their next encounter on Friday. Strategists from both parties duke it out right here when we come back. And remember, our "Voting Booth" is open right now: "How much will tomorrow night's vice presidential debate influence you?" Cast your vote now at our web site, CNN.com/Paula and have your say.