Jennifer Lopez and Blake Shelton join campaign encouraging young people to vote
By Laura Ferreiro
Although millennials played a key role in deciding the 2012 presidential election and re-electing President Obama, a recent survey showed that nearly 80 percent of 18- to 24-year olds are not politically engaged or active. What’s more, a majority believe that their vote will not “make a difference,” according to the Harvard Public Opinion Project.
To remind young people that their votes really do matter and to encourage them to vote and take an active role in shaping the direction of their country, Rock the Vote has teamed up with iHeartRadio and several notable musicians for a year-long-campaign leading up to the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.
Jennifer Lopez, Blake Shelton, Nick Jonas, Tori Kelly, Prince Royce and P Diddy are among the artists who appear in a PSA urging young people to get out and vote.
“Next year, 84 million millennials will have the power to shape the direction of the country,” said Jonas.
Lopez reminds us not to take this for granted, as there are several countries where people don’t have the right to vote. “There are still countries around the world where people can’t choose their leaders,” she said. “As an American, when you turn 18, you have the right to vote.”
The campaign, “Voting is the Party,” encourages young people to “Register to vote and join the party now.”
Keeping Up With the Kardashians star Kendall Jenner also got into the act, dressing up as a suffragette in a PSA that gives an oral history of the women’s suffrage movement.
Check out the PSA below, and register to vote here.