Loving On Empty

Last week Rickie Lee Jones was in Orlando helping Alan Grayson turn out the voters in front of his 75% primary victory on Tuesday. A fews weeks before Peter Case did two concerts for Grayson supporters in the Bay Area. And Grayson isn't the only Democrat turning to musicians to help turn out young voters. Our friends at HeadCount are doing voter registration drives with, among others, Jason Mraz, Spoon, Wilco and the Black Keys.

With young voters more apathetic about voting and government than ever, several organizations are trying to woo the “selfie generation” to the polls this fall.

"About half of those who vote in presidential elections do not vote in midterms," explained Andy Bernstein, executive director of HeadCount, a non-partisan organization that partners with musicians to get youth engaged in politics.

While overall turnout among young voters in presidential elections has grown, turnout for midterms has stagnated, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIVIC).

In 2010, the under-30 vote dropped 27 percent since Obama first sailed to victory two years earlier, according to CIVIC analysis of Census data.

Bernstein's group hopes to engage these so-called drop-off voters by riding the popularity of musicians.

HeadCount will go on tour with the band The Black Keys for 15 shows in more than a dozen cities from Sept. 6 through Nov. 3 registering young voters.

…Musicians and celebrities often jump into the political game, most often for Democrats. For instance, Katy Perry has already promised to write Hillary Clinton's campaign song if she runs for president. Other entertainers were heavily involved in President Obama’s presidential runs, including Beyonce, Jay-Z and Bruce Springsteen.

While their focus is usually on presidential races, the groups’s uphill task ahead of 2016 is getting youth involved in the elections happening this year.

Of likely midterm voters ages 18-29, 44 percent of Mitt Romney supporters in 2012 plan to vote this year compared to 35 percent of Obama voters, according to another Harvard Institute of Politics survey.

Still, in an election with Senate control up for grabs, Republicans are unlikely to see much of a bump from young voters-- less than one in four (23 percent) will "definitely" be voting in November, according to the spring poll.

That's the case in other surveys, too. While 72 percent of those 18-31 said they would "definitely" or "probably" vote in the 2016 presidential election, less than half-- 49 percent-- said they were likely to vote in the upcoming midterms, according to a poll from Democratic pollster Paul Harstad in early spring.

During every election, it's important to use cultural leaders to get young voters interested in the issues, said Ashley Spillane, president of Rock the Vote.

Celebrities, artists and musicians help draw young voters interested in other issues, Spillane said, such as voter ID laws, women's health and college affordability… big push for the youth vote will be National Voter Registration Day on Sept. 23. The day, which started in 2012, became a holiday when the National Association of Secretaries of State designated the fourth Tuesday each September through 2019.

A few days before that, Grayson will be rallying progressives in Los Angeles-- along with local political leaders Xavier Becerra, Judy Chu, Karen Bass, Janice Hahn, Ted Lieu, Alan Lowenthal, Linda Sanchez and Marianne Williamson-- to the sounds of one of the hottest new up and comers, Dan Godlin. Don't know him yet? You will...