Nonpartisan coalition aims to increase turnout among Jacksonville voters age 18 to 40 by five percent.
Today the formation of the nonpartisan Jax Young Voters Coalition by local young professionals was announced, with the goal of increasing turnout among voters age 18 to 40 by at least five percent in the upcoming Jacksonville city elections over the turnout of the 2011 city elections. The announcement took place on the southbank riverwalk by the Friendship Fountain with Jacksonville’s downtown skyline in the background.
The all-volunteer Jax Young Voters Coalition plans to achieve their goal of increasing voter turnout in 18 to 40 year olds by five percent through collaborative events, engaging and informative marketing and social media campaigns, endorsements of like-minded City Council candidates and outreach efforts. A team of talented designers, led by Jax Young Voters Coalition Creative Director Karen Kurycki, will be using strategic and visionary design to excite young voters.
The Jax Young Voters Coalition has formed a political committee to fundraise their marketing and events costs. The Coalition also announced the kickoff of an online crowdfunding campaign to raise an initial $7,500 for the political committee using the platform rockethub.com. View the campaign atwww.rockethub.com/projects/53189.
[ Quote ]“Together, we have decided that we have a responsibility to define what our generation’s legacy will be for our city,” said Meredith O’Malley Johnson, Jax Young Voters Coalition founder. “The results of our upcoming city elections will determine whether we will have leaders who plan to truly invest in our city to make it even better, or leaders who are content with maintaining a culture of mediocrity and sustaining the status quo. The mission of the Jax Young Voters Coalition is to increase turnout of voters age 18 to 40 by at least five percent in the 2015 city elections.”
Jax Young Voters Coalition’s first event, Ballots & Brews, was also announced and is scheduled for Feb. 18, 2015, 6-9 p.m. at Intuition Ale Works. Jacksonville city council candidates are invited to attend, and food trucks and live local music will be on-site. Visit ballotsandbrews.com for full details.
For the Jacksonville Young Voters Coalition to accomplish their goal of increasing turnout of 18 to 40 year-olds by five percent over the 2011 city elections, a turnout of 18.5 percent for the unitary first election on March 24, 2015 and 24.7 percent for the unitary general election must be achieved. The 2011 city election turnouts for 18 to 40 year-olds was 13.5 percent and 19.7 percent respectively, according to documents provided by the Duval County Supervisor of Elections office. Overall turnout was 29.7 percent and 37.3 percent for the 2011 first and general city elections.
The Jax Young Voters Coalition board of directors includes:
• Sean Collins (D), Product Designer, Murray Hill
• Karina Del Cid (D), Mortgage Servicing, Riverside
• Jack DeYoung (NPA), Advertising, Downtown
• Sara Dougherty (D), Customer Insights & Innovation, Murray Hill
• Dennis Eusebio (NPA), Designer, Mandarin
• Mike Field (R), Senior Analyst, Avondale
• Kemal Gasper (NPA), Retail Banking, Northside
• Christian Harden (R), Commercial Real Estate, San Marco
• Meredith O'Malley Johnson (D), Public Relations, Riverside
• Joanna Kurycki (NPA), Insurance Marketing, Riverside
• Karen Kurycki (NPA), Small Business Owner, Arlington
• Joey Marchy (D), Product Analytics, Springfield
• Jimmy Midyette (D), Attorney-at-Law, Westside
• Joe Sampson (NPA), Entrepreneur, Downtown
• Donteacia Seymore (R), Entrepreneur, Mandarin
• Kyle Sieg (D), Public Relations, Southside
• Emily Simpson (R), Freelance Writer & Barista, Avondale
• Jeff Smith (D), Small Business Owner, Southside
• Sean Tucker (NPA), Graphic Designer, San Marco
• Jack Twachtman (NPA), Entrepreneur, Springfield
• Keith Walters (R), Operations Analyst, Southside
• Jesse Wilson (R), Advocacy & Consulting, Riverside
About the Jax Young Voters Coalition: The nonpartisan Jax Young Voters Coalition is a group of young professionals from a wide range of backgrounds, industries, neighborhoods and political party affiliations that share a common bond - their love of Jacksonville and determination to make it a better place. Their mission is to increase turnout of voters age 18 to 40 by at least five percent in the 2015 City Elections through collaborative events, engaging and informative marketing and social media campaigns, endorsements of like-minded City Council candidates and outreach efforts. Visit JaxYoungVoters.com for more information.
26 Comments so far
Jump into the conversation