AFGE Reaches Young Voters Via MySpace, Facebook

Political pundits predict that college students will turn out in record numbers to vote in November, and the American Federation of Government Employees wants to make sure they know their rights, in case they are turned away at the polls. AFGE launched on Monday pages on MySpace and Facebook called Voter Protection. (The social networking sites require registration to view the pages.) "College students will account for a large portion of the voting population this election year. Most of them are new voters, making them easy to deceive," said Andrea Brooks, national vice president of Women's and Fair Practices, in a prepared statement. "It is our objective to have more of these students successfully cast a ballot."

Reports have indicated college students have had trouble voting in past elections. During Indiana's primary in May, a college student in South Bend was not allowed to vote because her only identification was from the private college she attended. The ID did not comply with the state's new photo identification law. During the same primary, some Purdue University students weren't allowed to use their state-issued photo IDs to vote because the cards lacked an expiration date, and students in North Carolina who had registered by the deadline were not allowed to vote, according to an article posted on bnet.com.

The MySpace and Facebook pages, created by two AFGE student interns, provide voting tips, including links to boards of elections, and voting options.