Ken Hakuta Quotes

Young voters are crucial. The trend over recent years has been for them to drift away. So anything that gets young voters interested in the electoral process not only has an immediate effect, but has an effect for years and years.

All the blood is drained out of democracy - it dies - when only half the population votes.

It's too bad that such crowds can't be turned out in the United States.

Young people, our rights and the things we care about, have been taken away because it doesn't really matter to the politicians whether or not we have them. We're just another demographic to try and please, but there's no point if we aren't voting.

According to the U.S. Census, the most common reason people give for not voting is that they were too busy or had conflicting work or school schedules.

A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.

Why do we want dumb votes?

Hopeless people do not vote. They don’t think that they can change anything anymore.

We made a mistake lowering the voting age to 18. I think it happened basically out of guilt.

It's so deeply disturbing to me that half of the eligible voters don't vote in this country. We talk about how divided the country is. The truth is, we don't even know. We just know what the half that voted thought.

For too many years, those eligible to vote in primary or general elections did not bother to do so. Those sensible centrists who do not go to rallies but care deeply about our country effectively silenced their own voices. That sent the message to incumbents that they were either doing the right thing or that we just did not care.

From the standpoint of democratic legitimacy, it's a problem if half the electorate, or close to it, declines to vote, not least because they may not feel much of a stake in the whole process.

Donors don't win elections; voters win elections.

One of the defining dynamics of 2008 has been the emerging wave of new, young voters getting involved and storming the gates of the traditional political establishment.

It's a shame and a disgrace that so few people take part in the political process.

Voting is great, but it's not an accomplishment. It's a responsibility.

A lot of times, elections are lost, and the hope of the public is lost because they don't turn out.

I've reached out to independents and minorities that have traditionally voted Democrat but that are conservative on a lot of questions. We talk to young people, folks that typically aren't voting on a consistent basis. I'm proud of that.

When Democrats concede the idea that some voters are not our voters, we shouldn't be surprised when those voters agree.

The reality is, our problem isn't that more people are voting Republican than Democrat - our problem is most people who would vote Democrat aren't voting.

Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.

It seems to be the thing now that young people are getting back into politics.

For our white members, voting is something they have done for hundreds of years. But for us, it is not such a traumatic thing, because we have never participated in an election.

A lot of politicians say they want to get people out to vote; sometimes you can't totally believe they really want that.

Whether it's threats to Medicare, cuts in education spending, or Internet privacy, the ramifications got young people out to vote and should be enough to keep them involved in our political system.