The short version of this story is, for over a week now, some journalists and even some Democratic candidates have been questioning whether out of state students who go to college in Iowa are eligible to caucus.

For the long version of the story, you can go to FutureMajority.com and read several posts about this topic.

Three wonderful Iowa Young Democrats have been the face of this campaign.  They are among those most directly affected by the efforts to undermine the right of college students to caucus.  When you hear them talk about their commitment to Iowa, it becomes so apparent why we had such a visceral reaction to comments like those from prominent Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsin, "While it's legal for college students to register to vote in Iowa…this raises the question of whether it's fair or even politically smart."

FAIR?!?!  Is it fair for students who live in Iowa nine months of year year for four or more years, who pay taxes, and have a stake in their community to caucus?  The Iowa Democratic Party and the Iowa Secretary of State think so.

We think so, too. 

YDA has been at the forefront of this issue, working behind the scenes with the media, presidential candidates, the DNC, the Iowa Democratic Party, and other allied organizations to ensure that every eligible Iowa student can caucus.

Today, we kicked off a major campaign to help educate students about their right to caucus.

The campaign has three main components:

  • A full-page ad that ran in the National section of the Des Moines Register, coupled with traditional media and blogger outreach to try to reach the grasstops, decision-makers, and average Iowans who have so much sway in the coverage of this issue;

  • A significant buy for Facebook ads, targeted at Iowa college students, to help spread the work virally from peer-to-peer (in the class YDA style…) and;
  • www.YouCanCaucus.com, a one-stop-shop website to help students learn who is eligible to caucus, how they find their caucus location, how they register to vote on caucus day, resources for housing, and other helpful information.

 All of this media attention, coupled with the national email we're about to send out and the ongoing Facebook ads, should go a long way to help spread the word.  (You can help too — send the www.YouCanCaucus.com link to any friends or family in Iowa).

This is such an emotional issue for me on so many levels (and for many others, too).  I have spent a good part of my career working on voting rights issues, especially student voting rights, so it pains me to see comments like Yepsen's and to know how far we have to go in the fight.  And while it is so disheartening to see several of our Democratic candidates discard young voters in favor of playing to the senior vote, I am excited that this has gotten people talking about the youth vote.  The campaigns have been forced to react (in most cases, very positively, to correct their earlier statements) and see the mightly power of the collective "youthland," and I am hopeful that a terrible situation may have a happy outcome — increased awareness on this important issue in the final weeks before caucus day.

And, while in Des Moines on caucus night, I'll be on a personal crusade to find David Yepsen.

We'd love to hear your thoughts.  You can comment below or, if you're an Iowa student, go to www.YouCanCaucus.com to tell us your story!