Heather Smith is the Executive Director of Rock the Vote

Rock the Vote's mission is to engage and build political power for young people in order to achieve progressive change in our country.

Founded nearly twenty years ago at the intersection of popular culture and politics, Rock the Vote is growing its team and its campaigns in 2008, to support the tidal wave of young people who want to get involved in elections and seize the power of the youth vote to create progressive political and social change.

Over the last two decades, Rock the Vote has registered more young people to vote than any other organization or campaign, and we intend to register and turn out millions more for 2008 – and to be the best-informed place online where young people can find out what they need to know before casting a ballot.

After years of declining participation at the polls, a new generation of young voters has arrived. Millions of new voters between the ages of 18 – 29 cast ballots in 2004 and 2006, in numbers far greater than in past elections, and 2008 is clearly the year of the youth vote!

Smith received a B.A. with honors in economics and public policy from Duke University. In 2006, Smith was named one of Campaign & Elections magazine’s Rising Stars for her work with young voters. She has also been named one of Esquire Magazine’s Best and Brightest of 2007.

Blog Entries by Heather Smith

The Millennial Generation Steps Up For Health Care Reform

9 Comments | Posted October 13, 2009 | 01:43 PM (EST)


To be an organizer, you have to have faith in people. Faith that if you give people the power to make decisions, they will do the right thing. You also have to have faith that people are compassionate and that they aspire to be decent in their actions, as the...

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Message from a Young Iranian - This Is Not Democracy

1 Comments | Posted June 19, 2009 | 06:54 PM (EST)


Votes uncounted. Freedom of speech threatened. Information censored. Violence against peaceful protesters. This is not democracy.

At Rock the Vote, we've received thousands of messages from young people across the United States expressing their support for the young Iranians fighting for a free and fair election. You can add your...

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New York Times Gets It Very, Very Wrong

Posted October 26, 2008 | 04:50 PM (EST)


Today's New York Times article was dead wrong.

You may have seen the article yesterday accusing Rock the Vote of giving New Yorkers the wrong address to mail voter registration forms. This is not true -- don't let this sloppy journalism scare you. See our press statement correcting the...

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81.6

Posted August 27, 2008 | 02:52 PM (EST)


81.6% of registered 18-29 years olds turned out to vote in 2004. (Source: US Census)

Have any doubts about the power of the young voter movement?

Millions have registered this year and history proves that they will vote, once registered.

Last night Rock the Vote plastered Denver with the...

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Cell Phones and Young Voter Registration

Posted August 20, 2008 | 03:30 PM (EST)


The political world is abuzz with the latest bit of tech gossip. Sometime soon, the Obama campaign is going to announce their pick for VP -- by text message. I thought it might be nice to look back and see where the mobile program first got its start in politics....

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Voter Registration for Vets

Posted August 5, 2008 | 06:48 PM (EST)


In May the Department of Veterans Affairs banned voter registration drives in V.A. hospitals and other government buildings. Last week, the Senate introduced a bill to override the ban.

This ban hurts thousands of young veterans who have been injured while fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Young Americans aged...

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Mobilizing Voters through Facebook

Posted July 2, 2008 | 01:47 PM (EST)


Here at Rock the Vote, we don't talk about going viral. It's like bad karma. Sure, we want voter registration to be a viral phenomenon; we want to pass some tipping point when all of a sudden every American between the ages of 18-29 will magically go online to

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