Green group launches youth voter turnout campaign

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has launched what it is calling a major new campaign to get young people interested in voting in elections to support policies to fight climate change.

The EDF began the campaign Tuesday with a $2 million turnout effort in Colorado, where environmental groups are closely watching the Senate campaign between Sen. Mark Udall (D) and Rep. Cory Gardner (R).

{mosads}“Young voters of both parties understand climate change is a threat to their future,” Alicia Prevost, who is running EDF’s campaign, said in a statement.

“Polls show that more than 80 percent of Millennial voters understand that we need to deal with climate change, but they don’t always turn out to vote — especially in midterm elections,” she said. “We believe that climate change can motivate these voters, and that will make candidates take notice.”

The EDF sees the efforts in Colorado as a test case for a much larger push it is calling Defend our Future. Workers will use both on-the-ground campaigning and digital efforts, with a goal of gathering 100,000 pledges to vote in Colorado alone.

To help the group, the EDF has brought on as a consultant Mitch Stewart, who led the Obama campaign’s battleground state efforts in 2012.

“Combining the strong feelings young voters have about climate change with the latest get out the vote tactics will be a powerful combination,” Stewart said in EDF’s statement.