The Greensboro News & Record published their article on the North Carolina Advocacy Coalition today. Lanita Withers, the higher education reporter, did a great job on the article. Thanks Lanita!!!

I had originally been told that the article would appear in the paper Monday. Imagine my surprise when I opened my UNCG email and found an email from our Student Government Vice President… telling everyone in Student Government about the article. Thanks for the heads up Donald.

Here is the article, in its entirety (but you can view the original at the N&R site):

Young, motivated and political
By Lanita Withers
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO — Politics is a passion for 20-year-old UNCG student Matt Hill Comer. So is advocating for gay and lesbian rights.

He merged the two by co-founding the North Carolina Advocacy Coalition, a registered state and local political action committee. The group plans to focus on grass-roots advocacy, activism and voter education regarding issues important to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

It’s a political path less traveled for many his age.

“I think it’s pretty unusual,” for a college student, said Katy Harriger, a political science professor at Wake Forest University.

Some have been concerned that younger voters have withdrawn from the political process, Harriger said.

While more people in the 18-24 age demographic voted in the last presidential election, the percentage of them casting a ballot still lagged behind that of voters aged 25 and older by 19 percent, according to data from the Maryland-based Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

America’s youngest voters have gotten more involved in service activities or non-profits, Harriger said, “and in thinking about ‘How can I do something to address (issues) or try to direct a program’ because they don’t see politics as a way to do it.”

But for Comer, who describes himself as opinionated, the partisan route was the way to go. “With a nonprofit, you don’t have as much liberty to say what you think when it comes to politics,” he said.

The challenge will be monetary.

Political action committees exist largely to give money to candidates sympathetic to their position, Harriger said. “I think young people will respond to issues raised by the PAC, but whether they’re ready or have money to give could be the bigger question.”

The N.C. Advocacy Coalition has raised about $615 since its founding in May, Comer said.

That’s pennies compared to the pocketbook power of some groups. For example, the N.C. Medical Society gave $297,000 to state legislators during the 2004 election cycle, said Bob Hall, research director for Democracy North Carolina, a nonpartisan group that promotes campaign finance reform.

The ability to make financial contributions is a future goal as the organization gets established, Comer said. “We’ll be able to raise more money and be able to give that to state legislators or even in the local offices.”

In the meanwhile, the group will focus on organizing young people and others who align with their cause. “We generally would like to make people aware, particularly students, about people who support students and gay rights,” said Leehe Shmueli, a UNCG student on the organization’s interim board of directors.

Spreading the word to young voters — the organization plans to target voters ages 18 to 24 — is a key strategy.

“While they’re the most progressive on LGBT issues, they’re also the group least likely to vote,” Comer said. If more of them vote, the outcomes could be more progressive, he said.

Harrigan said that poll data shows young Americans are more tolerant than older generations. “It might very well be an issue that works with young people in a way Social Security doesn’t,” she said.

There are approximately 500 active political action committees in the state, said Jason Schrader, a campaign finance analyst with the N.C. Board of Elections. The board, which regulates the committees, doesn’t keep data on how many of the groups have been started by collegians or aimed at young voters, he said.

Contact Lanita Withers at 373-7071 or lwithers@news-record.com