**MEDIA ADVISORY—AUDIO PRESS CONFERENCE**Rock the Vote to Release Voting System Scorecard, Ranking Best and Worst States

WHAT: Rock the Vote will release the first-ever comprehensive assessment of the nation’s voting system and how well it serves the next generation of Millennial voters, who will comprise the foundation of the American electorate for decades to come.

The Voting System Scorecard serves as a national benchmark that measures states’ laws and policies in three key areas: (1) voter registration, (2) casting a ballot and (3) young voter preparation. The 21-point scale evaluates each state’s implementation of policies that have a proven impact on youth access to the electoral process, including: automatic registration, permanent and portable registration, Election Day registration, online registration, early voting periods, identification requirements, residency requirements, absentee voting, military and overseas voting, and high school civics curricula and evaluation.

WHEN:
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
1:00 pm EST/ 10:00 am PST

The scorecard will be posted on www.RocktheVote.com, on Wednesday, June 8th at 9am EST and interested parties are invited to participate in a conference call with a panel of experts and young people impacted by many of these policies.

WHERE:
Audio Conference Call
Call-in #: 800-346-7359
Password: 458602

WHO:
Heather Smith, President, Rock the Vote
Jason Carter, Georgia State Senator
Becca Dobrez, University of Wisconsin student
Molly Benoit, recent University of Florida graduate


About Rock the Vote | www.rockthevote.org

Rock the Vote’s mission is to engage and build political power for young people in our country. Using music, popular culture, new technologies and grassroots organizing for more than 20 years, Rock the Vote has registered more than 5 million young people, including a record-shattering 2.5 million registration downloads in the historic 2008 election. In 2010, Rock the Vote logged more than 300,000 voter registration downloads as part of the largest midterm election outreach strategy in our organization’s history. As the tidal wave of Millennial generation voters continues to establish its power at the polls, Rock the Vote will register millions more young people and make their voices heard. In 2011, Rock the Vote will lead the charge toward making our electoral process more accessible to young people through our high school civics program, Democracy Class, by rallying young people to stop unfair registration laws, and educating prospective 2012 candidates on how to incorporate young people in their campaigns.