Carlota Montes believes that voting is a privilege.
As a student representative in the Eastside Union High School District, a member of the San Jose Youth Commission, an intern at Councilwoman Nora Campos' office and a soon-to-be freshman at George Washington University, Montes is an accomplished young woman.
Turning 18 was a landmark for her, and Montes is especially excited that she will be voting for the first time in the November election. Voters ages 18 to 24 have historically had the lowest turnout at the polls. According to the U.S. Census, only 32 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds who were registered actually voted in the 2000 presidential election.
Montes does not believe that teenagers are responsible for this lack of voter participation. She blames politicians.
"It's your right to choose whether or not you want to vote. As teenagers, we are a very large population, yet we're still being treated like a minority group and are often being overlooked," she said. "If politicians are not getting teens motivated about politics, they won't want to vote."
Young adults just might be the newest "swing voters" of the 21st century, according to Ajita Talwalker of the United States Student Association, a group that represents youth on Capitol Hill.
"The elections have been getting closer and closer in subsequent years and there are very defined groups of voters right now," said Talwalker, 24. "Students are really untapped pools of voters, so it would make sense for partisan campaigns to target them."
But why exactly have young adults been lagging behind other groups in voter turnout?
"A lot of times, young people do not feel that candidates are addressing their concerns and their issues," said Veronica De La Garza, executive director of the Youth Vote Coalition in Washington, D.C.
Benjamin Quinto of the Global Youth Action Network - an international organization aimed at making teens more politically active - says polling shows young adults' most pressing political concerns are violence, the war on terror, drug and alcohol abuse and cuts to education funding.
Fifteen-year-old San Francisco Youth Commissioner Constance Mourning said another issue for teens is "not having things to do." And she believes that politicians do not know how to appeal to teenagers.
"A lot of times, politicians don't pay as much attention," Mourning said. "When they do, they go about it in such a way that they are almost mocking us."
Youth coalitions - with the help of large entertainment enterprises - have found one way to attract young voters.
"Smackdown Your Vote!" is a collaboration between World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE) and MTV and is supported by the League of Women Voters, Youth Vote Coalition, the National Foundation of Women Legislators, Project Vote Smart and the Harvard Institute of Politics.
The aim of "Smackdown Your Vote!," according to executive director Gary Davis, is to use a nonpartisan approach to get young people involved in the political process and registered to vote. When it was created in July of 2000, "Smackdown Your Vote!" registered 150,000 new voters and is looking to register 20 million more young adults by the November 2004 general election.
Some say that teens would be more engaged if lawmakers would show that they care about issues important to youth.
Adam Fletcher of The Freechild Project, which promotes social change by youth, said politicians get their cues from the media, which often portrays young people as lazy and apathetic. And, he added, most teens never receive positive feedback from the media that their perspectives matter.
One way for leaders to reach out to young people is through the alternative media - Internet blogs, Web sites and movies. Fletcher believes more young people would vote if they thought their votes could make a difference.
"We actually need a real acknowledgment of our voting demographic," he said.
Gary Davis of "Smackdown Your Vote!" said, in the end, youth coalitions and organizations just want teens to be empowered.
"If you vote, you have power. If you vote, you win," Davis said. "It doesn't even matter who you vote for."