By Carl Weiser
Enquirer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Milford teenagers Andrea Enders and Caroline DuWors have a problem with their peers.

They don't vote.

The two Milford High School students on Tuesday joined Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell and Rep. Bob Ney, a St. Clairsville Republican, for a press conference to kick off a campaign to urge 18- to 24-year-olds to vote and to get high schoolers involved in democracy.

Sick of hearing their schoolmates complain that all politicians are the same and their vote won't make a difference, the two aim to prove them wrong in the May 6 primary elections.

They plan to contact recent graduates, shove voter registration forms into the hands of the school's 18-year-old seniors, and canvass neighborhoods. The goal: Win support for their town's 5.9-mill school levy - $5.90 per $1,000 of a home's assessed value.

"It's one way for them to see how they're directly impacted by the election process," said DuWors, a sophomore. The levy failed in February.

If more young people vote, the levy is more likely to pass, said Enders, a senior. That would mean more teachers and improved special education for the growing Clermont County school district. The levy would cost the owner of a $100,000 house an additional $180 each year.

Nationally, more young voters might mean the country would be less likely to go to war in Iraq, said DuWors, 15.

"A lot of my friends are against war," she said. "We're going to be the ones going over there."

In 1972, the first election after the voting age was lowered to 18, 43.4 percent of the voting age population age 18 to 24 cast ballots, according to the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate.

Youth turnout for the narrow 2000 presidential election was 28.7 percent. All age groups had a 51.2 percent turnout.

"We stand the risk of generational disconnect," Blackwell said.

With March declared National Young Voters Month, the National Association of Secretaries of State and the YMCA launched their campaign to get young people engaged in democracy. The YMCA flew the two girls to Washington for the day.

"Our elected leaders do care, and they're ready to help," said Enders, 17. "Our votes do count."

Blackwell said he hoped to see high schoolers volunteering at the polls in 2004, and perhaps getting paid, though it would require changing state law.

In other states, legislatures would have to change the laws to even allow teenagers to volunteer at polling places. Another part of the campaign aims to bring voting equipment into schools this month so teenagers can get familiar with whatever their state or county uses.

E-mail cweiser@gns.gannett.com