Voting doesn’t suck

So if it’s not, like, sports or clothes or sex, college kids don’t care. Or do they … ? A couple of college-age activists believe their peers care about local politics, particularly referendums on defining marriage and legalizing marijuana. Operation Vote, a project sponsored by mayoral candidate Bob Cashell, aims to get the under-25 crowd to the polls (regardless of whom they vote for); volunteers have set up voter registration tables at sites including the Gay Pride Festival and the Great Reno Balloon Race. "Young voters who have approached our table seem really interested in the ballet issues," says volunteer Natalie Van Brocklin. "There is a lot of change happening in our city, and we have candidates willing to listen to us in regard to how we want to see that change happen." But that’s not all: The Nevada Young Activist Project hosts a meet-the-candidates event at Ark-a’ik, 555 E. Fourth St., 7 p.m. Sept. 21. "We do this to make young people more aware," says Inger McDowell, youth organizer for NYAP’s parent organization, the Progressive Leadership Alliance. "I think that young people do care."