During the campaign season, media noise intensifies: Seeking votes, candidates crank up the volume with ads and appearances until the onslaught of information is difficult to ignore. Yet in the 2000 presidential election, Census figures show, only 22 percent of Hawai’i residents 18 to 24 years old bothered to vote, the lowest such turnout in any state.

This feature article was published in The Honolulu Advertiser on August 11, 2004. Read the article online.