Millennials (anyone born between 1976 and 1996) are taking back the polls—and demanding the attention of the politicians on the campaign trails that lead there. It all started in 2008, when 52% of the young people that make up of the Millennial demographic showed up to the polls. Making up 17% of the electorate, Millennials provided approximately 7 million votes to elect President Barack Obama.

With more politically eligible—and politically active—Millennials daily, 2012 is the year of the Millennial vote. Even if only 50% of Millennials vote, 10 million votes could be provided. Jennifer Granholm, former governor of Michigan, writes of this phenomenon in her article “The Millennial Factor,” proclaiming that “Research…makes clear that whichever campaign cracks the code of mobilizing Millennials will be the one that wins the presidency.”

That’s a fairly tall order for a youthful generation that spends more time Skyping and TweetChatting political discussion than actually attending rallies and speeches. And the candidates are meeting Millennials where they are. Granholm agrees, ”Obama’s campaign continues to dominate new media, spending far more effort and money than Team Romney in targeted online youth outreach.”

But that is not to say that the other candidates aren’t clueing in fast—realizing that they have to follow, reblog, retweet, repin, and like their way to making that inaugural address. In American University’s School of Communication Voting Young project, Marissa Cetin and Alex Fishler’s article “Social media’s role shifts in 2012 elections” argues that Obama’s 2008 campaign success largely has its “fresh use of social media” to thank for such. Cetin and Fishler continues on to recognize that “since the last presidential election, not only has social media evolved, but the parties’ attitudes towards social media have warmed, as well.” Ann Romney is pinning on Pinterest, Newt Gingrich is Instagram-ming on TwitPic, and President Obama has Spotify-ed a campaign playlist.

Mobilize.org is responding to the increasingly active nature of the Millennials, rewarding civic engagement projects in the Millennial Civic Engagement Summit 2012. In the 2012 election cycle, Mobilize.org will invest in hyperlocal, Millennial-led projects to increase Millennial civic engagement. Mobilize.org will host a convening for the Millennials with the winning ideas in Charlotte, North Carolina on August 24 to 26, 2012.

In the 2008 presidential election, Millennials matched senior citizens in making up 17% of the electorate vote. Recent poll numbers foreshadow Millennials making up 25% of voters in this upcoming 2012 election. The power of the Millennial vote this November should not be ignored; Granholm goes so far as to claim that “if your generation votes, you will determine the outcome of the presidential election—pure and simple.”

Long gone are the days of lazy twenty-somethings lounging around November 4. Long gone are the days of young people making no real political impact. Long gone is that bad reputation of young voters. Or, as Joan Jett so angrily put it: “You’re living in the past; it’s a new generation.”

Right this second (and for all subsequent seconds of summer 2012), Jeni Prats is interning for Mobilize.org as a social media medium.  A rising junior at American University (AU), she is majoring in Public Communications and Graphic Design and minoring in Cinema Studies. Jeni lives for her annual world outreach trips to Guatemala and India. Other activities include involvement with the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), the DC Read’s Life Pieces to Masterpieces program, and the public relations/graphic design department at ATV (AU’s television station).