One of the people Chen stopped was Jonathan Goldford, a business major.
"One reason a lot of young people aren't registering is because it's not too easy," Goldford said after he sent the text message to his friends. "This is so easy, you just forward it."
Sujatha Jahagirdar, the national program director for the Student PIRG's New Voters Project, said young people were more likely to register when asked to do so by a friend.
"It's not like a stranger telling someone to vote, it's their friend," Jahagirdar said. "We think that technology can put grass-roots organizing on steroids."
It also helps build a database of phone numbers that the registration groups say they will tap in November. Voting rates increase 4% when young people receive a text message reminding them to vote on election day, said Smith of Rock the Vote.
Barack Obama is banking on that. When the Democratic candidate sent a text message to supporters announcing that he had chosen Joe Biden as his running mate, he built excitement as well as a list of voters to contact on Nov. 4. For Obama, this tool could be crucial; polls show young voters prefer him over Republican candidate John McCain by 2 to 1.
Despite that advantage, both candidates are trying to appeal to the under-30 demographic (their campaigns each debuted Facebook voter registration applications last month).
Registration groups targeting youth have always been ahead of the curve when it comes to technology. Rock the Vote started the very first online vote registration in 1996.
In a recent Internet campaign, Rock the Vote gave away a free downloadable version of singer Sheryl Crow's new album to anyone who persuaded a friend to register. And through a partnership with MySpace, Rock the Vote rewards bands that get 150 of their fans to register by putting their songs on the organization's website. The band that registers the most people will perform at a Rock the Vote concert.
Declare Yourself -- a group that has registered 750,000 people younger than 30 since last summer -- has adopted the same viral techniques that marketers use to advertise a new film or the latest energy drink. It has spent much of its budget to produce more than 60 viral videos, which can be viewed on YouTube.
"Of all age groups, young people have the biggest stake of where this country goes in the next couple of years," said Marc Morgenstern, executive director of Declare Yourself. "We want to make the process easier and less intimidating, and we're using all of the tried and true and cutting-edge tactics to make an impact."
Hoping to motivate young women, Declare Yourself has signed up celebrities such as actresses Hayden Panettiere from "Heroes" and America Ferrara from "Ugly Betty" to talk about the importance of voting.
To connect with young men, the group has recruited NFL players and Ultimate Fighting Championship stars.
"You reach them through cultural icons, through passions like sports and fashion and, of course, through the peer pressure," Morgenstern says. "We have to use all of the tools in the tool kit to reach young people through their culture."
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kate.linthicum@latimes.com
