(WASHINGTON DC – September 28 2000) SMACKDOWN YOUR VOTE! a non-partisan voter registration drive sponsored by the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) Project Vote Smart Youth Vote 2000 MTV’s Choose or Loose and WWE Entertainment Inc. (NMS: WWE) will hold a noon rally on Capitol Hill this Monday October 2 to celebrate the success of its voter registration effort and to challenge the Democratic and Republican campaigns to make themselves relevant to young voters.

The rally will take place on the East Front of the Capitol (House side) near the corner of First Street SE and Independence Avenue SE. Voter registration will be held at the rally location from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The media and public are invited to attend.

Speakers at the rally will include Julia Cohen Executive Director of Youth Vote 2000; Beverly Rivers Secretary of the District of Columbia and Linda McMahon CEO or WWE. Special guests include WWE Commissioner Mick Foley and WWE Superstars Al Snow The Hardy Boyz and Lita.

"We’ve been working hard to convince young people that their votes can have a real impact in this year’s elections and we’re excited that we’ve helped so many to register. At this rally we want to celebrate the number of new voters that SMACKDOWN YOUR VOTE! has reached " said Leslie Reynolds Executive Director of NASS.

SMACKDOWN YOUR VOTE was launched on August 2 2000 and has helped to register and bring election information to thousands of new voters over the past two months. The program does this through in-arena voter registration drives at WWE events at the WWE New York entertainment complex in New York City’s Times Square through the Web sites of WWE’s www.wwevote.com MTV’s www.ChooseorLose.com Youth Vote 2000’s www.youthvote2000.org and through NASS’s www.stateofthevote.org.

In addition to raising awareness about the election Youth Vote 2000 and WWE have challenged the political establishment to do a better job in reaching out to young voters in the 2000 election by calling on the presidential candidates to hold a youth debate in St. Louis on October 17. The groups issued the SMACKDOWN CHALLENGE on August 30 an invitation to candidates George Bush and Al Gore to appear with Gov. Jesse Ventura on WWE SMACKDOWN! to speak directly to young voters and WWE fans.

Contacts:

Kay Albowicz NASS (202) 624-3528
Gary Davis WWE (203) 353-5066
Kristina Saleh Project Vote Smart (406) 859-8683
John Dervin Youth Vote 2000 (202) 423-3378

Information on SMACKDOWN YOUR VOTE! Partners

The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) founded in 1904 is the nation’s oldest non-partisan government association representing the 50 states the District of Columbia Puerto Rico and the territories of American Samoa Guam and the Virgin Islands. For more information contact Kay Albowicz Communications Director or visit www.stateofthevote.org. New Millennium is a national youth voter campaign launched by the NASS designed to encourage political and civic participation in people ages 18-24. New Millennium aims to improve voter turnout by providing America’s young people with the information and skills that they need to become motivated educated and informed citizens. The goals of New Millennium are to provide strategies and messages for getting young people engaged in political and civic participation; to promote civics education in schools; and to raise public awareness about the importance of youth involvement in government.

Project Vote Smart provides factual information on more than 13 000 candidates running for president Congress governor and state legislatures. Project Vote Smart was founded by former presidents Ford and Carter and other national leaders as a non-partisan research library. Access to the Project’s data is available through the Vote Smart web site (www.vote-smart.org) and the toll-free Voter’s Research Hotline (888-VOTE SMART) staffed by student interns and volunteers.

Youth Vote 2000 (www.youthvote2000.org) is the largest most diverse non-partisan coalition in history to engage young people ages 18-30 in politics. Youth Vote 2000 coalition consists of over 75 national organizations representing hundreds of groups and millions of young people. The Youth Vote 2000 coalition is calling for youth debates at the presidential state and local levels. It is devoting an unprecedented amount of resources to building state and local Youth Vote 2000 coalitions.

MTV has renewed its commitment to informing young people about the political process the presidential election and registering them to vote with Choose or Lose 2000. In 1992 1996 and 2000 Choose or Lose strategically partnered with a diverse group of non-profit government corporate and online organizations including Rock the Vote and the over 60 members of the Youth Vote 2000 Coalition. By teaming up with the WWE Choose or Lose will have an effective new partner to reach out and register the largest new generation of voters since the baby boom.

WWE Entertainment Inc. is an integrated media and entertainment company headquartered in Stamford Connecticut with sales offices in New York City Chicago and Toronto. The company can be found online at wwe.com and wwecorpbiz.com.