The leading women in politics broke it down Tuesday about how crucial it is for people under 30 to hit the polls in 2012. An estimated 24 million young voters flocked to the polls in the last presidential election.  
"Young people were the game changers in 2008," said Valeisha Butterfield-Jones, director of the National Youth Vote for Obama for America.
Political analyst and author Keli Goff put it this way: not voting would be a "gross negligence to my humanity."
"There is so much at stake," Congresswoman Terri Sewell of Alabama, pleaded, "The next president of the United States will appoint the next two judges on the Supreme court" and that could impact laws and policy and the repercussions could last a lifetime.
Getting millennials to the polls won’t be easy; there are quite a few challenges, pointed out Butterfield-Jones. The most daunting challenge is voter ID laws she says threaten to suppress citizens’ voting rights.
Some leaders attending Leading Women Defined say one solution is to have entertainers star in PSAs so voters, particularly those under 30, know their rights, aren’t intimidated at the polls and cast their vote in November.  

For more on BET Networks’ Leading Women Defined Conference, visit www.BET.com/lwd.
 
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(Photo:  DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images)